Hard Hat
I could not resist taking a street side portrait of this guy, I guess he was a construction worker due to the ‘Hard Hat’, but, he just sat there watching the world go by for a very long time, maybe he was just a helper on a nearby construction site, who knows! All I know is, he was very dirty and he had such an appealing aura about him. So here is my interpretation of him, ‘Street Portrait’ Style…..I would appreciate your thoughts on this shot…Do you like it, should I have done a Monochrome version?
Images of China through English Eyes 
the colors in this shot are so lovely it’s hard to imagine them looking better in b&w.
🙂
I think it looks fine the way it is!
Me too 🙂
I love the colors as well. The tone of the picture would be competely different in monochrome. How do you feel about the photograph?
I like the colour version myself…the colours just spoke to me I guess 🙂
I really like the texture….
Thanks, me too. I’m not really used to adding or editing my photos in photoshop, its just not my thing. I try to use photos as close to the image i saw in my mind as possible. I crop if needed and maybe add some contrast and grain if i think it suits the image i had in my minds eye 🙂
Mmmm….. I really like your photos because they give a view of life that’s far removed from my experience of daily life and in some ways I see them as slices of social and cultural history as well. Although I love the textural quality of the brickwork for example in this picture, there is a mismatch between the subject matter/location, and the treatment of the image which gets in the way of my experience of the narrative/culture of the content. I have started to play around with fancy filters and picture borders like you have, and I see many social media sites where every single photograph has been filtered, regardless of the subject. Although some filters really do enhance and can be alluring it almost feels like we are suffering an epidemic and will quickly tire of them. Your photographs are very strong and you are opening up a new and wonderful world of experiences of China…….. and that is their strength…… crop, of course, adjust contrast by all means…. but please go easy on the after effects……I only say this because I am passionate about your work and it’s veracity dear friend….
Regards, John
John, I agree with you 100%, this was an interesting choice for me and it was done for a reason 🙂 I too notice that almost every site I visit and every magazine I read are full of highly altered, manipulated images and the praise the photographers get is astonishing to say the least! Don’t get me wrong I do think there is a place for creative artwork and photography should also not stand still, however, I also think there is a place for images fresh from the camera with little adjustments made in post processing. I truly try to work this way, view the image in my mind and try to decide the outcome before I press the shutter, crop if needed and maybe adjust contrast or add a simple tint or grain depending on the image in my mind’s eye.
Thank you again my friend, we are constantly learning and evolving as photographers 🙂 Regards Mark