Fresh Catch, Halong Bay

Thanks for favorable comments and ratings on the previous version. Unfortunately, I couldn't stand the dirty border (straight PCD scan of a slide with cardboard mount !), so I had to delete it and re-upload this new scan. Sorry to all of you who commented and rated.

This is one of the earliest travel photos that I still like, because

it combines the mood of an evocative subject with more formal

abstraction.

It was also one of the first photos I uploaded on photo.net, but the

first version suffered from poor presentation. Since I have never used

the critique request before, I thought it would be fun to give it a try.

All comments welcome.

Beautiful . Simple , Natural and colorful

Good shot.

I can see why you like this image. Excellent image. I was suprised to see this image, I really enjoy our landscapes. - Sean

Excelente imagen, calidad tecnica, perfecta luz y color, belleza de composicion y un magnifico encuadre, saludos cordiales Tuan.

On one hand, I admire you for trying to do something different, a shot of fisherman with most of their faces obscured, but ultimately, I find this photograph too disjointed to fully enjoy.

 

The bright straw hats could make for an interesting abstract, but they are scattered in too much of a haphazard manner to make it a stratifying abstract for me.

 

Because a lack of a clear centering point (or points), I find that my eyes have no place to rest while viewing the photo.

 

The photo works, sort of, as a slice-of-life photograph, but it would work better as a slice-of-life photograph if the straw hats (especially those in the lower right-hand corner) weren't so bright.

Usually I don't comment on images, including mine, but for once, let me tell you what abstract relationships I see here. There are two worlds, the one of man, and the one of nature. The world of man is all activity, colors, and high contrast. The world of nature (this is Halong Bay, one of the natural world's wonders) is intemporal, almost devoid of color, and misty like a traditional Chinese painting. However, the world of man mirrors the worlds of nature in that both have an horizontal outline that is rythmed in one case by the peaks of the karstic hills, and the other case by the pointed conic hats. Even the weights and main gaps in each lines mirror each other. The man in the boat, as well as the smaller moving boats in the background serve further to link the two worlds.

As a study of two worlds (man and nature), this photo doesn't work for me because the world of man in this photograph dominates (with its bright colors and its foreground and middle ground placement) the world of nature (with its muted colors and background placement).

 

A stronger compare and contrast relationship between the two worlds could have been made by photographing the scene farther back with a longer (more telephoto) lens to help compress the depth between the foreground people and the background hills.

 

As it is (and I understand that this is just my very subjective opinion) the people (and their catch and boats) are far too prominent in the photograph for me, the viewer, to make the visual and mental leap to see the abstract relationship between man and nature that you want to establish in your photograph. If that were your intent, I would have balanced the people (and their belongings) more with the bay and the karstic hills.

Fantastic colors and composition of Two Worlds....!!!