Teacher Taking Down The Last Bulletinby
sanxComment by rjkstesch: Greetings from the Critique Club
This image has a wonderfully nostalgic feel to it. My first impression was that I was looking through a window into this scene. The lighting supports that feeling. This shot is highly emotive with a highly candid feel.
The composition of this shot bothers me somewhat. The bookcase and materials visually outweigh the white board pulling my eye away from the teacher. In fact, I find my attention bouncing between the teacher and board, the bookcase, the orange chair in the front corner and the left chairs which are facing a different direction than the back desks. Perhaps cropping the left 1/4 or the right 1/4 would provide a stronger balance and focus on the teacher. Each element of the shot carries visual information to create the whole image. In this case all of the pieces overwelm the focus on the teacher. Eliminating one of them could allow it back.
The biggest stickler in this photo was the grain. For me, it creates the drama and emotion, however, for most voters, the grain indicated a poor quality photo, instead of the artful rendition of an emotion. You run the risk of losing the voters when you try a dramatic shift in photographic style. In this case, most of the voters did not stay with you.
Meeting the challenge: Clearly the major light source is artificial as asked for in the challenge. There are other light sources evident, which may have been a stumbling block with the voters, also.
I was amazed to see that such a risky, artistic shot would come from a 14 year old. This shot indicates you see the world through different eyes that have much to add over the future years.
Overall: A highly emotive slice of life which was not able to pull the voters in because of the choice of post processing, yet appealed some especially because of it's uniqueness.
Becky
Photographer found comment helpful.