Man in Kabul, a photo from Kabul, East

Photographer's Note

Help! I welcome advice. I am a senior official with a young international humanitarian organization, "HOPE International." I work on the programming side -designing programs and supervising and training staff to run them.

Before joining HOPE, I had always worked with larger groups that had art departments for photographing and promoting their work. Now, with a younger, leaner group, I've basically been handed a camera (and vidcam) and asked to get whatever I can during my visits.

Bottom line - I'm a rank amateur. Thus, I'd grealy appreciate your help so that I can improve in telling the story of our work to help men like the one in this photo.

He is a date vendor in Kabul who has certainly seen his share of days. Like many in Kabul, he's likely suffered greatly, although, of course, the plight of women there is much worse.

Thanks,

Dave

tuffellow, maciekda, manny, Darren, mortijo, scalerman, eleparc, ChrisJ has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

tuffellow (546) 2004-03-15 0:05

You think that you need help with a shot like this?! You're WAY too modest. This is beautifully cropped. The man is looking left, so leaving slightly more room on the left side of the photo (as you did) gives good effect. The only thing I could suggest is to watch out for distracting shadows in the background like the one on the left. Remember to have a look at the background before you click. It's hard to do when in a hurry, I know. But don't kid yourself: this is an amazing shot!

maciekda (19895) 2004-03-15 1:24

it is a nice portrait, the man has got a great face - very photogenic. i'd prefer to see a bit off centered composition - placing the man on the side would improve the composition a bit i think. anyway, it is a very good first posting, the picture is really good - i am curious about your future postings...
so, welcome to TE, have fun here :)

manny (22032) 2004-03-15 2:05

This is good. The image is sharp with a good amount of DOF. A tighter crop at the right wouldn't hurt, IMHO. I also like the almost monochrome of colors. I look forward to your other shots.

Welcome to TE.

dovi (1068) 2004-03-15 2:24

Welocme to TE, you have a very good shot here to start with, I like the sharp details of the man's wrinkeled face and the grey tones of his dress matching nicely his sun tanned face and grey beard.

snsk (796) 2004-03-15 2:36

Great portrait, good composition and nicely
framed.the man looks problaby from Hazara tribe.

Darren (6823) 2004-03-15 2:48

Hi Dave.

First of all, you say you are a rank amateur, but the looks of this shot certainly don't suggest that to me. Your framing of the man is really excellent. I will try to help as much as I can, not sure what it will be worth. First, I am only guessing, but this looks like a crop from a larger photo. There is a certain "fuzziness" to his face which suggests this to me, although I could be wrong. IF this is a crop, my biggest suggestion is to do exactly this, but zoom/walk in closer so you don't have to cut any of your photo away. The more you have to work with when it comes time to print (I assume that is your purpose, could be a net presence too), the better your results will be. Your exposure seems very good here, very little save for a small patch of background is blown out completely and certainly your subject has received enough light so show details in his face. For an older man, where you want to emphasize the hardness of his life through his wrinkles, bright, mid day sun like you have used is helpful. Try that with a smooth skinned woman or a younger man you want to look "pretty" and it is a recipe for disaster.

I will continue this as a discussion.

[4] +

olli (2091) 2004-03-15 3:12

I love the gray color in this shot. Of course the subject, DOF and the composition are great, too – but the gray color is the most attractive thing in the image, I think. Very-very well done – and welcome to TE.

clodreno (0) 2004-03-15 3:48

Nice image David, a very good first image. What to say, the only bad thing I could say... I would like it better if you were at the man's level.. I know it can be difficult sometime, or you must be very tall!! Hope to see more of those. One of a lifetime dream has been to go to Afganisthan. Welcome to TE.

ianmcall (1213) 2004-03-15 4:36

Welcome to TE. and what a great first post. Lovely colours and texture in a very interesting face. Good DOF with a neutral background that is not distracting. Keep them coming!

jhonny_blue (4956) 2004-03-15 6:30

Wonderful David !
This face is fascinate, great shot and composition !
Congratulations and welcome !

eelliott305 (776) 2004-03-15 6:40

Interesting to see a shot from Afghanistan, we don`t see much from there unfortunately. I like this very much. You have really done well to capture the details of his face and his greyish coloured clothes. Better to have been a bit lower but still a very good shot.

ninadev (5377) 2004-03-15 12:32

I am certainly not an expert in photojournalism but I think that if you want to show what you are doing there, pictures showing the people in their environment and daily life activities would certainly tell more than a portrait, even as great as this one. I would aim to taking pictures where words are not necessary to understand what is going on.

scalerman (26900) 2004-03-18 12:53

Great portrait. Whatever skills you say you lack in photography will certainly be offset by the wealth of subjects you're surrounded by. I couldn't really recommend any way to improve this shot.

eleparc (24063) 2004-06-30 11:28

welcome to TE again david... if you can already shoot such a great portrait, please do not tell me you are a plain beginner or i quit photography...;-)) lol i love this shot.. mlinor flaw in my opinion : i would not shoot him from above but try to shoot from below or at his eye level.. nice shot!

ChrisJ (171822) 2004-07-16 5:46

Superb lighting & texture in the face & a great portrait.

kinginexile (2598) 2004-10-16 2:09

That was a bang, as far as first shots on TE come. I have just looked at your gallery. there is a big problem!!!: Not enough pictures.
We know little about this old man (maybe not so old), but each wrinkle seems to tell a story, so much is left to the imagination as the eyes fix this portrait.

everlasting (19680) 2004-11-16 16:24

Great portrait Dave, and I take it from the comments that this is one of your early postings. I am curious as to what camera you have. The compostion and frmaing is very good, the clarity also.

christina (2040) 2004-12-03 19:23

Simple fabulous! I like the detail, the composition and the model is just incredibly interesting.

Keep safe and well! You are obviously a very good person to commit to making the world a better place!
Christina

jinju (14265) 2004-12-10 1:03

The lines in his face say it all. Good framing and good composition.

faubry (35447) 2005-09-10 8:00

superb portrait!!! great capture! beautiful colors and i like this expression from the old man
bravo
francine