Martin Obeng, Copyright 2000 Jeff Spirer

I don't know how I feel about this. He's from Ghana, he teaches music at Wesleyan College, he's the godfather of my friend's twins. What seems to work is the parallel between his head and hair and the palm. What doesn't seem to work is the light just doesn't quite make it. Anyway, it's here.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), September 17, 2000

Answers

And as usual, I forgot to close the centering.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), September 17, 2000.

"head and hair and the palm" and the pattern on his shirt with the background trees. I think it holds together very well. Composition is fabulous... What's wrong with the light? Not brilliant hard noonday sun? (smiley face goes here) Great toe in your neg density holds seperation between hat/face really well. (Methinks the lad doth protest too much.)

Is this an older 35mm shot? or did you crop your 67?... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), September 18, 2000.

Tom, it's 35mm with a (surprise) 35mm lens. Thanks for your comments, I'm trying to look at it differently.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), September 18, 2000.

I like the shot, too, but the local contrast of his head/face seems unusually low (especially compared to his shirt). Did you do significant dodging of his face? If so, I'd recommend burning it back in some with a high-grade filter to put the snap back in it.

-- Mike Dixon (burmashave@compuserve.com), September 18, 2000.

i agree with t about the composition. very effective, especially so since this approach heightens the exotic nature of the image. i mean, the guy isn't exactly a candidate for rotarian of the week, doncha' know, and the angle coupled with the not completely "bokeh'ed" palm really takes away the blahs. good work.

-- wayne harrison (wayno@netmcr.com), September 18, 2000.

Works for me too :) Somehow people from Ghana ALWAYS teach music, no matter where in the world they are, what4s with that place? :)

-- Christel Green (look.no@film.dk), October 03, 2000.

Nice shot. A bit more sky tone would be nice, but hey, it is a great image. By the way, he teaches at Brown Universtiy. But you definitely caught the spirit of the man. (I know him well.)

-- Bill Johnston (wjohnston@wesleyan.edu), December 15, 2000.