M3 50 cron Kodak tcn400.

Thx for any comments..

-- Travis (teckyy@hotmail.com), April 27, 2002

Answers

Doesn't do anything for me. rofl. Nah, I'm just a bit distracted by the fact a couple of them are looking straight at'cha. Interesting slice other than that I guess.

-- James (snodoggydogg@hotmail.com), April 27, 2002.

I was thinking compositionally, more space under the feet an in front of the group would be nice. The profile is nice, maybe at an angle as well. But, that's street photography for ya.

-- James (snodoggydogg@hotmail.com), April 27, 2002.

Tamil Nadu? Where did you take the picture?

-- Preston Merchant (merchant@speakeasy.org), April 27, 2002.

Aside from the foot-cutoff issue, I like it. The lanes-of-traffic element of the scene is particularly interesting to me, and I'm glad to see the young mother at the rear of the traffic jam passing on the left. ;-)

-- Ralph Barker (rbarker@pacbell.net), April 27, 2002.

Preston, Singapore, Serangoon Road.

-- Travis (teckyy@hotmail.com), April 27, 2002.

What language is that script, Travis? There is a large South Indian community in Singapore. Just curious.

-- Preston Merchant (merchant@speakeasy.org), April 27, 2002.

Preston, the script is Tamil, I believe.

-- Travis (teckyy@hotmail.com), April 27, 2002.

Thanks, Travis. Can you tell us a little more about your project? Is this post part of a series? I'm of the documentary school that favors essays and a context for the photos . . .

-- Preston Merchant (merchant@speakeasy.org), April 27, 2002.

Preston, Serangoon Road is a well known tourist spot in Singapore. There seems to be many flowery road designs and striking personalities. Its called the "Little India", although the majority of Singaporeans are Chinese.

I have yet to completely cover this area. But its a fun spot nonetheless.

-- Travis (teckyy@hotmail.com), April 27, 2002.

Very nice. Lots of visual information to digest. It made me think of Walker Evans, not in a derivative way, but in the way it transported me for an instant to the place it was made. Lives up to the term "Leica Photograph

-- Steve Wiley (wiley@accesshub.net), April 27, 2002.

It sounds like a fun place. I'm interested in Indian communities outside India. As you know, commerce (people and capital) between Singapore and Tamil Nadu is huge. I envy your access. Dive in! See a Tamil movie! Have an iddly!

-- Preston Merchant (merchant@speakeasy.org), April 27, 2002.

The script is indeed Tamil. The British imported laborers from Tamil Nadu to work on the rubber plantations in Malaysia (I don't know what was wrong with the local population), and most of them stayed on. I spent some time in Singapore and Malaysia and they automatically assume that all Indians speak Tamil. The Singapore economy is astounding, it's per capita income is $26,500 versus $22,800 for the UK, so they must be doing something right. It is an expensive place, except for cameras!

-- Vikram (VSingh493@aol.com), April 27, 2002.

Nice shots, Travis. Much better than the "wall" shot you posted a few weeks ago. Even though I'm mostly a B&W guy, I'd be interested in seeing some color shots of the same area.

-- Chris Chen (Wash., DC) (furcafe@NOSPAMcris.com), April 27, 2002.

The second picture is better than the first, but still doesn't do anything for me. Perhaps it's because this sort of thing has become a clichŽ, and your picture doesn't differ from the usual one of this type. Perhaps if one of the wall posters was particularly striking, or said something specific that related to the man walking, but as it is it's just a man walking past some wall posters.

-- Mitch Alland (malland@mac.com), April 27, 2002.

I liked this photo it is gritty with impact.WELL DONE.

-- Allen Herbert (allen1@btinternet.com), April 27, 2002.

Both of them,my sort of photos.

-- Allen Herbert (allen1@btinternet.com), April 27, 2002.

Hi, Travis:

I liked much more your second photo. The first one is either really too congested or I couldn't find a common issue amongst the different people on it to ease my graphic reading. The young mother and child by themselves make an interesting subject.

The feet so close to the bottom of the image don't help either.

On the contrary, trying to find out what was disturbing me in your second photo I thought that the traffic lines are too obstrusive so I arranged the image on my screen to cut the image right under the left foot of the man and IMHO it gained strenght and turned into a more meaningful image because I found my attention easily directed to the relationship between the posters on the wall and the man's stare at them.

Difficult photos.

Thanks for sharing. Regards, Travis.

-Iván

-- Iván Barrientos M (ingenieria@simltda.tie.cl), April 27, 2002.

Travis, sorry but I can't seem to get your shots up on my computer as I am having difficulties at present. When it's working fine, I'll offer my opinion.

-- Kristian (leicashot@hotmail.com), April 28, 2002.

Travis, I like both images but prefer the first image. I like the fact that it is busy. For example, Robert Appleby's style doesn't always highlight a main focus point, instead his images postray a scene as he saw it, similar to your first image. The second image doesn't do that much for me because there is too much nothing at the top and bottom of the image. I would've preferred a horizontal framing.

How about some colour?

-- Kristian (leicashot@hotmail.com), April 29, 2002.

Vikram, you mean all Indians don't speak Tamil? ;-)

Travis, I like both shots, with much of the same reactions. The first shot would have been made had the feel been included. By the way, did you scan the negative or the print? I've found that labs often trim carelessly...

As for the second picture, it may just be my CRT, but one of the minor technical difficulties of shooting people outdoors in the tropics-ensuring that skin tones are adequately exposed for.

Its hard for me to judge whether these pictures convey a sense of place to an outsider-I visit this neighbourhood often, and to my eye, they are pretty good in B&W. Color may or may not add anything.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), April 29, 2002.

Thx guys..

Mani, I scanned the print. ;) My scanner isn't all that good for neg scan. Maybe a 4000dpi will give better results.

I will include some color shots in future.

Thx again for commenting.

-- Travis (teckyy@hotmail.com), April 29, 2002.