This was a lucky shot for me. This is my daughter Ellie on a field trip. We had stopped at a park for lunch and then turned all the kids loose for play time. As I was walking over I noticed my daughter standing there, looking dejected, alone and sad. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "All the stuff is overcrowded and there's no one to play with."
I didn't want to pose her or let her know what I had in mind so I told her to decide what she wanted to play on and get in line with the other kids. I walked away, pulling my camera out of my pocket, turned around and shot. Right after I took this shot she looked over and then pretty much clung to me, didn't get another chance.
I cropped just a tad, desaturated, resized, sharpened just a bit and here you have it.
Statistics
Place: 138 out of 319 Avg (all users): 5.1588 Avg (commenters): 7.5000 Avg (participants): 5.0543 Avg (non-participants): 5.2885 Views since voting: 1853 Votes: 233 Comments: 16 Favorites: 0
She certainly looks alone and lonely; the other kids are just part of the background. The black and white adds to the feeling, but I think the conversion made the image a little flat and blends the subject's into the background.
Very nice contrast between the groups of kids and the one who's alone. This captures the essence of the challenge. I think cropping out some of the tree tops would better direct attention to the children.
Nice use of light and b&w. Gives a good darker mood to the image. Though the subject isn't alone, I do get a feeling of solitude. Focus helps remove the girl from the background, which enhances that feeling. Very well done. 7
I don't like the crop all that much, but I assume there was stuff on the left and right that would have detracted from the photo. Perhaps cutting some off the top would have helped. I like the b&w. Nice job showing "alone" even though there's more than one person in the frame.
What a sad story this paints. In my opinion I would have tossed out the 1/3 and cropped it as much the children's heads as it is from the alone girl's feet. The trees add nothing but space to the top. Still a 7.
This is a great example of 'alone amongst others'. It almost looks as if the threesome in the back right are talking about the blonde girl. Excellent job. I can almost feel the subject's loneliness.
I didn't enter for this challenge, but this was also the idea I first thought of. The B & W is a good choice. Maybe having it in landscape format might have placed more impact on "alone" factor. Some more empty space around her, you know? Maybe shooting from a different position might have also benifited this photo, as it is difficult to comprehend the distance between the girl and the group. Other than that a good pic.
good take on the category - i wouldn't have thought there was a way to convey "alone" with more than one person...but you proved me wrong - great idea. My only suggestion would be to use a higher shutter speed to freeze the action of the moving kids. Nice idea to use b/w, that always conveys more of an emotion. nice work.
I think this photo would have been more effective if the other kids had been further off in the background, I don't really get the sense of aloness in this photo as much as the feeling that she was just passing but, she doesn't really appear to being left out...if that makes any sense. :-)
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
