Brothers at the Railroadby
davidus428Comment by KaDi: Greetings from the Critique Club!
A lovely image! Nicely made. The tones are superb! Technically crisp and a delight to view. The toys they hold (yo-yo's?) hint at the poverty of their situation as do the clothing and lack of clothing and the bare spots on the younger child's scalp. However, without more context, without seeing their surroundings, I am not moved. After reading the other commentators, I wonder if I'm naive or callous (though I don't consider myself either of those.)
Perhaps, what I'm missing is what the image is missing...the story. Where are they? Who are they? Why should this image compel emotion in me? Outside of the challenge, I have the benefit of the photographer's comments. If this were in the media, I'd have the benefit of a caption and/or story. But the title and the image alone do not pull at my heart strings. To me, it appears to be two poor but healthy children in the moment of a sunny day. They are distracted by different concerns which I can not see. There is no apparent danger. They seem to casually wrestle with each other, the older trying to separate himself from a clingy younger child.
Overall, this is technically lovely but lacking in its descriptive quality, in my opinion.
Congratulations on a well-placed, journalistic-like portrait.
Photographer found comment helpful.
