On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:05:05 +0100, Peter Lacus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Frank,
> > you are hereby allowed to modify this picture in any way you like. :-) I really am not very good at editing the work of others. Some here on this list are good at cropping or otherwise re-working any photograph; I have enough difficulty doing that stuff with my own work! <LOL> > > Honestly, I'm really anxious to see (or imagine) your version. Well, I think that maybe I was being unfair to Cotty with my comment earlier. I think that what I should have said is that I would have chosen between the juxtaposition between beggar-lady and majestic statues or the juxtaposition between beggar-lady and disinterested passersby. There are two reasons for that. First, physically, it's hard to get both the statues way above her, and the passersby in the same frame. Whichever I would have chosen, I think I'd have gone with a wider lens, to get close to the lady while still allowing the other elements to be in the frame. I think that might have had more impact. Now, you might well say, "but I wanted both the statues and the passersby in there - that was my vision, or what I was trying to communicate." And, that's fair enough. But my thinking WRT "street photography" or reportage or whatever one wishes to call it is that simpler is better. If one wants to make a point, do it with as few elements as possible. There's enough room for interpretation and mis-communication with very simple scenarios. I often (but not always) try to isolate my subject by making them dominate the frame, or, lately, by narrow dof, or by panning (not applicable here) or whatever. But for me the less ambiguity (from a compositional point of view) the better. That doesn't mean that there can't be ambiguity or tension in the subject(s) themselves: far from it. Such ambiguity or tension makes the viewer think, and that's good. Keep in mind that this is only how I would have done it, or how I think when I'm doing it. I only mention this since you asked. And, I'm not saying I'm right or "more right" than anyone else. Far from it. <vbg> cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
