Orthodox Transportation

[Tobers]

A very elderly orthodox Jewish couple hold hands while boarding a train at Piccadilly Circus.



EXIF is clickable on the pic above, but here it is anyway:

22/11/2007 16:21
Canon 30D
1/5th sec
f4.0 on Sigma 10-20 @ 10mm
Canon Speedlight 580EX II on 2nd curtain sync

Post processing - crop and white balance only.

Cheers!

Tobers

[vulkan75]

Well its a very unorthodox shot.

Im not sure what you were trying to achieve but its lost on me if im honest,I like the fact that the hands seem in focus which kind of implies that they might be nervous passengers and they are about to cross the Gap line,which puts the image on theme, but the rest doesnt really work IMO.

The focus is the couple but the eye contact of the guy to the left disrupts it and draws the eye.Im not really swayed by the shooting angle either.

Maybe im missing the point Id be interested in what your goal for this was.

cheers

[electrolyte]

It is a really good idea but it doesn't work for me either. I can only agree with Vulkan really Tobers.

Did you take this hand held? The shot suffers from camera shake (understandably so at 1/5s). Perhaps if you'd used a tripod it would be better because the tube, the platform etc would have been pin sharp and only the people blurred. I'm guessing that was the look you were going for.

I like the angle though. Certainly unorthodox!

[bodoman]

Unorthodox and controversial to boot
I thought the same as the others on this entry, but did not like to say anything negative in case it was a bit of narrow thinking thinking on my part.

But hey, who cares, Tobers put his slant on the theme and posted it, fair play
there is room for all ideas on here

[Tobers]

Well done chaps. It's always much more difficult to say that you think a photo is rubbish and I admire your approaches.

The idea behind this was the Jewish transportation by train to the concentration camps in WW2. These two elderly orthodox Jews could certainly have been around at that time. And here they were getting on a train, but what struck me in the 10 seconds I had between seeing them for the first time and them getting on was how close they were to each other, holding hands & physically very close together. It struck me as quite moving how they got on the train as if they wanted to make sure they weren't separated.

Of course, it could be that they just like holding hands .

I had planned to get a shot of any group of people getting on the train, so had the camera ready to go with flash on set to 2nd curtain sync and 1/5th sec shutter speed to get movement and then hoping to freeze them just as they stepped into the train. As it is, the only bit I managed to freeze properly in this case was their hands, but to me that makes the picture.

It would be good if the rest of it was all sharp and lovely, and I agree that technically it's pants, but I like it speficially because it's got their hands together .

Cheers!

Tobers

[SweetGirl]

Tobers

Now that u have explained ur photo i think the most important thing is that u have captured what you had in your mind.

And IMO that is the most important thing.

so 10/10 for that.

Not ur usual style but 'thinking outside the box' is what it's all about.

Well done...

[Tobers]

You're too kind Sweetgirl

[bodoman]

You must have done something right Tobers, because i did pick up on the analogy with the trains to the concentration camp, that why i said in my earlier post that it was unorthodox and Controversial, probably because i have been surveying the Hampstead Synagogue this week and it was in my mind.

[johnaalex]

Sorry Tobers but even with the explanation this does not work for me as I am not sure that they are holding hands. However I do applaud the fact that you have gone with your gut feeling about the photo and submitted it.

Regards

[alfienoakes]

I tend to agree with what others have said. It doesn't quite work as an overall image.

The thought behind it though is terrific. I wish I had such a creative mind.

[cedmondson]

Interesting idea but not one for me I'm afraid. My first impression was 'I don't understand it - must be me'. Then I read your comment about the hands in the Speedlite thread....and still didn't get it.
Your explanation makes things clearer but reviewing yet again I can't help feeling that:-

The Jewish aspect isn't terribly obvious from the photo itself. Without the title I wouldn't have known.
The hands were a bit too small in the frame to draw my eye.
I couldn't make out that they were holding hands - I interpreted it as the womans hand(s) clutching a bag or similar.
I also felt that the guy to the right of the frame drew my attention away from what I should have been seeing.

On a positive note, I did like the wacky angle and top marks for pushing the boundaries

One last point - is using flash on the underground OK now? I'd have expected a Met hit squad to decend within seconds.....

[Tobers]

Originally Posted by cedmondson

One last point - is using flash on the underground OK now? I'd have expected a Met hit squad to decend within seconds.....

Apparently not - as I boarded the train a "flash photography is not allowed anywhere on the underground network" message was played on the platform .

Anyway - lesson to learn from this photo is not to get distracted by the first metering flash of the 2nd curtain sync on the 580EX and move the camera just as the 2nd "proper" flash goes off.

[rizingstar]

Originally Posted by Tobers

Anyway - lesson to learn from this photo is not to get distracted by the first metering flash of the 2nd curtain sync on the 580EX and move the camera just as the 2nd "proper" flash goes off.

I'm glad the Jew never had any flash backs

[Spaced_K]

Did the heathrow shot not materialise then ?

[Liquid101]

Interesting idea - you haven't quite pulled it off, but it almost works.

Perhaps a 'slow' pop of flash to freeze part of the action and introduce some detail in the faces and make the figures more 'obvious'

Nice to see some more interesting ideas like this though