laurent_jaussi

it has a modern and austere (as Jeff says) feel l like as well as the balance...for me it has humour with the cold perfect lady trapped and frozen taken from below like on a pedestal looking down at us...well my feeling would balance between the humoristic and the nightmare side of perfection...like you I would say: relax and be cool lady...

alhough the subject would not imply it, I see sensuality in this image because of the light and shadow play and the fact that everything is hidden except for the tiny stick...the show is ready to start, curtain out please....

the dynamic double shadow projection is something I enjoy particularly in this image Markku...the soft blue tone of the floor with the splash of light has something sensual which is not something I would naturally describe for a floor...

strange mood indeed....the shadows are a bit sinister where the kid's play machine should look gentle...ah those kids are both magic and mystery...

the blue is so well served by the tree and leaves color on the ground...It amazes me in photography like obstruing the view on a main subject (by the tree here) in fact reinforce its visual impact...I like this image very much Jeff...

for some reason (don't know exactly why) they appeared to me like old guys sitting on a bench separated by 1 or 2 meter (or old neighbors at a their windows separated by only a wall of 30 cm)...so close and yet so far away...

winter mood, frozen times...I'd like the break the ice, that's what I did when I was a kid...that's what my kid's do...why did I stop ?

 

The form, shape and texture are really nice Linda...

the pipe is stubborn and the ladder narrow-minded...that's why they don't talk to each other anymore although they have been neighbors for more than 40 years now...resting on the red brick wall they looked at the life passing by in front of them for the rest of their years on earth...

the fact that they are in the shadow force me to imagine my own story of grandfather and grandson...this process from the particular to the general is something I find wonderful in this photo Pnina...open images help the interested viewer to make his part of the job rather than say woaow and pass to another one...

it always amazes me how good photography can look so simple and direct (and be not so simple to record)...I guess I am totally nostalgic of a time where I was more insouciant like them...

 

By the way I find Andy K.'s (a fine photographer by the way) comment especially interesting in the context of this image...what do you want to communicate ?...looking at this image I would answer nothing special just record life and its special true moments, a mood, an insousciance...and that is already much more than most of the picture I see (including of course mine)...

the burlesque of this image is wonderful Carlos...but on the other side it looks so natural we would take it as business as usual...I enjoy it very much...

A superb documentary image...I like the simplicity and directness...thanks for sharing...

Jack, why do you have to tell everybody about the moo cow... I mean the story sounded quite good, I just started to get email from girls and screenwriters...

the texture and the balance are wonderful...the bathrobe is maybe not directly alive but it is inhabited...an inspired image...

this image has a dreaming mood and is naturally nostalgic of childhood...I like it very much...

 

I deeply respect your choice and intentions Jeff but you would not be surprised that I tell you I prefer the color version...I like the BW but I think it moves the image into a darker mood which is even more nostalgic and a bit dark/sad....both have a dreaming mood but the color is "pastoraly" nostalgic of childhood and goes better for a young kid in my personal impression...

by brave I think you mean unconscious...:-)...thanks Pnina...

Gail, just a simple question....if someone would shoot your ass in the street with an EF 100-400 you would still call it respect and good photojournalism...the fact that these people are poor doesn't mean the way we see them should be different...it only mean we have to help them...shooting their ass is the same as shooting your ass...now if you tell me someone shooting your ass in the street has your respect I could understand your opinion...

Some people disminish family or wedding photography, sometimes even street in favor of more complex subjects...why not...but I think when the subject is closer to the photographer, the chances to produce expressive & meaningful results is much bigger...all to often you see images where people look unnatural because the photographer did not spent enough time to break a bit the ice at the surface...

 

I am personnaly interested in all genre, essential being mainly to feel a kind of dedication and some integrity...integrity being one of the biggest issues...I don't want to rant (it's not my style anyway) but sometimes when looking at some photos here I ask myself a simple questions...is the intentions of the photographer to transfer feeling/emotions and communicate about a subject...or is the goal showing how good the photographer is ?..I have no easy general answer...

 

However, I am sometimes suprised when amateurs start tackling "photojournalist" type of subjects (like poverty in the south)...when they have not been able to produce a single excellent trully expressive (eventually layered) family shot...for me the photographic journey starts where you are (Jack is one example of that) and the more experience you get the farther away you can go...

the superb back light (with WA) gives such an huge sense of space...a wonderful image Jeff...

 

It's interesting your views about family shots...personaly I think it's fantastic if one succeeds in bringing family images that can be interesting to others...

 

I share the same feeling that I am often reluctant to share some family image...but it's my current life...I am either at work or with the family...since they are still very young I spend 99% of my spare time with the kids and I have a few days per year to shoot freely (mostly during holidays)...but what one could see as a drawback can also be seen as an advantage...if you don't want to take the same kid picture over and over and get bored of your own images you can also start to try different things...frankly I often prefer to see good, personal and original family & friends pictures than more complex subjects that people get inspired from masters and fail badly to reproduce...but that's another debate...

 

this reminds me a very interesting master class session from David Burnett at World Press:

 

http://www.worldpressphoto.org/index.php?option=com_media_gallery&area=showGallery&task=view&id=10&Itemid=180&bandwidth=high

 

he covered wars, olympics, politics, etc....at the end of the session he said he regret one thing....he did not take enough family photo in his life...I don't want to rant in favor of family photos, I just want to say it's a genre like the others where you can get bad as well as good and original images...

the mix of tone of sand, clouds and foam creates a confusion that is really wonderful...turning it contribute in the same vein to challenge the viewer...

they seem so young to be alone (at least the one facing us)...fast and alone but connected..is it the future ?

Mom with the mind game....boys with the electronics...the world 's turning round...this is the spontaneity that I enjoy so much here...an image without forcing...easy and natural...well not so easy to get I know I know...

two elephants making fun of a passerby...the world is crazy, nature has no respect for mankind...revenge, revenge !

Busy but organised and well readable...the comic book colors were cooperative...

Linda's analogy is superb...they effectively seems to wait for something to happen and their position facing the light participate to create the mood...what a strange group feeling...