children Time Out!!!

Here are four questions that are important to this photographer:

1.Does the image use a distinctive creative process?

2.Is the image truthful in nature? 3.Does the image emphasize the

joys and sorrows of the human condition? 4.Does the image reflect

the subject's unpredictable and individual song of life?

I would answer yes to the fourth question.

I guess that those weren't the questions I was expecting to answer. Here's my initial comment, first (then I'll get to your questions): AHHHH ... middle school basketball. LOL!! (Yup - that was my initial comment!! How photographic of me, huh?)

Now ... for your questions:
1) I think that the candid-ness of the shot highlights YOUR distinctive creative process. The tones, in sepia, and the grain ask the viewer to analyze further.
2) I believe that the image is truthful in nature in that (based on my experience), this IS middle school basketball. Everyone needs to stop and wait for the one kiddo who needs to tie his shoe. The parents in the stands, the other kids on the court, the refs ... everyone.
3) I don't know that I can say anything about joys and sorrows of the human condition. It's a basketball game. There are certainly going to be more sorrowful/joyful moments in the game than the tieing of the shoe ... but even so, it's still a basketball game. I guess for sorrows and joys and human condition, I'd need to see life and death, poverty and wealth, etc. to make me think "human condition". (Although, the kid with the drink on the right-hand side could totally be talking about joys!!)
4) Again, based on my everyday experience with middle school kids, there is nothing unpredictable and individual about a game needing to stop for a kid to tie his shoe. That happens!!

Sorry if that's not what you were looking for, Howard. Really ... I go back to my original comment. Everything about kids this age is a rehearsal for what they're going to be in 5, or 10, or 25 years from now. And rehearsals can get messy ... even if it's little annoying things like tyeing one's shoe or watching another kid tie his shoe. There's a stuntedness about the pace of life at that age ... and those "stunted" moments are as teachable as the moment of THE scoring shot or of the missed lay-up.

Thank for the critique. Yes, very helpful. I hope you took a lunch break in between paragraphs.

CR: Oh, the brillant "freezing" of an everyday situation. And composed (balanced) like a painting the artist normally is thinking about for weeks. A plus: the guy having a drink. RE

Hey, I jus' came here to looka the pictures. Nobody tol' me there was gonna be a test!

I'll copy Lou Ann's answers; they're easily insightful enough to get an "A". Great slice of life, cut from the "off" side of the loaf: really nice work.

1.Yes 2.Yes 3.Yes 4.Yes.

Generally, you celebrate joy of living in your images. But this image has a tinge of despair.Howard, I like more your other images.

This is a tough one to answer all those questions about, Howard. I'd have to say 1. yes, 2. yes, 3. not really 4. unknown. That's probably no help at all; I think Lou Ann's critique is the best and most thorough. If you want just a gut reaction, this is appealing because it's kids just being kids.

1.Does the image use a distinctive creative process? Yes. Sepia and graininess work well, make it feel timeless. Kind of a Norman Rockwell feel.

2.Is the image truthful in nature? Yes. It's simple and honest. It depicts one of those "smaller" moments in time that kids at this age, on the cusp of chidlhood and growing up, can experience as momentous, as important as shooting, blocking, winning, loosing. Kids can sense the drama and importance of tying one's shoes while the world waits for the game to resume...these kids know this moment is still part of the game. Kids feel the tension in these small moments. Look at how intently the other players watch the shoe-tying. They appreciate that even this small act is also a part of the game. People on the sidelines and in the stands aren't attentive...they have forgotten the importance of small acts that glue the "bigger parts" together.

3.Does the image emphasize the joys and sorrows of the human condition? Yes...see #2 above.

4.Does the image reflect the subject's unpredictable and individual song of life? Yes...he's making sure he plays his tying-his-shoe part of the game well.

 

P.S. Hope you all don't mind my commenting on this and other photos even though I haven't yet posted any photos. I'm caught in one of my own "small moments": deciding between a Canon 20D and Nikon D70. Used to do B&W film back in the 70's and am itching to get back into photography in a digital way. Meanwhile, I'm learning alot by looking at all the great photos on PN and reading the critiques. Thanks.

1.Does the image use a distinctive creative process? Yes. But then every shot every taken does, doesn't it? It's a reflection of life in a split second - and you chose that very specific second to hit the button. I'm not sure that the sepia treatment brings the shot anything more special than b&w would have. Here I think it's a matter of personal taste though - for me b&w would have been the way to go.

 

2.Is the image truthful in nature? Yes, without a doubt. Everything in the shot is truthful to nature - parents on the benches, the kid tying his shoelace, the patient (or impatient ref).

 

3.Does the image emphasize the joys and sorrows of the human condition? No, not the joys and sorrows. Perhaps (in this case) the small, insignificant frustrations. But it does celebrate the normality of life.

 

4.Does the image reflect the subject's unpredictable and individual song of life?

Yes I suppose it does. It shows everyone to be an individual in his or her own way, each playing out a small part in life's big drama.

 

Whew.

Well- I'm not good at tests, but....I like the expressions and boredom on everyones face while they wait for him to tie his shoe! Good capture....only you!

Here are four questions that are important to this photographer: 1.Does the image use a distinctive creative process?

 

Well, jeez, its a Dion, of course it does. i like the sepia and the photojournalisitic graininess.

 

2.Is the image truthful in nature?

 

What is truth? This is a very difficult question. It does project "truth", in that I believe i am looking at your depiction of an image of a scene that has not been altered in a way that i would consider "untruthful." but what is untruthful?

 

3.Does the image emphasize the joys and sorrows of the human condition?

 

Well, as a fairly experienced youth basketball action photographer (most of what are in the photo albums at www.leaguelineup.com/ebx are mine), i think this is the weakness of the photo. the emotion it evokes is mild and ambiguous to me. that the refereee and the boy to the right of the referee are intent on the boy tieing his shoe suggests the game was stopped for him to do so, suggesting something, perhaps embarrassment? by the boy tieing, which might comment on the small moments of the human condition that can make or break one's day (or game). but otherwise the emotion is somewhat flat.

 

4.Does the image reflect the subject's unpredictable and individual song of life?

 

well, its a nice small moment in the game, well rendered. beyond that, i can't say.

Quite possibly another modern day Norman Rockwell.

Howard- In answer to questions, I decided not to read everyone else's so as not to be influenced

.

1. Creative process is in the composition and the timing of the shot. Definitely creatively done.

 

2-Hum... truthful? That's difficult to say. He's tying his shoe? Right? The perspective, actions and expressions are all very truthful. So I say Yes.

3-Emphasizing the joy and sorrow. Hum.... I see neither in this image. More patience and some boredom in the crowd, just everyday life, no extremes.

 

4-unpredictability & song of life. Not sure about the unpredictability thing but song of life I say yes.

 

Not sure how you arrived at these questions, but here's what I see.

 

Howard- your style is to capture real life, and you have done this. I only wish you had moved the camera just a little to the right so as to include the spectators more. This looks like a Norman Rockwell moment of Real Life. I love the expressions of the spectators, one drinking, one looking off toward the other end of the court, the other two on the top just staring off, both contemplating. The lines created by the foreground activity lead me down to the boy of interest and then back up to the spectators. I also like the action blur that indicates he is in a big hurry to tie that shoe! I just want to see the complete 4 spectators.

 

By the way I'd love to see this one in color. Or hand colored. Like a painting.

Nice slice of sports a la Americana.