Man - this opened with a low 5 and was sitting in the 5s for quite some time. I must say that I was crushed. It has taken the entire week to move up to the 6.5 mark its at now. Hopefully rollover will drop some low votes.
As for the story - I didn't have a proper tale to tell though I am sure people can create their own if they have been following the progression of the images. This was the next logical step (if anything with the Real Tooth Fairy could be considered logical). So I dont have a story of the character - but I can share the story of the image being made.
Let me begin by saying that this was a very busy week for us. Between family, church activities and the various portrait sessions we have been doing, life has just been full. I had no intentions of doing this shoot and was just going to let it slide. Surprisingly enough I actually had requests from DPCers for another installment. I relented.
I went downtown the Thursday of the challenge week to pick up Aimee from work, have dinner and then head to this certain alley that I know of downtown. This was shot around 6pm in downtown Columbus and at this time of day the city is still pretty busy. We went to the alley way and there in the spot I wanted to use was a large fresh puddle of pee. Aimee was terribly grossed out by it - I on the other hand thought it was a brilliant prop. I had Aimee sort of kneel right next to the "spot" so i could st up the camera focus and adjust the lights. I was using the 420 bounced off a silver umbrella. One big issue was that it was windy - really windy and the light stand kept wanting to blow over. I set up the stand and camera so taht they were close to each other so Aimee could hit the shutter and hold the stand at the same time. Initially the shot was just going to be of a down and out Tooth Fairy but it seemed pretty flat. I got Aidan out of the van (Rowan hung out in her seat) and had him hold a stone and pretend to give it to me. We took a handful of shots and they were ok but not really great. Aimee looked across the road and pointed out another location that had cool bricks, garbage cans and this grate on the wall. We moved over to this area and reset. Here though I placed the light stand at a further distance from the camera so Aimee coudlnt hold it. I set up quick, got into position with Aidan in front of me and when the wind seemed low Aimee left the stand and hit the shutter a couple of times. This was one of the captures.
Now throughout this whole shoot there were people going by. Some people walking by, biking by, driving by. A couple of cops came by, looked at us and kept on moving. At one point a guy rode by on a bike and I almost asked him to stop and help by holding the light stand. I am sure it all looked pretty crazy but I think many just found it funny.
There are some thing that I wish were different in this shot. I forgot my shoes. I would have been at least wearing one. I wanted an empty alcohol bottle by me but couldnt find one before I left. And the biggest goof up of all - you cant see my hairy belly. I know most of you probably appreciate that part of me being covered up, but it messes with the consistency of the series of images.
I have been at DPC for over 2 years now and have entered close to 250 challenges in that time. A large (very large) percentage of those entries are of my small stable of regular models. I have been very fortunate that though in many entries the anonymity of my work is thrown out the window, I still am able to pull decent scores with my work. Odds are any votes cast high for my images because they are mine are properly balanced by those votes that are cast low for the same reason.
I am so grateful for the experience and education that I have received in my stay here at DPC. I have grown as a photographer and photo editor way beyond what I ever could have expected and its due to the information and dedication of those that populate this website. And even if I never enter another challenge, this place has provided me with with the inspiration to take images of my family that I never would have thought of or had any reason to take. And for that I say thank you.
Post challenge - its hard not to take the low votes personally. My vote curve of 4 and lower compared to those of the other top 20 images is way different. People must just be getting sick of me.
Statistics
Place: 11 out of 170 Avg (all users): 6.5190 Avg (commenters): 8.0455 Avg (participants): 6.3151 Avg (non-participants): 6.6941 Views since voting: 3137 Views during voting: 520 Votes: 158 Comments: 38 Favorites: 1 (view)
I don't think people are sick of good ole "TF". Overall this is probably the best of the images, thus far. I think however what seperates this from the others is the previous images had more of an immediate "funny bone" impact. This one almost has a touch of sadness. I would love to see the tooth fairy getting stuck in a hold up. Maybe three or four kids, a nice big bag of quarters.... just an off the cuff idea.
Just a question, but have you thought of doing an entire series and turning it into a book?? I really enjoy all of the zany things TF gets himself into, maybe others would as well :) AND even if a few scores are low, who cares? Its all for fun anyway and I bet you get some great time with your family shooting all of the photos. It would be disasterous for you to stop entering challenges. I, for one, look forward to your stuff, it shows GREAT talent.
Tim
Another brilliantly conceived and delivered shot. It is strange about the low votes, but I guess you are a noticeable one and people must be annoyed with your success here. Too bad. I think it is a brilliant series and can't wait for the next installment.
LOL! I never get tired of seeing these. It's technically excellent and humorous to boot. Your neighbours must love seeing you in that costume (errr... it is a costume, isn't it ?? ;-) Congrats on 11th place, Tim.
Congrats on 11th...this image deserved much higher. I understand your pain with the low votes....I get them on my SP's...that's why I don't enter them much now.
Oh, another Timfy special. Really enjoying the series, and I have to admit your character has popped into my head a few times as I've contemplated my own images. :)
I'm intrigued about the story here - particularly the real story of the reactions as you set up this shot... Great light, etc, I sense a ribbon here...
So this is what happened after you got in the slammer. Oh boy. Could probably find you a job with the big man up in the north....
Great shot Tim or Aimee, hehe. Really, this is a great 3rd shot of the series of the story :) No technical nitpicks, just all praise this time.
Boy, Mr. Tooth Fairy, your really pulling our teeth with all these sightings of you:-) Tim, if this continues you will have enough in the series to do a storybook:-) Having gone through the stack of entries I put this in my top 7 - as always love the details you have added here that make this shot of a down-and-out Tooth Fairy - from his downtrodden expression to the pliers lying on the ground to the hole in the sock to the down-turned wing to the trash can and the hand handing him a spare (coin) tooth. Ya know, I think you may have crafted a character with the same charm/interesting character to watch as Charlie Chaplin's The Tramp. The lighting, composition, and color tones are excellent. Just another thing with the details - I have to ask was it intentional or a happy accident that the only letters visible on the trash bin spell RUM?
Funny thing...I was just thinking of you two seconds ago (no lie) while browsing this Challenge. "Hmmm...this would be a great opportunity for Tim to capture a story and not create one..." Oddly this will most likely win something. Good Luck!
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