Smoko

[sashbar]

 

[CourtSC]

Maybe it's just my 'newness' but I'm having a really hard time concentrating on the woman smoking! I keep looking at the trash mainly....I don't know, I really want to love this actually, but my eyes just don't find the subject easily.

 

[Designer]

The trash is integral to the shot.

 

[CourtSC]

I agree about the trash...didn't mean to imply that it was a bad thing that it's there....

 

[The_Traveler]

Would rather have seen her full length but ...................

 

[tirediron]

I think this is a lot stronger if you crop the bottom off just below her elbow to remove the bright/white garbage which pulls the eye away and the crop a big chunk of the RH side (in the middle of the concrete end-wall of the building with the green awning). This IMO accentuates the feeling of loneliness of the subject.

 

[sashbar]

I think this is a lot stronger if you crop the bottom off just below her elbow to remove the bright/white garbage which pulls the eye away and the crop a big chunk of the RH side (in the middle of the concrete end-wall of the building with the green awning). This IMO accentuates the feeling of loneliness of the subject.

Thanks everyone for your comments.
Cropping the garbage was the first thing that crossed my mind also. And I also tried it vertical. Full vertical length reveals way too much rubbish and too much of an empty pavement on the right, but cropping the rubbish completely makes the image too sterile to my taste. I wanted the street feeling, to show a little contract between the freedom of people in the steet and her busy day. I would not want to pretend to show her loneliness to be honest, I do not see it here. What I see is a woman having a break for her sh*t job in her sh*t office while others enjoy a nice little shopping day. So in this context the rubbish is integral to the image. Methinks.

 

[Rick58]

I get what the OP is selling here and I think eliminating any of the elements would take away a part of the story