During my sports shooting for the local newspaper, I have met a lot of very interesting people. This young man, Zac Johnson, is 16 years old. He's an assistant to the coaches and athletes at Saint Stephens High School. I have seen him at every ball game I have covered for this school. I had never talked to him until tonight. I was covering a baseball game between Saint Stephens High and Hickory High. I was sitting in the Saint Stephens dugout while the team was warming up before the game started. Zac came in with a bag of sunflower seeds that he intended to eat. He was struggling to get the bag open. One of the ball players gave him some assistance and he started eating them immediately. He informed me that he needed to eat a lot of these because he's trying to perfect his seed spitting technique. Some of the baseball players can spit the seeds a long way and Zac hopes to compete with them someday :) I asked Zac if I could make a quick photo of him and he happily allowed me to do so...
I'm going to print about ten 4x6 prints of this and give them to him next time I see him. I plan to have him autograph mine for my Photo-A-Day album.
EXIF:
File: IMG_0444.JPG
File size: 1,727KB
Image Serial Number: 304-0444
Camera Model: Canon EOS 10D
Camera serial number: 1020300016
Firmware: Firmware Version 2.0.1
Owner: John M. Setzler, Jr.
Date/Time: 2005:04:11 18:00:05
Shutter speed: 1/400 sec
Aperture: 2.8
Exposure mode: Av
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Evaluative
Drive mode: Continuous: frame 1
ISO: 200
Lens: 70 to 200mm
Focal length: 200mm
Subject distance: 5.12 m
AF mode: One-shot AF
Focus point: [- - O - -]
Image size: 3072 x 2048
Rotation: none
Image quality: Fine
White balance: Auto
Color space: AdobeRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal
Tone: Normal
Custom Functions:
CFn 2: Shutter release w/o CF card: Not possible
CFn 6: Tv/Av and exposure level: 1/3 stop
CFn 7: AF point registration: all
Statistics
Place: 17 out of 251 Avg (all users): 6.5172 Avg (commenters): 7.8800 Avg (participants): 6.4138 Avg (non-participants): 6.6207 Views since voting: 2948 Views during voting: 470 Votes: 232 Comments: 46 Favorites: 10 (view)
What a lovely image along with your narrative. You described his character perfectly just with your snap of the shutter. Great detail and contrast. His expression seems faintly proud.
I'm sure you did more for him that day than you know.
really one of my favorites of this challenge. Probably because of the clean unadulterated honesty in his face. I love that exchange you sometimes get between the subject and the camera that simply states," I'm here, this is me, no more and no less." I guess it's also a look which given without premise and without insecurity. Great capture.
I think this shot is really what the challenge should be about...taking a shot that speaks, and reminds us what it is to be human. One of the best in this challenge.
Your work consistently finds the beauty in life. This is one of those portraits that is not only technically excellent, but an emotional sponge as well; It soaked up more than light. I find this image particularly inspiring and I'm certain Zac will enjoy it as well.
I'm sure Zac will appreciate the photos. What a neat idea. I like this image more every time I see it, and I love the story behind it. Great job here as usual!
Saw this one on you PaD. I figued you would ace this challenge, as people seem to be your forte' imo. Great character catch of him looking right into the camera. I like the tones, as I think it really draws to attention to his features.
Great shot of a kid who's probably experienced some rejection and hurt. Love the tight crop and focus on his face and upper body. Wish the glasses were a little higher so they weren't cutting his eyes in half. Gutsy, reality based shot. Kudos to you!
As I have previously stated, I believe this to be one of your best and most captivating portraits. Good work... would like to see some of your comments after the challenge is over.
Excellent portrait. Works well in warm-toned black and white. Like the viewpoint - not quite face on but still connecting directly with the viewer. Shallow DOF throwing the background out also makes the image more intimate. Really makes me want to meet this person.
This shot shows great character in the subject. I am really bothered by the glasses cutting through the eyes. I think a bit lower angle would have made this perfect.
A nice and sharp picture. Little comments: could have cropped above the lettering in the shirt; the eyes are cut in half by the glasses, should have lifted them a big higher.
I completely love this. It touches me. There's a central area that seems too bright; it's very noticeable in the thumbnail, but even in the larger size it's pullinh my eye down to the shoulder from the face. It would be worth an extra point on your score if this were fixed, but a trong entry in my eyes regardless.
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