A Class Act

I have interpreted this photo at different levels. The man in front is a

street performer...one of those who can spend hours maintaining a pose.

He keeps a bowl in front for passers by to drop coins into; his hope at

the end of the day is to make some sort of a living from his art. Contrast

this with the man sitting and watching him. We do not know what he

does for a living, but he seems rather better off than our street actor but

probably without the talents of the latter. Most passer byes do not stop.

While the talent and patience of this man is indeed a class act,

economic classes do stand out, fairly or unfairly, even in "advanced"

countries. Thank you for your constructive comments on this photo.

Anonymously: I see an out of focus being subject, for I suppose he is the subject. Maybe he has to do with a practical joke, for the passers by are watching, or is he sweeping mines, for he seems to be militairy. I don't get the image, only the fat man is interesting. In fact I see a very bad image.

Now with headlines: Late King George of England seen in France..!!! That would have been a story..! However, even be true, only the boulevard press would have printed it. Every serious editor would have refused the image because of it's bad condition. Maybe: "Unknown man from the moon." would have made a chance.

For the PN viewers, what they do see and how at the first sight and what thát might evoke is the móst important. If showing your cow in front of a jury they will only measure in that way. That's the head point in the qritique forum. OK and because we are a community and want to enjoy and help etc. etc. there next is room for all the different talk. Yes, and for that in fact a nature shooter will understand his fellow nature shooters the best. Sam, yes, giving some details is fine, however a written image next to the real one is in fact not trusting the visual force of your own shot.

"I did follow him untill he stood still" is saying something of your effort. The story of the man sitting at the bust stop, you did see him different times that day, does tell he is a kind of what one would call "The today's village idiot." I tried to comment objectively but in fact couldn't. The possibility of being curious and asking myself what kind of man he would be, a sportive older academic? and why he was sitting there, most academics don't dare, thát tension got stolen. So I concentrated on just the facts I saw. Composition, background, tones, distance, seize of the figure.. did thát attract me..?! Yes, and after reading the story that was hard. :) To beginners we allways say: the viewer doesn't know anything about your emotion (loving the shot) of the moment. The naked photo on itself does count, maybe it will evoke emotion as well, the sign the image wasn't that bad..! Maybe even a good or very good one..! Thát counts. A photographer is speaking by his images.

Thank you for your continued interest in my photos.

Actually, the man in the foreground is not the subject/theme of the photo. The subject are the people in the background and all the activity that is going on there.

The man in the foreground is one of those people who stand like a statue in different costumes in public places in an effort to earn a livelihood. He is the centre of attention of at least three people in the background as he collects his day's earnings. I have played with the words "Class" in the title, making it stand for both quality and economic class divide. The people who are (apparently) better off than our friend look at his act (without being as talented) and/or simply go their way. So while our hero is the subject of attention of the people around him, my subject are those people who represent an economic divide. Therefore, I chose to focus on the rather overweight man and not the person in front.

But your critique has provided me some food for thought; especially with regard to how I may choose to display/frame such photos in the future. Good critiques are rare, especially in my photographs, and I thank you for being one of those who have consistently come up with suggestions to help me. I cannot thank you enough. Regards.

Great tones, I only don't know what's the man doing!

Best regards Samrat!

PDE

It's an interesting photograph.  The "problem" you have is that it's not possible in a photograph to easily distinguish those who are motionless from those who are in motion.  The man holding the pose certainly looks more in motion than the man sitting behind him.  But there are 3-5 people watching the motionless actor.  I think it might require a movie camera to fully capture and appreciate the scene.  I'd love to get a straight-on photo of the large man who is sitting; he looks like to great subject.

I'm sure there's some motion "artifact" in the man in front...though his blurring was achieved more with DOF adjustments than through his movements. He was only making small movements as he was counting the change that had accumulated. But your points are well taken and I thank you both.

A possible solution to the dilemma of showing the actor's stillness in the midst of those moving around him would be to show this in a series of say three images with the actor unmoved while those around him would be in different positions.