...Flopped Wrestler...by
Okan_YILMAZComment by snaffles: Greetings from the Critique Club!
Initial impression: I think this photo is severely underrated. But it happens to us all. My advice: keep shooting and shoot to please yourself, not the voters.
Technical: I have that lens too and love it. The lighting is ambient and you captured it just perfectly for the situation; the leading lines on the ground lead to the wrestler and his defeated posture.
Artistic: I think you caught a very complex story here and we are just seeing the end of it. The wrestler does look beat and weary, perhaps a bit ashamed as he seems to be hiding his head in his arms. That nicely blurred water does look cold, and the simple starkness of the scene probably threw many voters.
Overall: DPC loves to see faces and eyes to help drill home emotion, that's probably why you didn't as well as you might have. I would've given this shot a 6 or 7 in voting.
FWIW: I will give you the same advice I have given others and give myself: Keep shooting, and shoot to pleasde yourself, not the voters. If you skew your style to suit dpc, you will probably not feel comfortable with your shot though it may socre high. However, if you can shoot what you want, and it happens to also please the voters, you could do very well here.
Keep up the good work!
Feel free to PM me with any questions.
Susan
Photographer found comment helpful.