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Talkin’ Photowalkin’
In the crisp winter, between Scott Kelby’s two wussy Photowalks, a couple of flickr friends and I did our own… in the bleak midwinter.
Slideshow of that walk.
My set from Kelby’s WorldWide Photowalk.
Recently, though, members of two different local groups I am active with participated in Scott’s second World Wide Photowalk.
I entered the maximum two entries, and that’s done. I needed to choose between two different versions of a candid portrait of a man I met sitting on a mall bench on Fayetteville Street. Maybe I was the wuss that time; I chose the image that was the preferred treatment of the opportunity, based on a query I made of other photographers (all skill levels). Their preference was to use the simpler version, better isolated from the downtown environment around him, and filling the frame.
I still can’t shake the feeling, though, that I find the other version preferable, in that it puts him in context, true to my impression of what a downtown photowalk might be. I like the fact that it includes the “distracting elements” found objectionable by those who responded to my query. It’s not a “better picture”, but it is a different picture –one which is an authentic impression of my time and place and interpretation of Photowalk Raleigh NC. Thus:
Since I don’t mind being disagreed with, chime in, if you want.
One thought: you get the impression that he’s in a cityscape in both photos–the only thing you lose in photo #1 is the height of the buildings. But it’s not like he looks like he’s in suburbia or something, so for me, context is not lost in photo #1. Second thought: in photo#2, for some reason the skyscrapers look incongruous with the man–I’m not sure if it’s because the “busyness” is simply distracting or whether in fact the context highlights him somehow.
Thank you for your specific feedback, Kathryn. I think, too, I’m seduced by a couple of elements not particularly connected to the “portrait” aspect for Robert. I’ll hold off on saying what they are for the moment, and wait for any other input, before I lay them out, here.