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“At Play”

Boyandfountain
Canon 10D f2.8 70 -200mm zoom @110mm ISO 100 f11 at 1/1000th
Seattle Center Fountain Seattle, Wa. Theme Week Four: Location, Location, Location

This entry was written by Craig , posted on Wednesday May 30 2007at 12:05 am , filed under Black and White, People . Bookmark the permalink . Post a comment below or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

11 Responses to ““At Play””

  • gymeagary says:
    May 30, 2007 at 12:41 am

    We have all seen these kinds of shots and maybe tried them ourselves. I don’t care even if some think that makes for cliche but I love this shot.
    I think the best feature for me is the range of tones from silhouette in the forground through the cascading droplets leeading the eye to the wonderful grouping almost framed by the arch of light in the far background.
    You couldn’t pose this shot- it’s not luck but the right person in the right place at the perfect time.

  • rlprinter says:
    May 30, 2007 at 7:21 am

    The juxtaposition of mood here is as cool as the juxtaposition of the subjects. This is an image of kids playing in a fountain, but the light creates a surreal, almost eerie quality to the image. I love the relationship of the boy in the front to the three guys in the background. There is almost a dance like quality to their positions. Craig, you always talk about moments and this is one of those Bresson “decisive moments”. An instant before or an instant later and this beautiful relationship between the 4 kids would not have been as powerful. I’m sure you took more than one photo of these boys and would love to see the other images and hear your thought process as to why you selected this one.

  • mgrigsby says:
    May 30, 2007 at 8:51 am

    Craig, what a superb summer shot! I really like your timing on the kids and your exposure. The front boy in full silhouette looks like a surfer in Hawaii while the three other kids in gray silhouette look like they are just goofing around. The lighting and water arcs keep me coming back down to the kids enjoying summer vacation. What a fun design that brings back childhood memories. I think everyone will relate to this image?
    Murry

  • Alec says:
    May 30, 2007 at 9:22 am

    I haven’t read the other comments closely, but did catch the word cliche. Has a variation on the children playing in fountain shot been done a gazillion times? Yes. But this image, for me personally, goes so far beyond those shots. There are a few things happening here that I think make it special. One is anchor and movement…A strong anchor is created by the boy in the immediate foreground and a secondary anchor of the three kids in the background…and there is nothing else but water…that’s it. Very graphic and strong…most cliche shots would include the child’s expression…but what puts this over the top for me is that the body language of the two key subjects is very different. The child in the foreground seems very happy and content, comfortable playing in the water while the group of three’s body language suggest that they are done/cold/timid/etc…about being in the fountain. But noooo, not this one in the foreground. He is just getting started, plans on spending a lot of time exploring the entire situation, dancing his way through the arcs of water, each one different and new to him…shouting to the other three, “wait a minute, come back…this is really great!” and I’m left wondering with whom I most strongly connect.

  • gi_joe05 says:
    May 30, 2007 at 1:35 pm

    I really enjoy this image. I really enjoy the sitution. it’s a classic, kids playing in the water, but I really think this is a fresh view on it. I like the story that the three huddled together and the the one by it’s lonesome tells me as the viewer. I like how you can almost hear sounds just from the body language of the subjects. I enjoy the frozen motion of the water and the frozen movement of the kids too.
    it reminds me of a quote from a much loved book;

    “What is more dynamic then the moment in which a raindrop hits the surface of a lake, and what more thrilling to freeze that moment and take it captive forever; to transform something that was breif and trasient into an enternial statement?”
    -rand miller

  • tonebytone says:
    May 30, 2007 at 2:03 pm

    Craig, I think you’re reached the zenith of “perfect world” images! I absolutely love all aspects of this image. Since I’m tired right now, I’ll let the others above speak for me. Just a perfect image in every way – maybe some day it’ll happen for me – I’ll be at the right place at the right time and be able to take advantage of the situation. And I hope I’ll remember everything I’ve learned here at RV and it’ll all come together :-)

    Thanks so much for showing such an inspiring image :-)

    Flo

  • Marti says:
    May 30, 2007 at 6:08 pm

    Hi Craig,

    This is indeed a great summer image, as has been said. The more I look at the little boy in the silhouette, the more I want to see his face — at least enough to know he is having a great time and smiling. I want him to be, based on the idea of play, but I can’t quite tell. Is he really having a great time, or has something frightened him and he is running to mom? His body posture could suggest either.

    There is a bit of a question there that keeps me looking at the image. And, that’s a good thing.

  • Gordon says:
    May 31, 2007 at 9:35 am

    There’s a lot to enjoy in this image. The arcs formed by the water
    leading the eye to the people. How the boy’s arm’s mirror those arcs.
    How my eye moves back and forth between the foreground boy and the group
    of three at the back. I also really like the fact that the whole frame
    is wet or spray – nothing breaking that feel of being right in the water.

    It also evokes that summer feel that everyone else mentions and the cool tones
    of the B&W emphasise that cool wet feel. I get a lot out of this image and
    think all of the elements really work well together, without the background
    group there’d be less to keep me moving around the shot, without the full
    frame of water, it wouldn’t feel so expansive. It all seems to come together.

    But all that said, the reason I’m prompted to post is more to ask about the situation
    you took this in. I’ve been to that fountain in Seattle, near the needle. I had my
    camera with me and saw lots of children playing in the water. I was with my wife who
    gives me plenty of time to take pictures, but couldn’t bring myself to start shooting
    these sorts of images. I’ve been getting better at approaching strangers, but there
    seems to be a big social taboo about photographing children, even in public. I’d be
    interested in hearing how you approached that in this case – was it just simply shooting
    in an open and obvious way, do you know the children in the shot, did the parents know/
    approve. Or is it purely a case of shooting away and not being too concerned about
    that sort of issues (I’m trying to work out of it is all an internal barrier for
    me or if it is a concern)

  • 1viewer says:
    May 31, 2007 at 1:12 pm

    Really enjoyable.

  • bbirtch says:
    May 31, 2007 at 5:55 pm

    My favourite image to date. Perhaps that says something about my personal taste and biases, I’m just not into portraiture, but whatever the reason I keep coming back to this image again and again. Thanks Craig.

  • TedByrne says:
    June 1, 2007 at 11:46 pm

    Multi-variate analysis depends upon sampling multiple dimensions simultaneously in order to correlate dependency. In English… economists peer into the whorls of relationships so we can see what’s balancing what… and what isn’t. We don’t just notice that Jane has rattled Duie, but what showered Jane with ideas.

    Okay… let’s try it another way. See your picture? That’s what we do. We try to determine how all of these sorts of things relate. We hunt for order … patterns… if not truth… well at least understanding. See how that happens in that image? See the balance? The order? And imagine how it would all disappear if you moved, turreted, framed, or exposed differently. An entirely new set of explanations would be required. Life is so carefully set among tensions… Thanks for illustrating it so succinctly Craig. :-)

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