breaker from mexico

[mckc]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mckc/XTmexicanbreakdance.jpg

[trixy]

quite a good shot, commendments..

[brandonwillis]

one of the best breakdancing pictures ive seen, i love that hes dancing in the light of the window. excellent shot, keep up the good work

[DwightMcCann]

The picture is small to start with. Then you have a substantial black frame around that. And then the subject is only about 15% of the image thats left. In the Performing Arts forum I would expect the performer to be the predominant rather than an artsy looking image with much busy shadow and no face showing ... I would certainly not know for sure what this image was without Brandons comment. So, take my comments with a grain of salt as this is not my forte, but I think you could get a lot more out of this setting and performer.

[bikerider]

I'd have to concur with Dwight here in terms of communicating the context of the image. However I think the lighting is great and it's nicely exposed.
Roger.

[brandonwillis]

i completly disagree with both of those guys. What you have here is a fantastic photograph, the border could be toned down, and the image could be larger, but i can appreciate you trying to not take up the entire screen of someones page it was generous. As for the aspects of it, it has great composition and i really enjoy the lighting. I believe that the idea of a photograph is to be artistic, if its not then its just a picture, which may lack compositional value, lighting, and is just to mark a moment in time. keep up the great work and dont take there critisizm to heart

[bikerider]

Yeah' that's okay Brandon, you can just write us off as old guys who don't know anything! If people post images here, prepare for critique and I'm happy for people to disagree with my comment but I don't think it's okay to say 'don't listen'.
Roger.

[DwightMcCann]

Well, Brandon has a point, Bike, but what I don't understand is why he can't just be supportive without having to attempt to negate our valid criticisms ... couldn't he have just given his praise without referring to us? It is as though he needs to feel superior in order to complement. Maybe it is because he has that big 1D Mark IIN ... oh, wait, I have one of those, too (and a 1D Mark II). Or the 20D? Nope, I have one of those. Those two L lenses? No, I have both of them and several more. Maybe he's professional ... but so are we. Nope, I can't figure it out, but then I'm just an old fart!:p I guess I'll go see what Brandon has contributed.

[Steve Parr]

keep up the great work and dont take there critisizm to heart

That's some of the worst advice I've ever seen here.

Your disagreement with their critisizm [sic] in no way invalidates it. Dwight's got a pretty damn impressive resume when it comes to live event photography. To dismiss his criticism out of hand is, quite simply, foolish...

Steve

[DwightMcCann]

Wait, wait, wait! I think we're overdoing it on Brandon. His forte is not this sort of image or Live Entertainment at all, but Sports, where he is really quite good in a very nasty environment. He was being supportive of someone who was getting a lot of negative feedback for what is an artistic image which doesn't really fit well into any of our normal categories. And since he can't spell I imagine he is young and not yet fully bludgeoned by life! Sheesh, now I'm sorry I started I said anything in the first place, sigh.:(

[brandonwillis]

bike, i never said dont listen, or atleast didnt mean it, i just really enjoyed this picture and was suprised that it was getting such negative critique.

steve, isnt nearly all photography live? can you photograph something that happened in the past, or in the future?

yes im young, but i have an opinion too, and there isnt anywhere that says im not allowed to disagree with what you say, its a forum we are supposed to discuss things

and dwight, this is the internet, sometimes i reply really fast and dont really pay attention to my spelling, grammar, and so forth. but you obviously got what i was trying to say so it doesnt really matter.

i never said that you werent good, or your opinions werent valid, i mearly felt bad because i think its a great photograph.

[EricKonieczny]

I am a former breaker and now photographer that is in the dance clubs and music festivals every weekend. I like the shot for the artistic value but the position of the breaker and without seeing the face at all makes the image decent to me but not great. I would like to see a little tighter crop, more flare or wider position of the body and a little light on the face

Not to thread jack, but just to show you where I am coming from... take a look here for several breaking photos

http://www.ekreating.com/gallery/list.php?exhibition=33

I like live action photos, that do not seem staged without a controled environment, it is just that more real.:)

[René Damkot]

I like the idea of the picture, composition and lighting. Technically it's okay as well. The timing is off however. I'ld like to see a different pose. Forget about the head. (At least IMHO) it's the body that's important in breakdancing, right? I'ld like to see a nice (wide) move. Something like legs extended, full body tension. Now it almost looks as if the guy is falling on his face.

[René Damkot]

to clarify myself:

http://www.moonglade.net/~rene/ON_web/WordOn1/image/rhd20031025won090kopie.jpg
http://www.moonglade.net/~rene/ON_web/WordOn1/image/rhd20031025won091.jpg
http://www.moonglade.net/~rene/ON_web/WordOn1/image/rhd20031025won081.jpg

While lighting, mood and composition are completely different, I think the poses convey 'breakdancing' better.

[DwightMcCann]

Brandon, correct grammar, spelling, capitalization and punctuation demonstrate respect for your readers/viewers. I can figure out what my four year old means by her crayon scrawls but that doesn't mean it is appropriate for adults or good communication technique. l337 can be deciphered, and is therefore understandable, but it is just the opposite of demonstrating sharing and openness among peers. If you don't consider us important enough to take the time to make reading your writing pleasant then it is unlikely that spending our time reading it is important either. You know, that "Golden Rule" thing.

[Steve Parr]

steve, isnt nearly all photography live? can you photograph something that happened in the past, or in the future?

yes im young, but i have an opinion too, and there isnt anywhere that says im not allowed to disagree with what you say, its a forum we are supposed to discuss things

You have to put "live" in the proper context.

With regard to this specific forum, we tend to consider "live" in the context of "live performace"; bands, plays, dancers; things like that.

Your comment to the original poster of "don't take 'there critisizm' [sic] to heart" smacks of someone who believes his opinion is, somehow, more valid and "correct" than the ones disagreed with. It doesn't leave someone with the impression that there's a discussion to be had...

[Shabookie]

I like to look at a photo that doesn’t register right away, that doesn’t mean I like to study an image for a few minutes to figure out what is going on. Had the post not been titled “Breaker”, I wouldn’t have figured it out.

I like the colors, light, shadows etc... I like the layout for sure. However, for me the action leads to studying not imagining.

I would like to see a shot that took place 1-3 seconds after this one was taken with the exact same setup, just something that shows more action to the titled subject. You can tell that there is action/movement it is just hard to decipher what action is occurring.

Post more please….