Running Girl, Osakako

Jack,

This image deserves at least a 7. It is a pity it doesn't reach further, so I give it a 7+.

Regards,

Herman

A classic capture.  It's crazy, wicked good timing that her pose is so similar to the orange pig-tailed silhouette on the wall.  These shots make me smile.

Excellent timing and framing.  Great colors.  Perfect.

Hi Jack,

  Wonderful image with beautiful colors & perfect timing on your part.   Take care, Patsy

Jeff said it perfectly about the girl matching the form on the wall. Great catch Jack.

Holger

This image is another reminder that becoming children again can bring us lots of stuff that we've abandoned, forgotten, or lost:  being able to revel in a simple act of running on a sidewalk and saying "hi" to our friends (whether painted on a wall or otherwise), experiencing joy for joy's sake, being innocent (as compared with worldly), watching time slowing down while we wait for one day to morph into the next, and never apologizing for getting covered in a plethora of dirt.

Jack, you have the uncanny ability not only to discover photo opportunities involving children but also to become one yourself while you're shooting.  

The timing and placement is brilliant.

One of the silhouettes has just jumped off the wall and come to life, perhaps they all do when it's quiet and no ones looking! 

Love it! 

Alf 

Admirable blending of real and unreal.

A winner! - perfectly positioned by your great timing.  Your rendition gives space and air to breathe - visually speaking. There is a part of me that wants to chop a bit from the top and the bottom so that I can really focus on the girl and the figures on the wall but it is only a fleeting thought running through my mind.  Stick with the original.

I agree, wonderful timing, and the dancing figures are perfect!

Another nicely composed effort, everything comes together, nicely preformed Jack ~

This photo must have been taken! I lower camera position and less foreground could have increased the impact even more. Excellent anyway. Karl

Joy of life in early age! A masterpiece!

Best regards

PDE

Another great location you found yourself and excellent why of freezing the girl at just the right moment.

Thanks you all for the comments on this picture. It seems to have struck a chord and for that I'm grateful. I think one of the most important things about photography is that it allows us to revisit and reflect upon occasions and more fully comprehend things that we might not have been aware of when we were focused on simply taking a good picture.

Looking back at the pictures I took in Osakako , the port area of the city with its wide plazas and open vistas, I noticed a surprising number of children running, running not to get to anywhere in particular but for the sheer joy of moving through space. This is something you seldom see in Osaka, crammed with buildings, traffic, hordes of pedestrians as it is; there are few kids running. The pictures sparked the realization that it's in the natural order of things for children to run, to express themselves and their vitality in this way. "The business of children is play"; Hermann Hesse once wrote that in an essay I read long ago and I still subscribe to that belief entirely There's a sense of freedom in running and a natural expression of the youthful energy that is too often stifled in the crowded confines of the city, a situation now exacerbated by the current addiction to cell phones and video devices which turn kids into game-playing statues for hours on end.

It wasn't just this girl but many other kids that seemed to be energized by escaping the close quarters of their urban surroundings and set free in a place of seemingly limitless space. They responded in an explosion of obvious enthusiasm. This is what occurred to me after looking at the pictures from that day. It was something I somehow knew but hadn't fully grasped: that our environment effects our actions in ways we are hardly even aware of. The photographs brought that realization to the surface. I'm going to upload a couple more pictures so you can see what I'm talking about.

I guess I'll have to upload these one at a time

Another of the girl. Looks like ecstasy to me.

Wonderful - it brought be back to a time in my youth when I also ran for the joy of it - even inside the limited space of our house which my parents seemed to tolerate.

Beautiful and joyous.  Not just the evident joy of the child, of course, but also that wonderful juxtaposition with the playing figures on the wall.  Classic.

The sensation of freedom. Now you need to photoshop it, removing her from the image and adding her silhouette to the vacant space on the wall.

This is wonderful , Jack. Well done!!

Regards,

Mário

Hi Jack,

looking through your photos I came across many beautiful shots; I chose this one to comment on, as it is so simple and yet so subtle. Not much has been left unsaid about it, but it is a gorgeous image with the subject becoming almost one with the background. Very well done! Kind regards, Vincent