'Point -- Counter Point' (Best Viewed 'Large')

The essence of this photo is stated in its caption (title) but may not be

immediately obvious - see if you can 'understand' why I named it so.

Your ratings and critiques are invited and most welcome; if you rate

harshly or very critically or wish to add a comment, please share your

superior photographic knowledge to help improve my photography.

Thanks! Enjoy! John

two women, both lost in their own thoughts, parallel expressions; one, even as she has family around her; the other solitary

point: the child with her toothy grin... counter point: the woman at extreme right with her firmly shut lips -- the one radiating outward, the other inward; the first with her hands spread wide open, the second clutching her neck and clinging to her bag. The two women in between are just part of the scenery

Excellent analysis, even more than I articulated to myself.

I just take the things and internalize all those things in a fraction of a second, or over a course of a second if taking multiple frames.

Close, but is there a cigar?

What about the use of the word 'point'?

(This is 'Point - Counter Point and what is point?)

What about all those noses?

Can those noses all pointed to the little girl be dismissed as you dismiss the middle women, as just separators?

Really?

Want to try to flesh it out?

You made a wonderful start.

john

John (Crosley)

"I just take the things and internalize all those things in a fraction of a second, or over a course of a second if taking multiple frames."

the best photographs are results of a honed instinct...

"Close, but is there a cigar?"

by this expression do you mean something akin to 'an icing on the cake'? a good photograph, being so much a pictorial story, will always have those... viewers/voyeurs will always come up with singular interpretations (besides some corresponding ones)

"What about the use of the word 'point'?

(This is 'Point - Counter Point and what is point?)

What about all those noses?

Can those noses all pointed to the little girl be dismissed as you dismiss the

middle women, as just separators?

Really?"

if 'point/counterpoint' are taken at face value certainly the nose factor is prominent!

but co-incident geometry holds less fascination for me than the possibilities of creating satisfying stories around the characters based on visual evidence and my own accumulation of biased experience

the younger woman, if not her mother (for arguments sake) presents to me a bare profile, the only notable feature her open lips, as if she is admonishing the daughter/child, who in reaction smiles toothily (a lovable imp) -- so she certainly seems to play a side role in the composition, for me not a very worthy one -- i find the other three characters far more interesting, the parallel between the two older women is marked, both pondering, one amidst company, the other not

this photograph could also be an unhappy, even pessimistic, parable on aging -- the child: carefree, accepting, being limited/constrained but still looking ahead + the young woman: confident, living in the present, the here and now + the two older women: burden of the past heavy on them, a harsh present, a bleak future

i, the viewer, sees most of the woman at right -- and she has much to say...

thank you, John, for allowing me the opportunity to ramble...

If you're like me, sometimes when 'rattling on' you can uncover some truths that are not so self-evident, and teach yourself something as well as others.

The power of 'rambling' is highly underrated, I think.

I had meant on a compositional level the pointing of the three noses at the young woman. All 'stories' are left to the interpretation of the viewer, like you.

Congratulations.

John (Crosley)

I was attracted to the look of 'expectation' which the woman held for the longest time, and which caused me to focus that way in the first place.

Compare thatt to the the women also pointing (with their noses) to your left, and the little girl, pointing right, with 'no expectations at all', it seems.

Another contrast, I think.

Thanks for commenting (hear me fly over last night/early morn after you went to bed?)

John (Crosley)