JK #1

From Belfast, Maine.

 

Comments and questions welcome.

Very Cool, I like the way you used negative space in this image! Keep it up, and thanks for the comment on my photo :) AP

Hi, John. thank you for your email again. So, here's why I rated this 4/4: it is correctly exposed and composed photograph of a tatoo and jewelery worn by a young man belonging to a certain subculture (Carney the Dinosaur?). While I like the way you arranged things in the frame, I wouldn't mind to see a tad more space at the bottom -- cutting off that lttle finger is not a big deal but it does bug me since it is clearly a close up of his hand and arm. I also am not impressed by the totally black negative space as it further takes away the context and the context is what I really miss here. And I would increase contrast a tad but that might be my screen.

I have a close up shot of a man sleeping on the subway bench that everyone seems to like ... there's almost nothing else in there but his face and I really am not all that sure why people like it. Which just says that we all have our personal biases and I am not an exception. Of course, that doesn't mean one can play unfair -- it just means you'll be getting different responses from different people and it's up to you how to sort them.

I think this would work really lovely in a series -- I would love to see few different takes on this man so I could get a sense of whom his tatoos and jewelery represent. You may say that not showing his face might be a good thing as it makes one wonder about the missing parts. But I don't know much about people wearing that sort of bracelets and tattoos and, unable to make any connection, I just moved on. And I don't see it strong enough as a form or being capable to succeed on artistic merits only. PS I just noticed you have another shot of this man -- it is in color and I totally missed the connection to this shot. He doesn't look as tough as this photograph suggests - interesting.

Check out this shot for what I am after http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=3280207

 

best, Maria

Thank you for your thoughtful feedback. To start, I have added a few more from this series to my portfolio. Have a look. WIth one I did manage to get the pinky :-). I also have one within that provides the context of the day (however, I find his eyes very distracting in that shot).

 

What attracted me to this shot was the lines and composition, as well as its raw nature. I enhanced the contrast significantly from the original which succeeded in making him appear much more sinister than he was in person.

 

I think many of your shots provide an effective balance between context and simplicity. "Diabetes" does it brilliantly with the needle and little else.

 

I certainly agree with the consensus that your shot of the man sleeping is beautiful. I think simplicity is one of the keys to Richard Avedon. He allows/forces the immediate subject to do all the talking.

 

I would love to hear your thoughts on the others in this series.

 

Again, thank you for your very thoughtful feedback.

 

John