This was a candid shot with out much time to prepare. This is my Dad preparing olives and he's not much of a poser, so I had very little time to capture the naturalness and reality of this story—sacrificing better preparation. I'm not happy with the technical merit of the photo, but am immensely satisfied with the artistic merit. Half way through this competition and this photo isn't scoring well, but it has received many inquisitive comments. So for me it's a success.
Statistics
Place: 966 out of 1129 Avg (all users): 4.8274 Avg (commenters): 5.7045 Avg (participants): 4.7956 Avg (non-participants): 5.0143 Views since voting: 689 Views during voting: 647 Votes: 481 Comments: 54 Favorites: 1 (view)
Interesting shot. Nice sepia conversion and well composed. I like the style of this. 8
I am not an American ( I am guessing this is an American theme)
So I am guessing this is an immigrant ( maybe a Polack) who is getting nicely integrated in the American (or maybe it is Canadian) lifestyle .I cant really see what he is cleaning there but I think it's a shell animal of some kind like small oysters or mussels hence the hammer to crack their shells. Since it's probably seafood the likelyhood that it is in Canada somewhere increases.
Please humor me and send me an explanation of how far wrong I am.
Don't take this the wrong way but as I see DPC as a learning experience here is my frank critique:
This comes across as a snapshot. By that I mean that I feel that anybody standing where you were with a camera could have gone click and got this result. I think a photographer should aim to do more than that. I may be wrong and perhaps you do have more of a story to your shot but the fact is that it doesn't come across to the viewer.
As an example, if you were in Paris and saw the Eiffel Tower you could hold the camera and go click. You'd have a shot that millions of other tourists have and would be good as a record of your holiday. I think at DPC you need more than that. You need to consider the POV - make it something that enhances the tower (include a flowerbed or kissing couple in the foreground), make use of lighting (dusk for shadows), composition (maybe include the buildings beside it to get a sense of scale).
I hope this helps and please don't be offended, I'm only offering an opinion.
not quite sure what to say about a man in his pants sat in his living room whilst hitting stuff with a mallet. I assume he is shelling fish or something
Well this is wonderful. He seems to be so content. I once heard a story from a friend of mine - his father was born in a small village where he used to drink water from the mountain stream in the woods. When he moved to the city he maintained his old habbit by drinking water above the tub holding the shower upside down...
I love this image. I imagine whatever he's doing (for I have no clue what he's doing) should probably be done outdoors, but he's doing it in a pristine, nice home with his cell phone next to him. He (or his wife) don't want the mess, however, so he strips down & covers the floor. It's charming & quirky all at once.
Thought it was my dad! If I told him once I told him a thousand times "Don't sit around doing the menial tasks in your undies!" My fear is ending up like him. Great capture.
The person looks kind of distorted. The eye contact is great , but a shot like this with all the background distractions will make it difficult to score highly here.
I love the title here, it helps to tell a story rather than let us just think about a man in his underwear. Sometimes titles actually improve the photo. This is one of those times.
Sitting in his undies is traditional? I can't quite tell what he is working on (some kind of shellfish, maybe?) but it's tough to convey specifics and still keep the context of the modern-looking room.
Great subject and model. Unfortunately the it would have worked better with the background elements removed or blurred. The man seems to meld with the dividing wall behind him.
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