Choices, a photo from Sana, West

Photographer's Note

Not my kind of photo, just an experiment. A Yemeni family enjoying the view of a valley(Wadi Dhahr) from a viewpoint. Full 300mm. focal length and cropped. I "chose" the title because it's election day where I live, and I voted one hour ago. The man in the photo also has choices, he has chosen three wives.

This photo was taken discreetly from far away, but I did speak with this family, the big man requested that I take their photo with his camera, which I did, and then he took a photo of me with his camera. I don't think I was invading their privacy in this case.) I also have posed shots of the man with his brother and his son, but it was taken with a film camera and the scan is bad, I only took it because he insisted his photo be taken, but without the wives. I will add that to workshop.

parbo, ViktorVaughn, Bruno40, belido, charlotte_iona, ChrisJ, sleon, zmey, Roly ha contrassegnato questa nota come utile

Critiques | Translate

parbo (11092) 2008-02-05 18:36

Hi Tan,

This one is an excellent DOF. Spectacular. Their black garment, your focus are makes your photo a unique one as usual. Congratulations.

Regards,

Ertugrul

Bruno40 (6662) 2008-02-05 19:36

Yes Tan, not your style, but a good photo. The DOF and quality are good, and the compo and title match perfectly.
Maybe the choice is not which wife, but perhaps the cliff or the wives? (:-)
Have a good day
Jorge

ViktorVaughn (1525) 2008-02-05 20:16

Indeed a different shot from your dramatic landscape shots. But always good to try something new :) There are a few things I like about this photo, and a few things I don't like. What I like is how you composed the background, with the peaks out-of-focus, but excellently placed at the top of the frame. I also like the inclusion of the man, who adds important colours (especially the white). What I think could be improved is the fact that the two women on the right blend into one another, it would have been nice to see them as separate silhouettes (obviously difficult, especially when photographing women in Yemen!). I also think it is perhaps cropped a bit close, and maybe leaving a bit (only slightly) more of the scene would allow the viewer to appreciate the photo more.

A fresh photo from you Tan, keep up the posts.

Regards,
David

PixelTerror (0) 2008-02-06 0:57

Salaam Captain,
Nice Dof to differentiate them from the desert landscape, even though there is quite much overlapping, the're not looking at you here but the group tells it all about the (local) world, the ladies look like ghosts. I wonder how the guy can manage 3 wives, even with one it's not always easy LOL, possibly women have lower expectations in Yemen... Looking at the WS I'm amazed to see how elegant they are to walk in the desert !
Have a nice day JY

alibasarir (15580) 2008-02-06 1:49

merhaba tan bey
çok güzel bir kompozisyon olmuş.özellikle son derece flu görünen arka plan önünde çok belirgin ve net görünen insan görüntüleri mükemmel bir atmosfer oluşturmuş.özelliklede siyah çarşaflara bürünmüş kadınların görüntüleri farklı ve sıradışı elinize sağlık.
selamlar
Ali

donluicu (24741) 2008-02-06 2:12

hi Tan
i'd say tha tthis framing would have been perfect if the groupe was facing you..
the rest of the image is nice, good short dof..
nice framing

congrats

loic

ps: when do you plan exaclty to come over to corsica, and how many days?

belido (19934) 2008-02-06 2:38

Hi Tan,

it's not your kind at all but interesting and well presented anyway. It must be nice to get involved with such different cultures. We need to care about what we do, not to bother people...nice job!
Regards,
Carlos

ChrisJ (171222) 2008-02-06 4:55

Hi Tan

Yemen looks like a fascinating country to visit. Good graphism of the burqa clad women, against the oof bg. Tfs!

sleon (9402) 2008-02-06 6:33

Hi Tan
Interesting subject here, though I'm not sure the figures are so well positioned relative to each other to distinguish them (not that this could really have been altered). A fitting title too. The DOF works well to give a sense of distance. Not your best photo but nevertheless interesting and successful. Tried to reply to your email but it bounced back. Will probably be away on business that week but these things are always subject to change... keep me informed and enjoy your travels!
Regards, Susanna

zmey (7335) 2008-02-06 6:42

hello tan

an interesting scene. quite unusual for my northern-european eyes as a family outing scene. a tad syrreal even. but perfect composition all around. and the blurred background serves nicely to portray that desert heat feeling, the one which makes the air appear thick and heavy in distance.

my compliments and TFS
kristaps

Cormac (26565) 2008-02-06 7:44

Interesting shot, in that you have the people in the foreground, very sharp, and then the mountains behind them blurred out. The contrast between the foreground and background is quite large, so the figures stand out very well. At first I thought it would be better if they were facing you, but then I thought it's better this way, with them looking into the distance, like we are. Nice work!

bazal (7900) 2008-02-06 23:26

Hi Tan.
That's for sure an unusual picture in your gallery, but I really like it. A common point with the rest of your work is that it still uses the beauty of the landscape as a fantastic background. I like the very limited DOF here which is allowed by the use of the max focal length of your telezoom. The athmosphere is special and the behaviour of the characters is interesting (the man looking in one direction and the three wives turning simultaneously their head in another).
Thanks for sharing.

delic (6735) 2008-02-07 0:49

It's a good effort, Tan. Would have been better if the four of them did not overlap, esp. the women. I like the telephoto view with shallow depth of field but my God, that lens has awful bokeh. Happy trails!
Hakan

meyerd (1628) 2008-02-07 9:17

Hi Tan,
it's good you explain to us that tyou were careful not to invade privacy. I know the photographer's conflict about it and I have also decided to fall on the side of discretion and decency. Often people must feel like animals in a zoo when they are goggled at by us. It happened to me once the other way round: in the Wakhan valley (Tajikistan) where I was bicycling I was looked at like an animal in the zoo!
Best regards
Dietrich

smash2707 (3320) 2008-02-08 13:37

Hi again, Tan. Nice compo. Good DOF, nice sharpness and good light. Yes, I would have been nice to see the two women on the right separated, but with this kind of shots, there's not much room to work. Regards, Yvonne

rbcy1974 (20758) 2008-02-12 5:12

Hello Tan
Very interesting photo, I am glad that you experimented away from your trademark photos.
I would just say as a pointer that you should try not to center the people in the photo.
Regards
Daniel

ahmetgedikli (25609) 2008-03-17 15:19

Bu fotoğrafınız puan anlamında öksüz kalmış... Aslında bir fotoğrafta olması gereken pek çok öge var burada... Ama insanların ne düşündüğü bilinmez.
Ellerinize sağlık, selamlar.
Ahmet