Megan at the Train Stationby
lisaeComment by emorgan49: Hello from the Critique club- Here is my (FAR from expert) opinion on your travel picture.
I am at a loss how to "critique" a perfect picture. Critique implies being critical or offering suggestions for improvement. So I will just blab a bit on why I like this photo so much. Don't expect this to be too organized.
First, this is a compositional masterpiece. There are three conflicting parts and each is distinctly diferent visually also. First is the Goth Girl, very very modern and very very out of place. She is all black, the darkest and most "contrasty" thing in the image. Nicely placed on the rules of thirds line. Second there is the modern boring industrial world represented by the squared containers in the background. These are all oriented the other way, laying down , in opposition to the upright girl. They are all a monotone monotonous lower contrast grey tone. Third is the old fashioned train station represented nicely by the filligree above the columns.
Now look at the lines - Perfect. You have the diagonals leading off into the distance, That's where the viewers eye finally travels off too. But the contrary girl looks defiantly in the other direction. The lines of the boxes are all horisontal. The girl is slouchy and bent, the only not straight line in the picture. The negative shapes that are formed by the columns and the roof and the platform are lovley as the diminish in size to the distance. The front post which so nicely divides the picture emphasizes the sense of division as a whole, those three elements of time which do not fi together.
Techincally I can't add anything. the focus and exposure are perfect and both were clearly difficult to achieve. This is an indoor/outdoor exposure, both. The staion is dark but not to dark, the backgroud is bright but not too bright. The foreground (post) midground (girl and station) and the background (containers and even some rural looking scenary) and all in perfect focus. It is sharp without a hard edge, soft without any blur. Black and white was a good choice. Who needs color when the message is so simple.
Emothionally the picture is STUNNING. The alienation of youth, no where to fit in this mundane world. The containerised goods represent the conforming society, row housing, packaged breakfast cereals, bland TV shows, it's all there in those grey boxes. Ms. Goth is too out of place even to protest. She just looks bored and disgusted and trapped. Here she is on an old fashioned train platform, itself a symbol of another age that doesn't fit. Trains? who even thinks about trains in this world of planes and cars? Certainly no one has remodeled that train station in 75 years. Hey are there even any trains running that could take her out? Doesn't look like it. maybe she is waiting for nothing. Nothing here either but hills and more hills. The dilemna of the youth "I don't want to stay here, I don't want to go back and I don't want to move forward". It's amazing that we, any of us, grow up.
Ummmm...maybe, before you hang this in a gallery you could edit out that bright spot behind the front pillar. and send me an invitation to the show!
Message edited by author 2003-01-17 10:46:23. 
Photographer found comment helpful.
