'The New Gun'

A beaming father watched over his equally beaming son as the son

showed me his new fangled gun in a suburb of Kyiv, Ukraine, a place

where toy gun ownership by young boys is relished instead of mostly

banned or regulated, as in the United States. Your ratings, critiques

and remarks are invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly, very

critically or just wish to make an observation, please submit a helpful

and constructive comment; please share your photographic

knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

Toy guns,a nice and most adorable by children and I guess every where,but in my country and with the rush of of some of more than 150,000 highly trained killing machines of the most sophisticated army ever existed on planet earth ,and with the media broadcasting their raids on homes at day and night ,the poor Iraqi kids have started to copy them ,their poor fathers give them some money especially during the two major Muslim's feast ,the kids go to the nearest shop and buy those guns toys ,and what they should shoot ? they directs their guns towards patrolling occupations forces in the street ,and what do you think the occupations forces to respond ,they responds with no toys guns.

only in the 2008 to 2010 some more than twenty kids at the age of less than 12 year have been killed in my city alone either in the streets or at the roofs of their homes,and the stupid Iraqi government have responded only at 2010 to ban the importation of toy guns.

Long live all the highly trained armies,and all stupid government .

Saad.

Your comment speaks entirely for itself.

I have nothing to add.

That is one reason I took and posted this photo, to invite appropriate commentary. 

You have said your side.  I am interested in hearing from others, even from opposing sides.

john

John (Crosley)

I confess.

You're right.

I didn't even mean to upload this.

However, once I did, I found it showing on the Internet, and couldn't locate an upworked up copy and was too tired to work on it anew.

I generally don't like to replace while it's being critiqued, but probably will replace after main critique is over.

I leave it here for the subject matter which is somewhat provocative and at least interesting and outside the USA mainstream or so I am told.  Toys R US doen't sell these thigns does it?  Or is it just replicas that look like real guns and handguns?

In any case, look at the first comment.

You have a good eye and your comment is spot on.

Again, I plead guilty without extenuating circumstances.

And thank you for your critique.

john

John (Crosley)

1- ;)

2- Nice the way you have shot the picture of the child at his eye level and close up.

3- I like the engagement on the boy's face as well as the back ground, perspective lines, black and white documentary approach, technique etc.

4- meaningful image that makes me think.

Nicely done.

Thoughtful analysis.

I won't go over it point by point.

You needn't be complimentary to do a thoughtful analysis, either.

However, thanks for the very nice compliment; this is a four second endeavour.  Then 'next photo' and little thought to it at all.  Just stop the boy on the street, look at poppa to make sure he's OK with it, take the photo and get outta there with poppa smiling approval. ;~))  Boy and poppa were PROUD to be singled out for this by an American with good equipment! 

Some days are just like that.

Thanks again.

john

John (Crosley)

'cowboys and indians'; or 'cops and robbers'?

I think it's 'Cowboys and Space Aliens'.

Just look at the gun.

john

John (Crosley)

Agree to Saad - guns are never toys.

The doging artifacts are indeed distracting - but I think the photo is worth are bit more careful postprocessing (or none at all ;-)) as the beaming face of the boys contrasts with the symbolized violence of his weapen. Perspective is great as it focuses viewers gaze on the boys' face. The persons on the left and the garden on the right background provide a peaceful stage for a disturbing 'play'.

cheers, Wolfgang

Wolfgang, I was traveling, picked a photo near this one in my files to upload, and mistakenly uploaded this instead but didn't catch it, as I didn't see that I had uploaded it and at the time didn't see it on my Photo.net portfolio page(s).

A day or so later, I found it with a file caption on it in my folder and decided 'what the hey, I'll just keep it on display and request critiques' and didn't think to look to see if it was properly worked up.

My mistake.  A stupid, big and ugly mistake which undermines my reputation for integrity, (but not for good photoshopping, as I don't haev a good reputation in that field and don't care particularly).

And since I was traveling and did not have good workspace, I couldn't work it up again in Photoshop or other image editing to correct artifacts, and to substitute while in the middle of critique would have given the lie to the criticism without preserving the image instead of deleting it, so viewers could identify the subject of criticism.

So when traveling was done, I figured I'd just substitue a newly-worked up copy, save this one as a file attached to a comment, note it, then everybody's comments would make sense, and my photographer's integrity would be preserved plus the subject would have proper deference paid it rather than a sloppy photoshop job, as here.

It was just something beneath my usuaul standard, but when I saw it on my page, I just was overcome with the notion that this was a photo whose time for display had come.

This is my third 'boy with [toy] gun' photo, and I notice the three photos all have provoked intersting discussion and to me are very interesting.

Thanks for your notes on the perspective; it was most natural, and frankly, I only had to move a little bit to center the boy, move myself a little to catch the background.  Please see my presentation Photographers:  Choose Your Background" (or similar name).

I haven't looked up as I keyboard this. 

It 's had huge viewership and is Photo.net's largest Presentation, although Presentations are Photo.net's poor stepchildren cursed by lousy software, which apprently will never be upgraded.

I'm thankful for your remark(s), all of which are very good criticism.

Please do not be a stranger.

john

John (Crosley)