Becalmed

Really a picture of strong contrasts, both tonally and in terms of subject matter. Love the eye contact with the young boy and how he is dwarfed by the surrounding bodies as he looks up at you. We were all there once, looking up at the world.

Thanks, Jack, I was hoping this photo conveyed the intended sensibility.  I hesitated for a week or so about posting it.  But the boy's buddha-face conveyed the sort of serenity I wish I'd had as a kid, surrounded by grownups who seemed to be doing whatever it is grownups do, while we wait.

This is among the very few street photos I've taken about which I felt some

ambivalence before uploading it or requesting feedback. I'm interested in your

immediate impression (especially from a thumbnail view) and any subsequent

impressions. It doesn't necessarily "read" well in a thumbnail view.

Becalmed or besquashed!

Interesting comment, Jim.  That is one of the concerns I had about this photograph - whether it might imply that I intended some sort of schadenfreude or to emphasize anything other than the boy's expression.

Perhaps a portrait crop would reduce the legitimate reasons for concern and be an improvement too. The woman on the left leads the viewer's eye in, the one on the right is given too much weight in the composition, in my view. Something like this:

That's an interesting perspective as well, Charles.  Should we relieve the viewer of the burden of having to choose how to react to the photo by cropping out elements that might make someone uncomfortable, or challenge their notions?  But wouldn't cropping out certain elements simply reinforce certain negative stereotypes about body image?  And at the very least, would such a tight crop convey the impression that we don't trust the viewer to explore a photo?  What if we took it another step and darkened, blurred or Photoshopped out anything except for the boy?  

Were the woman on the right instead stunning, I would have still played with cropping the stunning woman too so as to be less so in a similar manner because either way, stunning or as is, IMHO the figure distracts somewhat from the serene young man in your version.  My eye just tends to go to and settle to the right, for others, their eye may not do that.

I have to agree with Charles because I think he makes a valid point and it has nothing to do with whether or not the woman is stunning (beauty is in the eye of the beholder anyway, isn't that what we are told?), it simply is that the eye is distracted after the initial look at the boy. If the point of the photo is to lead one to the boy and his expression, then what is wrong with cropping the photo some to help the viewer's eye along? If the viewer is to read from it that the boy is communicating with you in some way to get him out of there, then the crowding bodies would be beneficial. If your intent is to show the boy's expression, then the crowding bodies might take away from that. That is just my humble opinion and it is your photograph after all. It's really a great capture of the boy; I like his stance and eye contact. Thank you for sharing. :)