Stranger: David | Canon 24-70 f/2.8L II

Austin Greene · May 1, 2015

A boy ducked below a prop wagon on the streets of Mountain View, looking to investigate its less-than-authentic wooden spoke wheels. The sign read "Calendars" and the front of the cart had editions featuring cats, elephants, americana, and photos from places most people will never get to visit.

"David, come out of there." called the dad. The boy smiled an adventurous grin as he took his time. I smiled at their antics, and kept walking.

Ten minutes later, I round a corner and see the duo at it again. This time, David's picked a string of lights in a shop window as his muse. His father seems more accepting of this selection than David's last.

I point to the camera, and whisper to the father for permission to take a photo. He nods.

And that, is how I met David.

Stranger: David by TogaLive, on Flickr

DanOstergren · May 1, 2015

Great shot and story. I love that you came down to the boy's level rather than photographing him from above.

FITBMX · May 1, 2015

Great line down the front of the store, it is a really nice photo!

jovince3000 · May 1, 2015

Agree with all of the above, the line leads right to the boy.

Great picture, love that Stranger series of yours.

beagle100 · May 2, 2015

yes, good composition with leading lines

jaomul · May 2, 2015

Nice story, nice photo.

I'd not include my super dooper lens in my photo title unless It was new and I was showing it off as an information post on said lens. It kinda says (to me) I got this great lens so took a great shot. I'd imagine your talent goes deeper than that lens. Just an opinion and you know what people say about opinions

lizheaemma · May 2, 2015

Nice catch, good motion, well composed, well gained consent. Any chance you can lighten his eye's just a little? I think that could draw you in to this image even more.

pixmedic · May 2, 2015

nice reaction capture.
im torn between feeling there should be less on the right side, (maybe cropped to the far right tree) and feeling like its better as is.

Austin Greene · May 2, 2015

jaomul said:
Nice story, nice photo.

I'd not include my super dooper lens in my photo title unless It was new and I was showing it off as an information post on said lens. It kinda says (to me) I got this great lens so took a great shot. I'd imagine your talent goes deeper than that lens. Just an opinion and you know what people say about opinions

Happy to hear some feedback on that. Lately I've been doing it, less as a bragging point, but more to inform folks. Normally I'd include it in the body of my post anyways, but I thought having it in the title might be more useful for folks who might want to go into a photo knowing what lens it was taken with

lizheaemma said:
Nice catch, good motion, well composed, well gained consent. Any chance you can lighten his eye's just a little? I think that could draw you in to this image even more.

Glad you like it

I probably could, and it would probably benefit, but I won't on this one. With all my street portraits I've been trying very hard to stick to photojournalistic guidelines. No cloning, no heavy crops, no excessive dodging/burning. No heavy editing in general. It's a fun challenge!

pixmedic said:
nice reaction capture.
im torn between feeling there should be less on the right side, (maybe cropped to the far right tree) and feeling like its better as is.

You and me both. When I shot it I was thinking "Ok, I won't be able to crop this." When I angled a bit more to the left, at 24mm the distortion really filled a huge proportion of the frame with the wall. I wasn't sure if that would distract vs the road setting the scene. I appreciate the insight