[GALLERY] Reaper Man's Photography

http://fc09.deviantart.com/fs51/i/20...eaperManHK.jpg

This guy is down at River Street, Savannah almost every day, playing his trumpet. Mostly he musically teases people by playing cheeky tunes - for example that stereotypical Egyptian tune if somebody with a darker complexion walks by.

He pulled me over when he saw me walking around with my Rolleicord, and we talked for a while - at least a good 20 minutes or so. I then accused him of never playing any tunes all the way through to which he responded by grabbing his trumpet and playing me a song.

I just had to photograph him, but it was getting dark to use ASA100 film so I had to use my D300 instead of my Rollei, oh well.

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs51/i/20...eaperManHK.jpg

These horse-drawn carts are a common means of showing tourists around Savannah, they cause no end of problems with traffic, and the horses cause the street corners to smell quite literally like a horse's ass. I don't see what she's so happy about, maybe her horse left a particularly nasty one at a corner somewhere and she's boasting about it.

http://fc08.deviantart.com/fs50/i/20...eaperManHK.jpg

These two women are two more interesting people I met simply because I was carrying around my Rolleicord. How often do you see two women sitting on the street smoking cigars? So after having an interesting conversation with them, I just had to take their photograph. I took some shots on my Rollei too, but as of yet they haven't been developed.

The first one would've done better with a much more shallow depth of field, with either the hand, face or instrument being the primary focus. You have it going already, but more exaggerated would've been better.

Second one could definitely do with some different framing or positioning on your part. Not totally in your control but, those are the circumstances.

Third is a nice casual portrait. Too bad the backdrop is so light, it would've been nice to capture the smoke a little better.

Thanks for the crit, Snaf. I appreciate it.

Here's another shot I took of that trumpet player


Also, the uncropped version of the horse-drawn cart, is it better this way?
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/120/uncropped.jpg

I like it better because it has more depth of field.

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs50/i/20...eaperManHK.jpg

A sketchy part of Savannah that I wandered into, then got the hell out of.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ThePlague

I like it better because it has more depth of field.

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me too

I like the first shot of the trumpet man better because it kind of had the guy leaning away from the camera, showing power being used in his notes, and there was just a little view of the reflection in the end that you could see there was a sidewalk with someone walking on it. Second shot just looks too blurry in the parts not focused in on.

Hm, interesting, I never really though about why I think the first shot works, I see what you're getting at really, but I never really considered the implications of the shot. I guess I sorta follow what Ansel Adams said: "There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs."

Anyway, the second one of the trumpet player was more of an experiment, I just wanted to give it a go.

For me, having his aged hands in focus tells a story that the second one doesn't

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Con

For me, having his aged hands in focus tells a story that the second one doesn't

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I agree.