Flower Girl, a photo from Phnum Penh, West

Photographer's Note

A girl at Stung Meanchey garbage dump in Cambodia.

Few days ago I browsed my photos from Cambodia, and I was really surprised finding this one. It brought back so many memories. Some of you may know this girl, I have posted several photos with her to TE already. And that is how the place looks like.

I am thinking about going there again.

Paolo, hispic, AmiBe, eleparc, AnimeshRay oznaczył to zdjęcie jeko użyteczne

Critiques | Translate

Zepi (22848) 2005-05-12 5:46

Hello Maciej ,
Trčs belle composition,jadore l'expression de cet enfant!
Superbes couleurs
Belle lumičre
Beau travail
Amicalement
Sébastien

faubry (35447) 2005-05-12 5:54

trčs belles couleurs, et contraste, j'aime beaucpoup l'expression enjouée de cette fillette, bravo
ŕ bientôt
francine

clodreno (0) 2005-05-12 5:54

amazing that she had the flowers in her hands.
A beautiful potrait Maciek. such a cute face.. I like it...
The background is so incredible..

bnallama (3763) 2005-05-12 5:56

Maciej.. I love your series of slump... This photo is just too 'full' the kid , the smile, the flowers, finding the flowers in the slump... the thought can go on...

I like the 'grainy' look of the photo..

Did you crop the head on purpose?...

hamster (104) 2005-05-12 5:57

Fajne zdjecie. Bylem tam, widzialem, zrobilem kilka filmow. Prawde mowiac do odwiedzenia tego wysypiska sklonily mnie Twoje zdjecia, ktore wczesniej widzialem i ktore wywarly na mnie spore wrazenie.

hajle (1087) 2005-05-12 5:57

fota rzadzi, zreszta to juz chyba jej trzecia wersja;
pozdrawiam
sławek

cyril (2748) 2005-05-12 5:59

Hi Maciej,
Very good composition and DOF.
I like the expression of the child and the way she stands and looks at you

Have a good day
Cyril

kinginexile (2598) 2005-05-12 6:01

Many beautiful and sensitive portraits of children laTEly.
This one, besides the marvelous smile, has a vivid and natural rendition. These little buds, maybe picked up from the trash, tell us that the message of kindness and love from the Buddha is to be found everywhere. Thanks, maciej.

mrbialy (2568) 2005-05-12 6:07

Hello. Napisze po polsku bo zdjecie jest naprawde dobre a moj angielski nie. Co my tu widzimy? Mala dziewczynke- brudna, biedna i mysle ze bardzo glodna, a do tego w jakim miejscu( mysle ze jakies wysypisko smieci albo cos w tym stylu). Ale co ona robi? smieje sie. Usmiecha sie. Niewiarygodne. Klimat wprost nieziemski. Potrafi sie smiac, i to szczerze w jej polozeniu, jestem pelen podziwu, naprawde. I musze powiedziec, ze az mi wstyd bo czesto sie narzeka na swoj los i takie drobnostki a gdzies na swiecie ludzie maja naprawde "przewalone" a jednak nie narzekaja i potrafia sie cieszyc tym co maja. Dzieki za to zdjecie, bo daje naprawde do myslenia. To jest po prostu madre zdjecie dla mnie i nie chcialbym tu mowic o kompozycjach itp. Jeszcze tylko slowo: kwiaty w takim miejscu? ale kontrast.

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kozerog (1288) 2005-05-12 6:08

Very good portrait Maciej. I like her eyes and hands with flowers, but I'd like to see her hands fully.

RGatward (20108) 2005-05-12 6:10

Fancy not posting this before. Beautiful shot, love the flowers she's holding. Return trip to the garbage dump! Maybe a recommendation to lonely planet :-)

summersun (4978) 2005-05-12 6:10

such a cute girl in the garbage... i like her pose, with the flowers, and her beautiful smile.very nice portrait. nice light.
Vanessa

rbcy1974 (20758) 2005-05-12 6:11

Hi Maciej,
The smile and the flowers provide quite a different feeling from that conveyed by the other photo. Its really a beautiful image. I am curious did you cut the veil off in purpose?
Regards
Daniel

Paolo (41258) 2005-05-12 6:30

Wonderful portrait Maciej!
the colors are really sweet and amazing, the smile of the girl is well captured and sweet.
good light and a perfect composition!
thanks.
ciao

entrelec (8328) 2005-05-12 9:46

Very symbolic picture.In french we say:" Les roses poussent sur le fumier".
Colours are powerfull and the smiling face so "émouvante" in french again.
Sorry for the very short english, I think about a french/english dictionnary for TE comments!
Joel

AmiBe (6042) 2005-05-12 10:22

Hi Maciej,
what a beautiful smile in a sad place...
Nice title... a very strong picture.

Darren (6823) 2005-05-12 10:36

This is a beautiful capture of the girl, but I find it too centered and I am kind of bothered by the crop of the head when there is room behind her. I think it would have looked better had you placed her to the far left of the frame. This is really nice Maciek, but simpler and less interesting than your newer shots IMO.

