For what it's worth, here's my first posted photo, which comes from an essay on street children in India. I shot it last September in Bihar, India, the poorest state in one of the world's most populous regions. These children are dalits -- a.k.a. untouchables -- and live in or around the railway station. I shot this pair at a drop-in center, offers counseling and elementary health care. Technical data: M6TTL, 24mm ASPH, Fuji NPH 400. Sorry, you'll have to view it at the link below. I haven't yet figured out how to include the shot in this posting.

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=605133

I await your thoughts and flames. And let me know if you'd like to see more.

-- Gulley Jimson (gulleyjimson@hotmail.com), February 28, 2002

Answers

Decent job Gulley! I don't know if it is the scan, the exposure or a combination of both, but the image appears soft to me, and also under- exposed.

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), February 28, 2002.

Interesting...it used to bother me when the suject looked at the camera. I mean in certain situations, (ie. portraits) it is important. But in documentary/street photography, it really bothered me. But as I get older and time passes I find it refreshing when a a stranger having his picture taken by a stranger is refreshing. Without this interaction between the subject and the camera and thus the interaction between the subject and the viewer is everything in this picture. The bio and surroundings help tell a story; but the subject peering into the camera bring intimacy.

Great job.

-- Rob Schopke (schopke@attbi.com), February 28, 2002.

CORRECTIONS Interesting...it used to bother me when the suject looked at the camera. I mean in certain situations, (ie. portraits) it is important. But in documentary/street photography, it really bothered me. But as I get older and time passes, I find it refreshing when a stranger having his picture taken by a stranger is refreshing. Without this interaction between the subject and the camera and thus the interaction between the subject and the viewer this picture would be shallow. This interaciont is everything. The bio and surroundings help tell a story; but the subject peering into the camera brings intimacy.

Great job!

-- Rob Schopke (schopke@attbi.com), February 28, 2002.

Great color & composition! I like the expressions, the kid in profile & the almost hidden person on the left. There is a certain softness to the front facial, but that may be from some scanning loss or from making the image web-ready. But the photo's a nice one. Good effort! And I'd like to see more--

-- Patrick (pg@patrickgarner.com), February 28, 2002.

I like your photo. It has what I look in a colour photo: saturation, harmony, balance. IMHO in a colour photo the treatment of colour should be part of the interest, otherwise, a B&W photo would do a better job most of the time.

Interesting comment the one from Rob: the human sight is interesting in itself and when properly shown in a photo it only adds interest to the graphic composition.

I assume your photo looks kind of soft because you hand hold your camera though the left hand of the child looking your way seems to be better defined. Soft focus, perhaps? It was f5.6, but still . . .

Good job, anyhow. Congratulations and thanks for sharing. You could follow Tony's instructions in the Administration section so as to make your photos clickable, at least. Going any further beyond that (I mean including your photo directly onto your posting) still is out of my own reach though the ashamed I feel because of it.

Regards, Gulley

-Iván

-- Iván Barrientos M (ingenieria@simltda.tie.cl), February 28, 2002.

Nice colour. Bihar must be a fascinating place, I've always wanted to go there.

IMO, though, the picture is too much of a snapshot - it doesn't really tell us much about the subject and the kids don't really look 100% at ease with being photographed. It's a very European taboo not having pictures with people looking at you in a documentary context, whereas you get that much more in American photography - MEM is a good example, and a lot of the late lamented Impact's stuff is to the eyes. However, for it to work it has to be more than a look that says "you are taking a picture of me". I'd like to see more of this series (unfortunately the other picture you posted doesn't come up for me).

You say an essay - was it a feature or a personal project?

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), March 01, 2002.

Excellent image, although I feel similar Robert, an expert in this area. I don't have a problem with the child looking at the camera, nor his expression, which I actually feel works as it is quite warm and almost inviting, but with slight apprehension. I feel the shot would have been better if you moved the frame more to the right to include more of the window letting in the wonderful light, making the subjects more off centre. There seems to be too much of nothing happening on the left hand side of the frame.

Excellent work. Show us more.

-- Kristian (leicashot@hotmail.com), March 02, 2002.

Actually, i don't even feel the child is looking directly at the camera, but past it. Doesn't really matter cause I think it works. Though, with a wide angle such as a 24mm you need to include more of the scene- ie. my advice prior.

-- Kristian (leicashot@hotmail.com), March 02, 2002.