A bee-line to the grave.by
koltrane75Comment by magnon: Greetings from the Critique Club!
You're a brave man to post this, as it is a pretty controversial shot. However, I love the many sides of photography I get to see here at DPC, so thanks for doing it.
When it comes to meeting the challenge, "Lines" is a very wide topic, so it's difficult to say anything else than that you have done.
Black and white is probably the best thing for this shot, but there's nothing that screams "Wow!" about the technical or compositional parts of this image. It's done well, but nothing extraordinary - I think you know that, though.
The composition is a little tight in my opinion. The image is also a little busy and disturbing, because of all the small white spots and a lot of reflections. I don't know what you have thought though, getting it messy might have been your pure intention, and thus it's done right. Composition isn't a rule-based art anyhow. But anyhow, maybe the use of some negative space and a slightly less cropped image would help to give the eye a natural point of rest. What I'm attempting to say is that I don't think it's a fantastic photograph in itself, mainly because of the composition and somewhat because the post processing is a little dullish - some more contrast and highlights could help.
But was an exciting image your intention? I don't think it was. You wanted to tell a story, and you've experienced drug abuse yourself in the past. You're telling me to stay away from the damn things, because it doesn't do you well at all. It's a mess, and in the end it leads you to the grave.
By telling the viewer this, you've done a good image. The title and image work well together. But, as you know, I doubt that a DPC entry is the right medium to push this message.
With that, I wish you happy easter and thanks for keeping controversiality and photography together. If you have any comments on my critique, feel free to PM me.
Photographer found comment helpful.