Visionaries

The young girls will be marching in the Seattle St. Patrick's Day

Parade and are awaiting its start. My camera was focused on the girl

at the rear with f/5.6 aperture when she looked up and said something

to the others. I never saw what they were looking at but I'm so happy

they all looked up. This is my best photograph of the parade. Thanks

for your comments.

Great shot, Shawn, The real coup is that you've captured three entirely different expressions although they clearly are all seeing the same thing. Nice. ~~~~~L

It makes sense to have the primary focus on the girl in the rear because she's the most demonstrative. But they are all just adorable, and clearly their attention is captured by something above them. This is really a precious shot! You seem to shoot at parades a lot. I should try that....it's a place where people are preoccupied with the activities and won't notice a camera being pointed at them. :-)

Little cherubs. The smiling eyes of the little one toward the rear is heartening. Sweet, sweet capture.

When I photograph parades I always arrive early and visit the staging areas where the floats, bands and other participants are getting ready for the start of the event. That offers the best opportunity for candid photography from all angles. Once a parade starts the viewers are stuck on the sidelines and with the parade moving down the street there is much less time to think about the photographs. I never stay for the parade once it starts moving.

 

I was able to contact the academy where these girls learn Irish street dancing and then also contact the parents of the girl who has her mouth open. I forwarded them a full sized copy of this photograph so that they could have it printed and framed. The girl's mother told me that they did not get any good photographs of the event. I have one or two other good photographs of the girls which I will edit and forward on them too, but this one is my favorite one of the whole day.

Cherubs, indeed. What a cherry and lovely image!

 

What can be more pure than a child expression,well seen and caught,best regards.

Very expressive and such different emotions!

It's a wonderful picture capturing their fresh faces and the world of possibilities the girls have at that age. In Spring, before they have fully bloomed, the cherry trees are pink with promise

You caught a very nice expression on the faces of these cute little girls. Nice composition too. Regards, Jean-Marc

Beautiful. They do indeed look like cherubs with those rosy cheeks and curls. I am sure their mothers will treasure this image.

Is it a bird or a plane? Could be a UFO, I suppose. Nice capture, Shawn.

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A very nice, cute, endearing ... snapshot.

ah well, some make snapshots, some make post cards. Much of modern photography is that, but these little munchkins are really cute and captured well. I play Irish music and have been to a few feis's and so seeing the GSA and the curls and the faces just had to make me laugh. Fun pic.

Very nicely executed. Very fitting title. As mentioned before I too like the three very different expressions. What I like most in this picture is the slight off focus of the first girl due to DOF. This adds an extra dimension to the picture. Over all a very cute picture.
Congrats!
Arnav

Showed the gesture and pose,as well as possible...Nice treatment,specially the focus and note to the faces...I really like the composition,also!
Regards(Bobby).

Unique way to show their interests and the way that they are looking to.
Regards(Bobby).

Andrew, if you shoot only studio shots, life is going to pass you by. I love this shot, but it is also a great portal to Shawn's wonderful portfolio.

Here's to the Irish. . . .

--Lannie

I like the flow of the composition - my eyes go straight to the girl in focus, travel down to the bottom of the image and back up to fix on that girl's face. Personally, I'd probably prefer them all sharp, but then you would lose this flow and other details would be sharper and probably distract. Wonderful expressions, Shawn Well seen, as always.

Lannie, what made you bring in the studio here?

In isolation, this does seem like a snapshot. The title "visionaries" actually makes the photograph itself seem more like a snapshot to me because, whether serious or playful, it suggests much more than meets the eye, where the photo on its own does not. Looking at the folder of which it's a part, it seems to be intended more as documentary and I think a snapshot approach to documentary can be compelling. As documentary, I think each individual photo would work better for me if at least some of them were taken from several steps back and brought in environment or context.

Very nice shot. Like the facial expressions. My only observation is that the face in the foreground is out of facus. It might be a stronger shot if all the three faces and in sharp focus. Congrats.

Whatever about the need for portraiture to be sharply conscious of its means and objectives, quite the oppostite seems to hold true of those portrayed. Very often, the more spontaneous and unaware they are, the more interesting and captivating the portrait will be (given, of course, a reasonable degree of expertise on the part of the photographer). I think the present photo is a good example of that. It delivers a slice of life rather than a pose, and therin lies its particular charm.

Funny, when I saw the thumbnail and all those white "robes" and patches, I got a hit that this might be a KKK rally of some sort! No, seriously, but it is probably because I just was involved in a recent discussion regarding an editorial piece about the woman who makes the robes for that organization : Hate Couture http://motherjones.com/photoessays/2008/03/aryan-outfitters I will admit, once seeing what it really was, that my Irish ancestors will probably be rolling in their graves for that miscue!

But overall, I am not blown away by this shot anyway. Cute little girls are cute little girls I guess. The structure of the image is actually nicely done, the curvature as we follow the eyes is nice, but on my laptop(am on the road) I am not certain there is anything in focus or to focus on. The expressions on the girls' faces all seem to be expressing a different reaction/emotion and that is certainly intriguing on some level--like 3 individuals at a political speech with 3 different ideological stances reacting to what is being said in different ways.

I do find the bright white bars on the closest girls headband a bit distracting as is the light upper left corner. Structurally, as a photo, these are the things that detract a bit, but other than that, I think the image is fine if you like this sort of thing, otherwise, maybe it would be an effective editorial image for a certain kind of story. The image is what it is I guess is what I am trying to say. It should hold some endearment to some, especially those connected with the little girls, might serve as an illustrative image for a certain type of article, but otherwise is like many snapshots, irrelevant to others outside of the loop.

John,

Your laptop does not lie, the lens is focused on the left bottom corner of the logo on the third girls shirt, the remainder of the image is soft.