attidude

Dramatic photo journalist shot

I wish the fg was a bit more open, perhaps so we could see a second official - although I think we probably see enough from the 'attitude' on view. Well seen.

Yes I agree the second official would be nice to see,but it appears under the circumstances this was a quick take it or leave it shot and given that...nicely done.

All we have here is the man in the centre. His facial expression says a lot. He's thinking. He's not against the protesters but he knew if they move forward he's going to use force to stop them. Law against moral. As usual. Eloquent capture, Simon. (I'd consider a vertical crop.) Regards. Blago

thanks for your suggestion, but don t you think with your crop the surrounding (crowd) gets lost...and i liked him solitary "excluded" in the mass. regards simon

I'm considering it as an alternative, but I'm not insisting on it, Simon. The vertical space is more tightly packed and provokes the unpleasant feeling of "entering my personal space", what emphasises on the conflict, imo. The attention of the viewer is immediately drawn by the main character occupying now the bigger (and the brighter) portion of the frame. I like him a lot, too, and, I think, he's much more important than the crowd, but I could be wrong, of course. Regards. Blago

i do understand your thoughts and will think about it. thanks for your useful comment, always highly appreciated...regards

I like it as the guy is really showing a certain attitude. But I would like more the idea of him being kind of isolated in this crowd. Yes he is not alone of his kind but there is a lot of manifestant (?) around and the way the photo is composed, it makes the crown more important than it maybe is versus the security forces. But the only thing that is distracting me is the fact that we can see too much the face and body of the other police officer. I would like to clearly see the guy with attitude with only manifestant in front of him, and the other police in the far background as they are now. This would isolate him in front on a massive crowd.

i agree with you, but i was not able to figure out the shot, it was just a second, when he was visible through the crowd and i just had this one chance, the crowd was in a steady movement as you can see at the other shots of this series. again, in normal circumstances with a tad more time, than some seconds i would have choosen an similar perspective you ve proposed, but there didn t exsist studio conditions. therefore i couldn t care about a perfect perspective. this one should just reflect a special moment with some lacks of aethetics. thanks for your interest and critiques.regards

simon

thanks for your comments

Photojournalism doesn't allow for waiting for the right composition. Things happen fast and on the spur of the moment. So you take what you can get and hope it conveys the message you are looking for.

 

Simon, you have done well with this series of photos. I think some folks forget or don't understand what the circumstances are that you are working under. Thanks again.

 

Jim

Great image with lots of feeling. Under these circumstances you did a hell of a job getting the feeling of the moment. I would love to hear more about the setting at the time and how you chose to attempt the shot.

 

- Randy

this one and the others of this series were taken at a demonstration against neo nationalism in cologne. some of the left wing guys (some sweeties) did some damage on cars etc and the police closed the road from both sides, me included. This ceromony took around 5 hours while it was raining,raining, raining, this was one moment when the crowd got impatient...regards