Ludwik, a photo from Vilniaus, South

Photographer's Note

We met Ludwik inside of the marvellous synagoge. He spoke very good Polish. Told us about the times when over 40% inhabitants of the town were Jewish.
Now there are roughly 3,000 of them living here.

For hundreds of years Lithuanians, Poles, Jews, Russians and other nations have been living in this beautiful town.

Second in my series (see my previous picture). Far from politics, far from emotions. Just facts.

RGatward, gp_pl, luisafonso, Clairedelune oznaczył to zdjęcie jeko użyteczne

Critiques | Translate

RGatward (20108) 2006-08-14 17:42

Hi Jerzy, glad to see your shots from one of my favourite cities. But please tell me where this place is. I found an old one that looked disused on Pylimo a few years ago, is this it? Well thought out portrait of him.

faubry (35447) 2006-08-14 18:14

merci Jerzy de nous rappeler l'histoire sans politique, juste pour l'histoire! trčs beau portrait en noir et blanc
take care
francine

Polonaise (5802) 2006-08-14 18:53

If there is anything normal left on earth (beside me, but of course (:-)) it is this picture. Portrait of a human being. Non-pretentious, regular, looking straight forward into camera - human being.
In his natural environment. In his domain. Bring him into the studio and the magic's gone. You didn't try to impress us Jerzy, to show us your enormous capability in your beloved field. You just used your refined skills to show us how to stay sane and be great innovator at the same time.
INNOVATOR ?
Yes. Innovator.
Using $3000-$4000 electronically stuffed equipment to make a picture which has enclosed within its frame the greatest experience in photography of the past decades - that's what I call 'innovation'.
j.g.
OrYou can always go around like many of us, pushing the button and producing the 'waxy-schmaxy -oh-so-cute' numeric pixelities. No soul in them and no noise, but they are sooooo sharp.

PJE (20758) 2006-08-14 19:25

Jerzy what an interesting expression of character seen in this man. The interesting stories that he could tell are all written on his face. Excellent exposure and the background puts him in context with the rich historical background he shares. Good work!

gp_pl (1394) 2006-08-15 2:02

czesc Jerzy,
bardzo dobry portret - technicznie wspanialy. Pomysl na kadr z takim a nie innym drugim planem, ktory dodaje kontekst - bezbledny. I ciekawa nota dopelniajaca calej opowiesci.
Bardzo mi sie podoba.
pozdrawiam
Grzesiek

Burberry1 (6041) 2006-08-15 5:47

witaj jerzy'ku.
Jest coś fajnego w przekazie tego zdjęcia, coś prawdziwego i naturalnego, zwazywszy , ze opowiadasz pewną historię, jednak nie jestem, pewna czy podoba mi się do końca " forma podania" znając liczne Twoje świetne prace.
A jednak coś mnie tu porusza...
hmmm...

Pozdrawiam, A.

gebala (0) 2006-08-15 5:48

witaj,

no nie jest najlepsze to zdjecie drogi kolego
slaby kontrast
takie mdle troszke
az trudno uwierzyc ze zrobone D200
ma mase niedociagniec, ale mam nadzieje ze jestes tego swiadomy

wybacz za szczerosc ale tak czuje

dodam takze, ze masz strasznie nierowne zdjecia i to przejaskrowienie w PP zabija twoje prace - to juz czesto nie jest fotografia ale ociera sie o grafike prawie

jesli nie mam racji i w tej Rosji mi przymarzl mozg to poprosze o odp

pozd serd

KevRyan (22956) 2006-08-15 10:48

This one has all the hallmarks of careful composition like your last one J - the subject is near perfectly placed (although the slight tilt doesn't add anything for me) for the message but your image has less life in it than the one yesterday - such flat light on the man's face and that little light source above distracting the eye away in its quest to find some contrast - not your strongest work technically but I applaud your subject, theme and story.

best wishes Kev

polter (7239) 2006-08-15 16:07

Wracam tu i wracam. Coś takiego jest w tej twarzy - jakiś pokład wewnętrznego ciepła. I nastrój tła pięknie temu ciepełku sekunduje - jakby to nie było tło tylko, ale jakby człowiek i wnętrze światyni stanowili jedność. Chyba to właśnie mnie w tym zdjęciu najbarzdiej pociąga. Pozdrowienia T.

luisafonso (862) 2006-08-16 4:03

I am missing some contrast here Jerzy. This b&w seems more a gray and white. Don't know if this makes sense, but I am missing your usual strong conversion here. I love the compo. He has a good presence in the frame. Don't know if it is his posture or your slightly off front pov, but I like the way he faces the camera. I am missing some context here too. In the previous, that green sign was crucial there and maybe if you have gone color here that left part would also boost that Jewish feeling. Just some thoughts.

Clairedelune (4923) 2006-08-27 22:03

Mixed feeling about this one Jerzy. The sweet side first: this is a face that speaks volumes! At least, for me. Much more than your previous one, "Djemil". Maybe because of the hint of a smile. Or the bushy eyebrows. Good, simple, effective photo of this man. The not so sweet side is about your pp for this one. I don't mind that it is not as contrasted as some of yours usual photos. My problem is that everything seems to be too grey. His face is grey, his shirt is grey, the white in the backgroun is grey. I don't know, but with my limited experience about black & white, it just don't appeal to me.
Claire