COMPOSITION An intriguing image. The composition manages to convey a sense of business and loneliness at the same time. The subject is a bit difficult for me to make out though. Appears masculine for some reason (not sure exactly why I think that) but your title suggests it's a woman. The passersby are ghostly and impersonal - maybe a bit too ghostly? Overall, I like the space and context - not too close, not too far. Just right. Excellent comp.
TECHNIQUE Here's where your pic really gets interesting for me. Choosing the right shutter and aperture to capture the motion must be tricky, and I really like your result. The lighting has an orange caste that I like a great deal. It really feels like a somewhat dirty street scene lit by those ghastly cheap sodium vapor lights that you find in many urban areas. Your use of shutter and aperture to capture the action is nearly perfect. I might have liked to see the ghostly walkers a have a bit more definition, but that's splitting hairs in a very technically difficult shoot that you pulled off extremely well. Your depth of field is very great, which is a little surprising given your large aperture. I'm curious what lens you used, and whether it was a zoom or fixed.
OVERALL IMPACT Quite a lot of impact, IMO. I'm very happy to have had a chance to study this image closely. As I suggested above, there is a great deal of emotional tension here, implied abandonment, poverty, and the down-trodden ignored by the insensitive masses. It's not easy to pack such a punch into a simple picture, but you've done it. Your final score of 5.7 is a bit disappointing in my view, but then it's easy to see why many DPCers would pass pretty quickly by (nice irony there, no?) if they're not immediately wowed by something.
I just paused to read over your comments and am gratified to see that others recognized what I saw in this image as well. You should be proud of this accomplishment regardless of its final place in the challenge. I am honored to have been selected to critique it.
Here you've got an image that speaks in many ways. It tells the story of the homeless person, and speaks about how humanity ignores these kinds of people. If only the world were full of good Samaritans that would stop and take time and energy for broken people. But most people (including me) just walk by, worrying about their own lives, being selfish with their time and energy. We need to have J.O.Y. First priority is Jesus, then Others, then Yourself. But in society, this usually works out in opposite. But, Jesus cared for the needy. He saw people like this and cared for them even though they may have been transparent and ignored by the rest of the world.
I really like how your image is a visual transparency of the people walking by, but there is a deeper story of how needy people become transparent to the world.
As far as the actual image, I think that you could have cropped I little more of the left off (so the car wouldn't be sticking out off the end of that booth. For me the orange yellow tone works well. It shows the lights of night in a city, but also the yellow may also be showing the bliss of a city, and that is juxtaposed by the grief of the subject.
I wish dpchallenge had more images that had depth on this many levels, way to truly be outside the box.
It's a pretty picture, but I don't think that shutter speed type ghosts are really transparency. Too bad you couldn't have known that the shutter speed challenge was coming, this would be a very strong entry there, but it doesn't meet my definition of this challenge.
This is a great commentary picture which is enhanced by the title. I think it just spoke to me (where many of the other statement pics in this challenge did not). 8
interesting take on the challenge. I think the orange cast is appropriate for a nighttime scene. Might have been nice to see a bit greater contrast between the highlights and shadows.
Interesting and thought provoking title. I like the "ghosted" legs and feet around her. I find the car in the background a bit distracting, but sometimes you can't help that stuff. Nice job.
AWESOME idea! i love what your photo is saying, and how all the people are just swirling by without even noticing her. by keeping her solid, you show just how invisible she is in our society. well done!!
Great journalistic capture here--I like the motion of passerby's and the tonal coloring. I would have cropped some of the top-I find the car on upper left somewhat distracting. Great image
I was hoping someone would do something like this... I wanted to but didnt find anything I really liked when I was out and about... Powerful statement thank you for entering this.
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