Tavo (587) 2005-05-12 11:45

This one is of quality and strength equal to The Ray of Hope (if not more than equal), which was excellent. I would welcome to see better her dirty hands, but this delicate half-hidden way is also more than acceptable. Anyway, the main weight is in expression of her lovely conscious face, her smile and above all - her eyes. I think t is comparable to the famous NG portrait of green-eyed Afghan girl.
Thanks for reminder, Maciek, this delayed publication is more effective than if you posted it one after another in series. Looking forward to next one in couple of months.
PeterB

Albrecht (11283) 2005-05-12 12:54

Hi Maciej
Again a great pic.The dirty girl with the lovely smile and those dirty flowers; great colours and compo.Can you expain me why you have chosen to cut of a part of the head always. I like it, but I can imagne that sometimes seeing the whole is even more beautiful.
Greetings Albrecht

flydragon (0) 2005-05-12 13:20

mm i remember i have one of this girl
in my fav picture from you.
lucky us u found this one
she is beautifull and make me sad
but i guess we should also show this kind of place, to remeind people how life can be hard
for some kids, even she smile she should have a
terrible life
congrat
i would love have the other one on my wall here
simon

Luko (14000) 2005-05-12 13:23

Cut and paste Darren's opinion adn put my name below it... and btw, the bluish/white area distracts the reading and I can't see a real connection between a little girl holding a lotus flower, smiling while if you were'nt here she would pick up garbage in the area... I'm sorry to say I feel it as a bit "made up".

avigur_11 (22553) 2005-05-12 15:56

A very moving image, Maciek. THe dirt on her hands and the pale colors of the flowers make a very sad mood, but her smiling face brings in a fantastic surprise of happiness and light. This mixture of moods in the same picture is very special and very interesting. I like it very much.

alimo3 (6854) 2005-05-12 16:43

hello Maciej,
one of my very favorite from you because this portrait is not only beautiful but it also carry a lot of emotion.
nice colors maybe a bit dark on the face,
A Great one.

Tom

eleparc (24063) 2005-05-12 16:46

This is a grand photo maciek! full of emotions and a great message of hope!
well done! I am glad you found this one in your pack of photos;
I do discover some little treasures also sometimes when browsing through my stocks...

Fixfocus (9385) 2005-05-12 19:43

Good compo with strong cropping.Good capture of the natural and friendly expression of the little girl.I like the colors in this picture very much.

Paker (2650) 2005-05-12 19:49

troche na moj gust glowa za mocno ucieta... ale zdjecie jest doskonale!
krzysiek

duder (359) 2005-05-12 21:14

Excellent shot, I like the tight framing and the flowers, together with the expression on the girl's face, give us a very powerful message.

Luan (12971) 2005-05-13 3:42

Beautiful portrait Maciej, she is so cute, I love her smile so sweet. I guess is a lotus flowers !
Excellent
Luan

nerve (10231) 2005-05-13 3:57

Its a very nice one this one.. i love the purple-ish, blue background and the shy smile,, goes so well with the tullips(?).. maybe too central, but works for me..

deud (1920) 2005-05-13 4:09

in fact, it's a terrific shot. sad and sometimes i think, inchangeable.

mlopes (494) 2005-05-13 6:12

One of my favs from you, diferent stuff from what you've been posting lately or maybe my mood has changed again.

Personaly i think you've done a great work in Cambodja, your photos really touch me, surprise me and disturbs me. I think this is really good photojournalism.

Regards,
Mário

Homerhomer (4080) 2005-05-13 14:20

Maciek, Twoje zdjecia z Cambodia sa swietne, z malymi wyjatkami podibaja mi sie bardziej niz Twoje zdjecia z Indii albo z Europy, moze dlatego ze India jest bardzo popularna na TE.
Uwazam ze ten portret jest swietny, moze troche pozowany, ale napewno nie sztuczny.
Piotr

bboss (3578) 2005-05-13 16:23

Life and beauty from the rubbish dump...
... this one gives me a feeling of hope in spite of apparent hopelessness.
A wonderful image
cheers, David

AnimeshRay (9089) 2005-05-13 21:25

This one is sublime, Maciej! Her smile is priceless, and the subtle composition with her flowers...a lotus blooming in the squalor. Again, I must say this shot is truly priceless.

hispic (9658) 2005-05-14 1:41

Great portrait!
I feel her hope in the smile though she is in garbage dump.
Spurb!

Porteplume (4036) 2005-05-14 8:08

This is an absolutely beautiful photo because of HER. She is wonderful. Her look. Her smile. The flowers in her hands, in the middle of the dirt... SHE IS A FLOWER in the middle of the dirt, but...

I regret the too tight cropping at the top, it's really disturbing - [and I think that having her whole hands would also have added to the emotionnal & appealling part of this work] - but I would also have cropped tighter on the left.

kourosh (2346) 2005-05-17 9:56

I guess the subject deserves two points, but seriously I wouldn't recognize it's your work if your name weren't there. adding to Darren's comments, to me it seems a bit oversaturated.

scalerman (26900) 2005-05-19 23:52

Maciej, I think most will agree this was one of your best series. How do you feel taking super nice pictures with super nice equipment of super poor people that have nothing? Just wondering. best regards, Caleb

Psycho_candy (85) 2005-08-17 9:23

excelent photo...
Great contrast between the beauty of a face and a flower and the decay of the garbage dump...
Congratulations