Damn, I can't believe some the voting on this challenge: it seems to be a feature of these challenges where the subject title is entirely a matter of personal opinion, that the group dynamic seems to rest on a very very tight, very very obvious interpretation. I think perhaps that is to do with folks wanting to be able to carve out only a very few shots from the mass, it being much easier to simply score a shot low for misinterpretation than to have to think about what score it actually merits. But I'm guessing - and you'll see from my entry to this challenge that I have no more idea than you how to follow their rules.
But I like this shot: particularly the exposure. Again, it works against the 'accepted' strictures of the site (something along the lines of there must be a white point, and a black point, and your colours must be vibrant, not muted). what you've shown here is a real sensitivity to tone, and to the way those tones make up this composition. None of these colours jump and scream at us, no high drama in the treeline, nor whay sky is visible; no eye-catching effect of light, or clever post-processing. In short, a scene that many would percieve as a simple, ordinary snapshot ... but I see a great deal of care in this: in the framing of the child against the grass, and in the balance of the dirt and the cages, but most particularly in your capture and use of that late evening light - a delicate thing to handle, and mostly overplayed, but here just balanced correctly. There's nothing to really place it at that time of day, other than a sense I get from the shot - so I suppose I might be making it up. But I like that feel.
It doesn't yell out waiting, however, not to me, and despite your title, and will have suffered a lot for that reason, and for it being a shot of a child. That care and depth of tonality will be lost on most voters who won't give your image more than around 5 seconds (as applies to most of us, I believe - just a part of the format), and many will have passed it by simply as a family snapshot, and dismissed it with a 5, or less.
I think they're missing a little gem, but I've spent a fair bit of time looking at it.
Oh, and I fear the horizon line isn't straight - and that will have hurt the shot another bit more.
Some of the reasons why i think it scored where it did, anyway.
I thought the border distracted, and I think cghubbel was right about the POV. Without the title, I thought he was waiting for the game to start, so I wrong, but it was still waiting. The other thing I thought was just a bit too much sky/trees, as they distracted a bit from the setting/subject combination.
All that said though, just because I didn't think it was great for the competition, I did think it was a nice picture.
Seems a little underexposed. The border detracts instead of helping, because it makes the photo even darker. A light border might have helped that aspect. I didn't think it fit the challenge. I think if you had some other players in the photo that he was supposed to be waiting on, it would have done better. I hope that helps.
I gave you a 6. Sorry, It does not POP like some others in the challenge. Seems a little dark to me, and maybe could use better cropping? The fence on the right is distracting. IMHO I am new to this...
I thought it was a good shot and gave it a 7. The composition was very good, but the light is a little flat, and it doesn't express waiting as well as some other shots did. Without reading the title, the wait aspect is kind of obscure.
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