Leather and Sunglasses

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Leather and Glasses, copyright 2000 Jeff Spirer

I haven't been shooting people, at least not faces, as much lately. This one has all the usual...

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), December 19, 2000

Answers

no, it has more than "all the usual": in addition to the "usual" wonderfully thoughtful composition, resulting in a great feel of the unusual--a kind of understated tension--and the spot on exposure and great tonal range, this one has more! with apologies to martin luther king, "clear at last, clear at last...great godamighty, the image is clear at last!" :)

see, jeff, i just *knew* you could make a really fine picture of a person.

-- wayne harrison (wayno@netmcr.com), December 19, 2000.


Jeff, this wears my eyes out, trying to "pull her" back into the frame! I like the way her eyes take me out of the frame, but her hair swooshes me back into the frame to check out the rest of the triangle of elements. The exposure and tones are great, but hey... the background is a giant grey card! ;o) This shot is such a good example of how sharpness draws the eye.... I keep looking at that barricade because it's such a high contrast area of the pic, but because it's soft, my eye snaps right back to the girl every time, preferring the sharpness it finds there. And.... i'm curious about what's she's looking at, and if she's about to head that way...she seems very "solid" and stationary tho...

-- Susan Daly (SLascaux@aol.com), December 19, 2000.

The warning/marker sign post thing (whatever you call it) makes this photograph because of the balance between its bright color and her bright facial tones. Hmm, I dunno. Tell you what, though, picked from a group, I'd know it to be a Spirer first off, without a doubt. Her face is so... sculpted. I think tonal coverage is perfect. She looks sure of herself, doesn't she? I think it's a nice catch, and the "cleverness" factor is way high on account of the balance. The message is some warning or something about her.

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@alaska.net), December 20, 2000.

I especially like the thematic connection between the sunglasses and the barrier.

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), December 21, 2000.

Come on ; you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear! This photo is pure kitsch - big empty space, meaningless sign, and a woman who looks like a baddie in a Bond movie. It's just a jumble of poorly understood symbols with no real purpose!

-- fw (finneganswake@altavista.net), December 21, 2000.


The image improves if you crop off the construction scene at the top. Then I might be able to see "person turning away from barrier". But since I miss her right, it becomes "person turning away from barrier and falling out of the frame", instead.

-- John Thurston (John_Thurston@my-deja.com), December 21, 2000.

john, i just tried the crop you suggested, and i must say that it does improve the image, and substantially so.

-- wayne harrison (wayno@netmcr.com), December 21, 2000.

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