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Life Unpretty
Life Unpretty
RKT


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Free Study 2009-02 (Advanced Editing VII)
Camera: Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT
Lens: Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) for Canon
Date: Feb 23, 2009
Aperture: F2.8
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/60
Galleries: Candid, Black and White
Date Uploaded: Feb 28, 2009

I'm just curious how this will do. It's not pretty, it's not posed, funny, delightful...it just is.

Life.

I haven't taken many pictures the last few months but my unusual week prompted me to pick up my camera. My Dad had a stroke a week ago. This is him. He's doing much better now though he looks like death warmed over here. Everyone says he was a lucky man. Now we must thin him out, belly and blood.


[Mar. 6th, 2009 06:59:50 PM]

Now I'm thinking this may be a little more interesting with the very top cropped off...the part with the light over the sink. Two folks have now commented on it and the more I look and play with the comp, the more the crop grows on me.

It's a difficult shot. I wasn't even going to enter it and did at last minute. Yesterday, I even felt sorry I was subjecting everyone to this photograph...but that thought vanished quickly. I just had to purge. I'm sure some think this is the most miserable thing ever, or don't know what to say at all. Some may think DPC is not the place for an image such as this...I don't know...no one is telling me...it's just a hunch.

How do you critique a documentary photograph? Particularly one so personal?

[Mar. 6th, 2009 07:01:57 PM]

...Oh, I forgot. I wanted to thank everyone who was brave enough to leave a comment. Seriously...thank you.

Statistics
Place: 286 out of 436
Avg (all users): 5.2937
Avg (commenters): 7.1429
Avg (participants): 5.2323
Avg (non-participants): 5.4318
Views since voting: 741
Views during voting: 242
Votes: 143
Comments: 12
Favorites: 0


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AuthorThread
03/09/2009 05:50:03 AM
I love that Dylan Thomas Poem and always gets me ..right here...when I read it.

Firstly, I am sincerely very happy to read that he is doing better...

I agree with Melethia, I like the crop the way it is. Very emotional photo which breaks the two dimensional barrier and touches the viewer....and I understand your 'need' to take it and put it out there and get a sober grip...

I wish your father further speedy rehabilitation and recovery.

Iraklis
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/09/2009 12:24:40 AM
Sometimes a not-so-pretty picture has a way of making others pause and gain appreciation for what is important. Thanks.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/08/2009 05:43:53 PM
Originally posted by undieyatch:

... "Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."


Yes.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/08/2009 10:12:37 AM
Yes "Life Unpretty" but truth.
Keep the light?
Keeping it or not may be inconsequential to this scene. Your editorial decision.
I prefer it, as The question evokes the refrain from the famous Dylan Thomas poem Do not go gentle into that good night -
"Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/08/2009 08:27:34 AM
Actually, I like the crop the way you have it. The space above, even with the light fixture, enhances the "smallness" of the patient in the overwhelming vastness of "medical care" - at least to me. Gave it an 8 - should have commented. I'm glad you entered it and best wishes to your dad!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
03/07/2009 12:30:17 AM
Image tells a story, sets a mood. Very surreal
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/06/2009 05:12:35 PM
A rather emotional shot. I like how you can see the wedding band on his finger. It certainly tells a story (though, perhaps a rather ambiguous one). I feel that the composition would be stronger if the top were cropped off (where that light fixture that points up ends vertically).
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/05/2009 12:07:01 AM
A sobering thought.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/03/2009 07:07:51 PM
I hate hospitals.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/02/2009 06:19:57 PM
when i look at this i wonder what it would look like cropped a bit off the top...i like the bw
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/01/2009 12:17:37 PM
Very poignant and real. 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/01/2009 06:36:30 AM
I'd like to say how much I like the photograph but I know who this gentleman is, so all I can feel when I look at it is anxiety.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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