His little big world, a photo from Ontario, Central

Photographer's Note

This is another of my shots from Chinatown, in this case from the upstairs section of the Chinatown Centre on Spadina.

I like the way this man is looking over his shoulder at us, turning his attention briefly away from the miniature world in front of him, like a casual god interrupted in the act of creating the small reality we see in the background.

(In fact it's an architectural model which, as far as I know, has nothing to do with him... I think he was actually watching the Chinese opera karaoke competition that was going on one floor down... so I let my imagination run away with me sometimes, so sue me.)

Tech: this was a photograph of opportunity, which means that I didn't have time to get everything just right while shooting it. I cropped it, did some colour burn, and lightened up his face somewhat, plus evened out its skin tones.

Elise_d ha puntuado esta nota como útil.

Critiques | Translate

khmelins (960) 2005-05-01 13:32

one thing i enjoy a lot here are the colours, all those greens.. umm..
oportunity photo or not, it is well presented here. can't come up with something helpful here..
anton

jeanfrancois (1260) 2005-05-01 17:41

Good work here again. I like the anti-conformist touch. The subject is in the background and it's beautiful.

Homerhomer (4080) 2005-05-01 20:28

Hey Lee, you like yellow and green don't you?
I would have to say that in my humble opinion this is the best photo you have uploaded to date (wouldn't pay much attention to my opinion anyway, lately I find that what I like doesn't agree with most anyway).
For me this image shows one of the Chinese billionaires and one of their new developments, I look at this face and don't see any excitment anymore, just another day at the office.

This is all well composed with his head taking abot a 1/4 of the image, and the project being a nice background, good exposure (his collar just a bit overexposed), shallower dof would also work but it's fine the way it is. His skin has great tones.
Image is very noisy, too noisy for ISO100, personally I prefer colour images to be free of noise, but what can you do.
Peter

[2] +

RandomCameraGuy (3071) 2005-05-03 23:19

Yes a very cool shot Lee. I like the framing very much and the blur works here. It's almost like a Japanese monster movie!

Elise_d (1943) 2005-05-17 6:29

You posted very interesting stuff since the last time I saw your page. Very strong compo. I love the grain, the big color masses and of course, this intriguing face. Thanks for sharing.

Furachan (0) 2005-05-23 0:59

Hi Lee. Intensely moving, and most important to me (you guessed it!) FILMIC image. Just jumps outta the page at you, forces you to look. Don' mind the grain - part of the passge, gives it a video look, you know...I very much like the fact that the building is fake, a model, yet has the heft of the real thing - one more layer to ponder. Wonderful stuff! Francis

jcandeli (40) 2005-06-17 8:59

This one is great! I love the colors and composition. I like the use of DOF too. vEry cool. JP

MiguelP (14470) 2005-06-29 12:55

I missed this one, Lee. It has a curious effect on my, it´s me the one that feel small. Everything so regular, so symmetric, a little bit scary... Congratulations to Canada for the same sex marriage law, hopefully tomorrow Spain. Take care.

carobnica (1336) 2005-09-26 5:14

also another strong photo;
this close, close portrait, cuted, towards the intense backgound gives me the feeling of nadrealistic photographs that were made in beggining of the 20th century; there's one partictuar that's on my mind; the difference is of course the color...
one more great photo
ciao
ana

Photo Information

Copyright: Lee Sato (ElSato) (824)
Genre: Gente
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2005-04-25
Categories: Vida cotidiana, Arquitectura, Arte
Exposición: f/3.5, 1/50 segundos
More Photo Info: view
Versión de la foto: Versión original
Tema(s): Sato: Forget it Jake, It's Chinatown, Sato: Surréalisme Après Breton, Miscellaneous [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2005-05-01 13:12