I’ve been visiting Aravind Eye Hospital in Pondicherry, India, every year for decades. I do “volunteer work”, whatever they ask for. Anyway, there is a statue at the intersection between two roads/paths, that I always try to photograph, and never get anything that I would call interesting. Between my last visit and now, the Gardners have worked on this statue, making it look a bit more interesting, and as I walked by it late yesterday afternoon, with the backlighting from the setting sun, I got intrigued when I noticed two garden hoses behind the statue, spreading water over the lawns.
I had a burst of inspiration - what if I put the head of the statue over the ends of the hoses, so the back-lit water would seem to be coming from the statue? I’ll leave it for all of you to decide if that worked, or if I just captured another snapshot. In my mind it came out exactly as planed, but I have no idea what others will think.
Camera was D780, with a standard 50mm lens attached. No zoom, other than my feet, and the ‘crop’ tool. The photo looks better and better as I view it in a larger size, but that’s nothing new.
You’re all free of course to re-edit it however you wish - my mind got so fixated on what I needed to do, that I didn’t even consider other alternatives.
Nice idea, but to my eye the water appears well behind the statute; not from the statue. The mist from the water is falling on the grass behind the dirt on the viewer’s left and behind the small tree/scrub on the viewer’s right just behind the statue. Nothing around the statue appears wet.
As my eye travels into the photo it starts at the statue, is confused by the umbrella, then follows the small tree, then curve of the grass edge deeper into the photos where it encounters the water spray. My eye then goes to the trees in back, then the large building directly behind the statue. It is confused by the building as this seems to limit the garden space and make it feel small confined. My eye them sees the flowers and smaller object in the planting at the foot of the statue. Overall the water seems to be just another item in the photo, not in any way part of the statue’s story.
To my western eyes, the collection of colors in the statue and the surrounding flowers and items seem “incongruent” but still interesting to explore. Are they placed around the statue as part of the statue’s “story”? The photo framing seems to cut them off and ignore them in a very odd way to my eyes.
Again, seems like a nice idea, but the framing includes many secondary elements that seem irrelevant to the photo. In other words, where’s the “negative space”?
I also don’t think the idea of protecting the statue from rain with a stationary umbrella and then “letting the water spray out of the statue” (which you tried as a substitute for a kind of halo) is particularly intelligent.
These are not incense sticks that create haze and atmosphere in a closed room. How about meeting people, for example visiting a place like this and taking interesting photos with your discreet Fuji? – You should interact and not stay “outside the scene”.
Enjoy your stay and bring home interesting pictures. – The Internet can still wait!
Well, you and Wolfgang have precisely described the image, in extreme detail.
On the other hand, here is the reaction from my dear friend Suzanne Gilbert:
"Oh Mike,What a beautiful blue Lord Krishna you have captured with lovely cooling water droplets from the sprinkler! "
Sorry Wolfgang, but the umbrella has been there for years, and it’s not my place to tell them they are wrong.
I guess I need to find a more creative way to try to capture this image.
Perhaps I’m not really particularly intelligent, nor the people who created and modified this display. I can, and will, try to find a better way to capture the image that won’t bother @swmurray so much, but I like what I already created, right or wrong. I’m also certainly no expert on Lord Krishna, and there may well be real reasons why the umbrella is there. Or maybe not. As for the water droplets, I agree with Suzanne, but nothing I can say, write, or do, will satisfy everyone.
Since when is that a requirement? Like I wrote, for better or worse, I did capture what I wanted. I guess my next step is to capture another version that you and Wolfgang may find more acceptable.
Sure, I also do that, but my goal is to capture the world around me, not to include myself in the scene. And “candid” photos are far more natural than photos where people are “posing”. …just my opinion. But yes, the Fuji captures people around me in more natural ways than my larger, heavier, and more noisy Nikon. I’ve got both cameras with me.
Thank you both for your advice, but I want to take Mike Myers’ photos, for better or worse. I really want to take Joanna photos, but I’m not talented enough to do it as well as she does. Anyway, please do feel free to tell me what you really think, even if’s to say the photo stinks.
Give yourself a break and stop arguing on the internet. You went away to gain new impressions, meet people, have a vacation … or why did you bother to visit India again? Instead you keep debating rentlessly – sorry this IS silly.
Actually, I went away because since the late 1980’s, I’ve been spending my time in both the USA and India. I used to spend six months a year in each. India is now as much my “home” as is the USA.
What you just wrote is quite wrong. You could just as easily say I returned to continue working on things I do in India. But yeah, this is silly. Think whatever you wish, whatever makes you feel good/better/whatever.
Internet - we’re discussing not arguing, at least that’s how I see things. Nothing wrong with discussing, but arguing is probably a silly thing to do. Nobody “wins” or “loses”. IMHO.
@Wolfgang is right. Focus on your friends there, engage in their world, and your experience.
Art and symbolism in Hindu India are very different than in our “western” world. Maybe there is a cultural or symbolic reason to discover for the umbrella, flowers, and other items are grouped with the statue.
You, and your photography, are not in this world to please us. Make yourself happy and enjoy your experience.
I would be happiest if everyone just says what they think, good, bad, or horrible. I would just like honest opinions. I won’t get angry, I won’t get offended, and I won’t be upset - but I will try to find ways to improve, for whatever it is I might be trying to do at the time.
Wolfgang is correct in that when I’m dealing/working with my friends here, it may be very different from my friends in the USA, and I will do my best to work with everyone, anywhere. But obviously, expectations may be very different, depending on where I am.
Enough of this - I will try to find a better way to photograph this statue tomorrow.
Hi Mike, if you were in the area to take another shot of the statue. Is there any way you can try and separate the statue from the umbrella by rotating to the left/right and shooting across a different angle?
Or maybe having the camera low down and angle up so there is plenty of sky to clone out the umbrella with? Just a thought.
To me, having viewed the images and the statue close-up, it is very important to shoot the statue of Lord Krishna head on, so “eye contact” is made. I walked back and forth, right, and left, and there is one spot where he is staring directly into MY face. So, that is set.
Umbrella - the suggestion above about the umbrella being for rain misses the mark. The umbrella is for the Indian Sunshine and Heat, not for rain.
Accepting all that, I took bracketed photos with the umbrella, and then re-composed so the umbrella is gone. Here’s my latest attempt, taking into account all the advice and suggestions noted above. Hopefully it comes closer to a result people both in India and the USA, will enjoy:
(If I re-take this photo several weeks from now, the ugly brown dirt will have changed to pretty green grass!!)
(Hopefully it is more than just a “post card”, but if it is, so be it. Throwing the background out of focus helps, but “it is what it is”. There is very little “editing”; the photo looks like what I see with my eyes. Wolfgang will still dislike it; Joanna, I’m not sure. Your thoughts?)
