Matthew Bolland Loc: Stoughton, Wisconsin

One of the untouchables from the Hindu Caste System. I took this photo outside the Swayambhunath (aka Monkey Temple) in Kathmandu during a trip to volunteer at an orphanage in Nepal last March. I was able to get this shot before she noticed me. She was sitting outside the gate begging . I ended up giving her my water bottle and what little food I had on hand.

Gobuster Loc: South Florida

A powerful image, one can see the despair she is feeling. Good capture!

chaman

The image itself is a very powerful one but sadly is soft the focus apparently fell on her hands. Also, why the strange shadow over her head? It adds nothing and in fact detracts from the image.

Crazyjay58 Loc: Southern Maryland

Poignant!

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PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Your capture shows and says"Help Me" You captured it in fine style.

Big Stopper Loc: London

Matthew, welcome to UHH.

To me, this is all about the power of the image, great shot.

Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

Excellent grab shot, Matthew. There is no time to consider detailed composition when the subject's expression is fleeting and full of poignant anxiety. You shoot to get the image and post process later to enhance the moment. You nailed it. (Nice of you to give her a gift, many don't bother.)

Zone-System-Grandpa Loc: Springfield, Ohio

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

His photo is an excellent example of photojournalism. Photos of this nature capture subjects in non contrived situations at an instant moment in time. With situations like this, the photographer doesn't have time allotted to become concerned with perfect lighting and or the absence of shadows. With situations like this, you take what you can get and you are a fool for your critiquing and thinking otherwise !

Stash Loc: South Central Massachusetts

This photo conveys the moment, drama, and feeling. It tells a powerful story. :thumbup:

chaman

Nope. Its not an excellent example of photojournalism. Keep reading, perhaps you learn something.

Since when a critique is a "foolish thing"? And I am sorry to bust your photojournalism bubble but what you are saying is simply not true. Photojournalism is not an excuse to get a poorly focused image. That shadow in that image looks suspiciously like it was added in PP, if I am wrong maybe the OP could HONESTLY explain it it was or not and I will be happily corrected. The colors seem to be manipulated ALSO in PP. That was a clearly mostly STATIC subject, not taken in a war situation that could have been captured much more effectively. Stop making up excuses. BTW, Ive seen photos taken in the middle of a freaking battlefield in WW2 with EXCELLENT EXPOSURE and FOCUS. How is that for extreme photojournalism?? Have any more cute arguments? Explain that one to me, genius. I may be a fool, but only for trying to correct misconceptions in such a biased crowd. You on the other hand look more like an ignorant spreading incorrect information.

This is a new one to me, now photojournalism is the perfect excuse to post badly focused images. The other I can think of is art! Thats another good excuse around here, quite popular. Unless some here start to accept critiques for what they are they will never get ahead in the hobby and will live continually making up excuses for just bad photography work. Oh and yes, you can save up all your excuses like, "this section is not for critique"(BS! You LOVE positive ones!! You do not contend them at all! Lets change the section guidelines to ONLY POSITIVE CRITIQUES ARE ALLOWED).

For the OP, I really like the image, as said before it is a powerful one! I just commented on how the focus was missed thats all. Do not take this a negative, just as a critique. Also do not believe that photojournalism is an excuse for badly taken pics, its not the case. Thats bad info. Lets see this image for a moment:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/10/02/article-2441235-186F654600000578-316_964x646.jpg

This photograph was taken by German photojournalist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Horst Faas.

Can you think of a more pressing time than been in the middle of a battlefield? Yet this photographer took the time to get it right. What a cold blooded guy! Now, clearly we are looking at the job of a professional but here you can see my point. One of the most used tips in photojournalism is "action=good, blurriness=bad". Perhaps some of us could never achieve this level of skill but we can surely try! Little critiques and an open mind will let us get there, or at least near. This condescending, lets make up excuses helps no one and perpetuates inferior photography and worse than all that it serves to feed a miss directed sense of arrogance. That the worse thing.

Im out.

Matthew Bolland Loc: Stoughton, Wisconsin

I appreciate all the feedback, both pro and con. To chaman's point, the face is indeed soft focused. And here is the reason. The culture in Nepal comes with a lot superstition and the Nepali people are very aware of their surroundings. Many times when attempting to photograph other subjects there was almost a sense that they felt a “bad spirit” or some such thing may befall them and quickly became uncooperative. Therefore for this particular subject it was a quick “shoot from the hip” moment. No time to fine tune focus points. However I took what I could get. Pp did indeed include burning out a distracting railing above her head, thus the shadow. I checked my settings afterward and saw this image was taken at Standard +1 saturation (Nikon D90). Other than that no further color enhancement was done. I did however need to highlight the face a bit via dodging. Even though not exactly sharp I agree with those that this image is still successful capturing the dire conditions of someone at the bottom of the poverty scale. As far as photojournalism is concerned I’ve always felt those were images that tell a news story. The operative word here being news, such as the images that came out of Nepal 3 weeks after I left and that massive earthquake hit. I have nothing but respect for professional photojournalists, especially those in battle zones. My own father was a WWII hero, serving in the O.S.S. conducting covert operations in Norway. As a result he was decorated by King Haaken IV of Norway and after the war ended escorted the king who was in exiled in England back into Norway. I have the medal and plaque signed by this king proudly displayed in my den. So again, thanks for all the feedback. Critique is always appropriate as long as it stays on subject and does not turn into personal attacks.

topcat Loc: Alameda, CA

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