An offering...

[CamDiver]

Helped a buddy this morning on a shoot. I was taking B-Roll Video with a 5D2. Had to snag this image though as one of the holy men was making his offering to the Ocean spirits during the ceremony my mate had been asked to cover.



Cheers,
Mark.

[rick_reno]

wow, thats quite a shot. like it a lot

[CamDiver]

Cheers Rick.

[Clean Gene]

Originally Posted by rick_reno

wow, thats quite a shot. like it a lot

I'm gonna add to that...this black and white photo has some very nice tones.

I also really love the combination of "tack-sharp" areas along with some soft and blurry areas. The way that was done is just awesome. And I think it goes with the subject matter very nicely. I don't know exactly what's going on, but it seems to be a religious ritual. The combination of sharp and soft/blurry seems a little bit unreal and I think that goes nicely with the subject. The photo looks a little bit off (in a good way), and I think that is a very nice complement to the idea of an offering to one or more gods.

Beautiful image, nice tonal range, I love it.

One thing, though: if this is an offering to the gods of something, then isn't the offering more important thn the man? The man looks really good, but the image really is ABOUT the man. The image doesn't really seem to be about the offering, since whatever he's offering looks significantly less interesting than HIM. I'm not saying that you did it wrong, but that's just what I'm seeing.

The title ("An Offering") indicates that the photo is about the offering. But the image is less about what is being offered and more about the person offering it. I love the image and I am not saying that I see anything wrong with it. But hopefully you see how the message can become VERY different depending on whether or not the man or the offered item is the predominant point of interest.

[CamDiver]

Thanks for the great feedback Clean Gene, very much appreciated.

I can see where you may be led astray with the title of the image and as such I can see where that would come from. To be honest I named the shot very quickly in relation to the action of the figure in the image.

The scenario was simple. A friend of a friend owns a charter boat in Indonesia, I live in Bali so along with another snapper was hired for a couple of days to document the religious ceremonies of both the Muslim and Hindu denominations in the region. This guy was photographed during one of many such offerings to certain marine deities.

I will take your points on board and give somewhat better study before naming future imagery.

Cheers again.
Mark.

[FlatBattery]

I cannot tell you how envious I am - living in Bali and taking photographs for a living. My dream.

Its a fabulous photo, brings back memories of a Hindu ceremony at I witnessed at Seminyak last year. Seems like a whole village had come down to give offerings to the sea gods. I have a few snaps, but none on a par your picture

[Clean Gene]

Originally Posted by CamDiver

Thanks for the great feedback Clean Gene, very much appreciated.

I can see where you may be led astray with the title of the image and as such I can see where that would come from. To be honest I named the shot very quickly in relation to the action of the figure in the image.

The scenario was simple. A friend of a friend owns a charter boat in Indonesia, I live in Bali so along with another snapper was hired for a couple of days to document the religious ceremonies of both the Muslim and Hindu denominations in the region. This guy was photographed during one of many such offerings to certain marine deities.

I will take your points on board and give somewhat better study before naming future imagery.

Cheers again.
Mark.

No prob.

Also...I very well may be WAY off base with my interpretation. I say a lot about what I think while simultaneously not knowing anything. Sometimes I'm right, usually I'm wrong. My responsibility is to merely tell you what I see, your responsibility is to consider what I say and decide if it's valid or if it's utter BS.

In any case, I'm afraid of titles. I don't use them, but it's not because that's the right thing to do. It's because I've never NEEDED to use them, and because I don't know how to use them. Pretty much EVERY image I've ever made has just been "untitled". And I think that's a real handicap that I've gotta overcome. Proper titles are EXTREMELY important, and up until now I've just been avoiding that stuff. At least you're actually working with it and trying it out.