Hi Frank ... It doesn't cut it for me. While you may have talked with the fellow a bit, the shot looks like a quick grab shot as you walked past (and that's what I thought until I read your details). I find no intimacy here. The fellow's face is partially obscured by his cap, and the angle is distracting. What's going on to his right? It looks like there is another sign there, perhaps some clothes, gloves, a bottle or two of water, a jacket, or a bag of some sort. Those items create a distraction in the photo, and, more important, appear as if they could have been part of the story about this fellow. What he carries with him is important ... the items could be quite telling.
Perhaps had you moved a few steps to your right and shot from a somewhat different perspective (maybe lower ... closer to his level ... sometimes I sit right down on the sidewalk, in front of or alongside the subjects), the photo would have more impact ... You said you wanted a shot of his pennies, and that's what he thought you were photographing. Another approach would have been to tell him that you wanted him in the shot as well ... he was receptive to your being there, and you could have spent a fair amount of time talking and photographing. Good try ... keep up your efforts. Shel frank theriault wrote: > Hi, > > Well, I've actually gotten a couple of rolls back, but this is the first one > that I thought worth blowing up: > > http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=1956319 > > Scanned from 8x10. When he saw my camera, this fellow asked if I wanted to > take a photo of his pennies. I said "sure". He didn't know that with the > wide lens, I was getting him in there, too. > > We talked for several minutes, I threw him some coins (keeping in mind that > unlike Americans, we do have $1 and $2 coins! <g>), and I was off. He > seemed to be such a gentle man, I wondered how he came to be in the > situation that he was in. Next time I'm in that part of town, I'd like to > give him a print of his "art". > > This was the first time I've used the 19mm Vivitar for street photography, > and it is very different, but fun! You really have to get in their faces > with this one. Unfortunately, this lens, while fairly linear, does get soft > around the edges - I don't remember the aperture, but it was likely around > f8 or f11. > > Lemme know what you think, if you're so inclined.
