Spirit Broken

bentcountershaft · Oct 1, 2012

IMG_7361b by bentcountershaft, on Flickr

amolitor · Oct 2, 2012

This is so ambiguous an image I can't make much sense of it. It took me a few seconds to even sort out the subject, and now I'm still not sure if we're looking at a real orangutan (?) or a stuffed one in a museum, or something else entirely. There's some good stuff in the frame, but I can't make out whether it's about the face or the hair. The hair makes a nice pun on sort of fashion-ish shots, which is interesting. The expression is consistent with your title, but the expression on an orang's face is always pretty unreadable, so for all I know this one is happy as anything.

On the one hand it's a puzzle with no solution, and that's not a bad thing at all. It makes ya think, right?

On the other hand, it's enigmatic enough and visually confusing enough that maybe it's not gelling as an image.

Dagwood56 · Oct 2, 2012

To me, this seems to be way over sharpened and while I like the concept behind it [nothing better than the moody looks of a primate] I don't think enough of the face shows to really have caprtued a mood. Just my opinion.

Derrel · Oct 2, 2012

Cogent analysis offered by amolitor.

I "want" to feel saddened by this....the title tells me that I should feel sad or upset about this...Buuuuuuut, as amolitor said, this image just isn't gelling...for all the reasons he stated. Simply put, there is not enough clear,obvious, "showing" in the image, to convey enough information to back up the title. I think I understand what the image is about, based on your title, but the photo...just isn't "gelling".

bentcountershaft · Oct 2, 2012

The title probably comes up a little short due to me having seen this particular guy several times, and he always looks down. The others are active and playful but he never is. I was disappointed not to get more of his face but this was as good as it got due to him mostly looking away. Just a case of the best you can do doesn't always make a good shot.

As far as sharpening, it's entirely possible that I subconsciously overcompensated for shooting through glass by moving that slider to the right a bit farther than necessary. Thanks for the thoughts everyone, I certainly appreciate it.

Derrel · Oct 2, 2012

You know bentcountershaft, you have to be one of the MOST-grownup, thick-skinned comment receivers on this board. Kudos! You are sooooo much the opposite of many. And that's a good thing,man.

bentcountershaft · Oct 2, 2012

Thanks Derrel, I really appreciate that. At some point in life I figured out that protecting your ego and being open to learning are mutually exclusive. I choose to learn.

leeroix · Oct 2, 2012

i think i would have preferred to see a little more of his face but...tough circumstances.

The_Traveler · Oct 2, 2012

To me, there is so much in focus in this image, so much texture, so much detail, that I had a hard time figuring out what to look at and how to parse the image.
To make this image effective, I needed to understand what you are looking at and what you want me to see and the eyes are just too hidden for that; my eyes get stuck on the other stuff and I don't get a chance to interpret the image.

Lew