'The City'

May be I am missing the point... But is this supposed to be one picture? If so, then what are you trying to tell us? Both are good shots but I see no relationship.

Yeah, it's supposed to be one image, and my idea was to create a final piece which was open to personal interpretation, so its meant to represent whatever you feel it does. Personally, the first thing that comes to my mind is the trauma of the rat race.

May be I am insensitive... But even after you told me, I have difficulty seeing what you mean. Wonder what others make of it.... IMHO the picture is not "telling" enough. Sorry.

open to personal interpretation ... yeah ... I like the concept a lot ...

I like the image and my first impression is that the portrait is tastefully printed in HDR, just at the edge of literal. I next notice the dramatic expression and angle in major subject elements. The print tone is beautiful and there is social aspect and relationship to be explored.

Thank you! I'm really glad someone 'gets' the image. You mentioned HDR, so I thought I'd show you the before and after tonemapping and PP:

Took me a good few hours to get it how I wanted it, I did a lot of dodging, burning and airbrushing after I generated the HDR image.

I feel your face is to over powering in the shot. I would think the buildings should be the overpowering part of the shot...or even a shot of the "rat race" along with the buildings?

when I first looked at the image I could tell you were trying to convey an emotion...but I was left asking.."why is he sad about a building?"

picturepages wrote in post #9187010
I feel your face is to over powering in the shot. I would think the buildings should be the overpowering part of the shot...or even a shot of the "rat race" along with the buildings?

when I first looked at the image I could tell you were trying to convey an emotion...but I was left asking.."why is he sad about a building?"

That's exactly how I feel and, honestly. I'm sorry of it this is a bit harsh but I really don't like the idea of being forced into interpreting a picture that looks like it has a sort of story to it; to me it makes it seem like you simply threw two pictures together for little reason and, as a result, confused me more than anything else. The pictures seem good to me separate but together they don't do anything for me.

And, I feel this young mopy face has no real connection to the business world type photo connected to it. The tears are too much. Looks like this young soul was turned out but a bunch of corporate thugs.

My thought was that either he dislikes the city, or he misses the city. Neat to see the before and after of the portrait.

Jack McEntire wrote in post #9184974
Yeah, it's supposed to be one image, and my idea was to create a final piece which was open to personal interpretation, so its meant to represent whatever you feel it does. Personally, the first thing that comes to my mind is the trauma of the rat race.

I think it would have worked better if you used some ND filters and got a shot of the constant movement of people around the building...that may give viewers the idea of the hustle and bustle of the rat race.

Out of curiosity, what building is it and what city?

Thanks for the tip.

I'm afraid I'm not sure what building it is but it's in South Bank, London.