It is also for Get Pushed week 111: my get pushed partner Mannie @mbemis said - "Since you're going back to the good old days with your project, I would like to challenge you to take a photo that does those things old Doc Martin (her photography professor) wanted from his students: tell a story, convey emotion, and include more than one person. It will be like you're a photojournalist from the 70s! Because we would develop and print our own in b&w, I would also like for your news photo to be in b&w."
I have found this quite a challenge for a number of reasons. Technically: the very contrasty sunlight we are enjoying at the moment requires a dynamic range greater than the camera can handle. Artistically: with a candid street shot, I would normally frame large, snap off a couple of quick shots and sort it out in post-processing. As I can't do that, I am forced to poke a 50mm lens at close range in the direction of complete strangers,whilst I check all round the viewfinder for intruding objects... and hope that I'm not going to lose the 'decisive moment'.
This is the first image I have felt worth posting - it is entitled: "The plight of the elderly in towns goes largely unnoticed." and the emotion being displayed is 'indifference'.
@mbemis Hi Mannie - here's a first try for your challenge, which is proving to be exactly that, as I explain above. In a B&W darkroom I could have worked wonders with this image... sigh! I like the story and the emotion but technically, this image is lacking. Must try harder Dr Martin, must try harder Dr Martin.....
@vignouse Oh, Richard, you definitely got the story and the emotion. Didn't you want to shake those girls and tell them to help the woman with her bags? The girls seemed to be indifferent to you as well, so that worked. As for the contrast, I see what you're saying about the sunlight, but maybe that plays into the story as well. The girls are really in the dark about those around them--you, the woman, probably each other. We just want them to wake up and look around them, step into the light and let the sunshine in. But they choose to stay wrapped in their own little worlds, oblivious to others. I say, "Well done."
@frankhymus I know Frank, but as I mentioned at the beginning of this personal challenge, I'm going to use only two picture styles 'Landscape' and 'Monochrome' and take what comes. Once again, this month- for me - the learning takes precedence over the resulting image, and in the past few days I've begun to recognise when the dynamic range in a scene might exceed the capabilities of the sensor to record it... that's valuable learning in my book.
I think this is greatRichard. It tells a sad story of our time. Indifference is a perfect description. I think you're pushing me to get out of the garden
Indifference is very alive here in the US or at least here in Florida. I can well attest to that after what I've been through in the last two years. These women so engrossed in the wrong conversation that they are Livius to what is going on around them. I do like the black-and-white in spite of your comments against it.
I think you did a great job composing this shot. The b&w adds to your "indifference" inference. I'm happy to say that my Seattle friends/relatives are not indifferent to seniors.
Great composition with a wide dynamic range. Bright sunlight to shade.
O love the framing of the old woman with her bags. A real old fashioned street photograph
O love the framing of the old woman with her bags. A real old fashioned street photograph