I've been admiring everyone's submissions for quite a while now, so I figure it's time I throw my hat into the ring:

Looking out of a cafe in San Jose, Costa Rica. Click the image for a bigger picture. More photos from this trip at http://www.bigadventures.com/trips/costarica.

-- Steve Leroux (steve@bigadventures.com), July 20, 2000

Answers

Welcome aboard Steve!

I like this photo. It's got a perfect amount of colour to offset the 'grey' of the surrounding area. Even the people are ephemeral blobs of grey, in a sense, in their movement. And she is perfectly still against them.

For me, as well, it's kinda voyeuristic, because I find the main woman's back extremely attractive.--And I want to know who she is. (But then again, I'm always atracted to women of this shape/hair- colour/style, etc. Although usually Guyanese and...Filipina. not that anyone asked...) shawn

-- shawn (shawngibson_prophot@yahoo.com), July 20, 2000.

Hi Steve!

I too like your picture. The colour, yes, but also the way the people on the street are blurred while the girl is completely sharp. What was the shutter speed (1/2 sec?), how did you manage to get the girl to stand completely still, and do you always carry a tripod on your travels? (You did use a tripod, didn't you?)

PS: Your web site is neat! How about adding a section on what equipment you bring along on your travels? It is something I keep asking people about and after a few years of experimentation I have still not got it right...

-- Allan Engelhardt (allane@cybaea.com), July 20, 2000.

Shutter speed was about 1/2 second. I noticed her just standing there, not moving, and quickly leapt into action. The camera is resting on a wide wooden railing between the cafe and the sidewalk. The camera is a Pentax ZX-5n with Sigma 28-105 lens. I do carry a small gitzo tripod but didn't have the time or room to set it up (not that I needed it, apparently). When travelling I carry either the above kit or the same body with 24mm, 50mm, 90mm macro and 135mm primes. The zoom is fine if I'm just publishing to the web; if I expect to get prints and I have the space I'll take the larger kit.

My biggest beef with this picture is the big sign ("QUI-MODA") across the street. It's very distracting and doesn't relate, in either form or content, to the people on the street.

-- Steve Leroux (steve@bigadventures.com), July 20, 2000.

this comes close to real success, for me. i feel that the bright, almost garish exterior has captured the girl's attention, while the blurred, semi-extant passerbys are obviously of secondary importance to her consciousness. thus, by the use of photographic clarity and the lack thereof, we are placed into the mind of the static, staring girl. frankly, the primary blemish for me, and it is a serious one, is the terribly distracting nature of her bra strap. it brings a sense of the mundane to an otherwise ephemeral image.

-- wayne harrison (wayno@netmcr.com), July 20, 2000.

Actually, given this composition, the sign is the most important element! (Try taking it out in Photoshop and see what you have left.) Here you have a frame within a frame consisting of the girl, the pedestal and the sign. The subject of this photo is actually her view of the street (or as Wayne points out, her consciousness of the street) including the faceless blur of people that pass by without stopping.

The problem with the bra strap isn't that it's mundane - the whole shot is mundane - that's the point. But the buckle does stop your eye and should be fixed in Photoshop. Similarly, I'd tone down the hue of the red sign on the upper right to keep it from attracting the eye unduly out of the rest of the composition.

And, rather obviously, the title of this should be Qui-Moda.

-- John Kantor (jkantor@mindspring.com), July 21, 2000.

Apart from what has already been said above, I think the most successful part of this photo is the relationship between the woman in the front and the other person in the far right of the image. The colour and emotional relationships between those two figures are very interesting to me.

-- David Hou (dna2367@hotmail.com), July 22, 2000.