Daily Routineby
ecameronComment by ubique: Hello Eric, from the bowels of the renowned Critique Club.
You must have been disappointed with the reception given to this image by the voters. If many of the commenters were apparently not prepared to give the meaning of your photograph any serious thought, just imagine what the level of indifference was among those who didn't even comment! Presumably, from the tone of most of the comments, they'd have wanted you to make it pretty, unambiguous and not 'distracting'; rather like a typical ribbon winner. Fortunately, you knew what you were doing.
It's a very interesting street photograph for lots of reasons, not the least of which is that your 'life' is simulated. If you study some of the really good street photographers, as presumably you have, you see that many of their best images involve paradox, irony or whimsy ... just like this image. I think yours is particularly witty because of the bicycle. It literally doubles the viewer's pleasure because it becomes a joke-within-a-joke; the people are fake, but one of them came by bicycle! Another lovely touch is the 'halo' of light above the bicyclist's head. It's like italics - it tells the viewer where in the image the emphasis lies, and differentiates him from the lesser, hopelessly inanimate statues on the other bench.
By the way, it's interesting that you did get an appreciative comment and a good score from Pawdrix ... interesting because he is one of DPC's best exponents of street photography.
It's traditional in these critiques to blather on about focus and depth of field and perspective and all that technical guff. I'll spare you that, for two reasons. First because I don't think those matters are particularly relevant to the worth of this image. And second because if you'd wanted advice about that stuff I doubt that you'd have taken this picture at all.
Cheers,
Paul.
Photographer found comment helpful.
