The Punks of Camden Lock

Tuna · Jan 30, 2005

Near the markets at Camden Lock, London, England.

All comments and critique greatly appreciated.

Tuna

errant_star · Jan 30, 2005

I like it ... the background colours are very vibrant and suit the subject matter! The one thing I'd say would be that it'd be nice to see some detail in the gujy on the rights face

On an aside ... the punk rockers bring back some ' back in the day' type memories!

Replic · Jan 30, 2005

Very nice shot, nice vibrant colors. Shadow on the guy on the right's face is a bit harsh though. And what is that on the left? It's a bit distracting.

craig · Jan 30, 2005

Cool colors and I love the clouds hanging out in the top right of the frame. The light seems harsh.

Marsha · Jan 30, 2005

love the funky colors and the angle of the buildings! very cool!

joeybing · Feb 12, 2005

That is great I really like the subject and the background colors. Good work

mentos_007 · Feb 12, 2005

wooohoo Tuna!! the colors are grat! love the shot! It's like the picture from the cover of rock/punk magazines

spike000 · Feb 13, 2005

Exposing to the face would have resulted in possibly a better shot of the individuals however you may have washed out the other colours.

All in all - great place to go and a great atmospheric shot.

chroix · Feb 13, 2005

cool shot. nice colors and subject. did you try the shot with a flash? it could get rid of some of the hard shadows on the faces. it's weird how flat it looks. what kind of camera did you use? did you get any close ups of the mohawk guy? i like the contrast of his hair on the sky. cool pic

MostlyDigital · Feb 13, 2005

Agree on the faces. Dude on the right seems kinda forgotten, I'd like to see more of his face and the real bright colors done in photoshop, seem, just a tad overpowering. Otherwise, great subject.

mad_malteaser · Feb 14, 2005

This is one of my favourite places to be. I just love the colour and vibrancy of the people wandering round. You captured a great shot here of a typical Camden view. Great stuff.

terri · Feb 14, 2005

Mad, gorgeous color. Wow! :thumbup: The "in-your-face" colors go beautifully with the subject matter. Really nice effect.

My main nitpick is the composition....I wish that Levi's sign wasn't coming out of the face of the guy on the right. If it weren't there, just the solid blue building, it would be more effective.

But I still like it a bunch.

Tuna · Feb 15, 2005

Wow. Thanks for all the comments/critique, guys. I've been away a while and I come back to see this image has been resurrected.

This was shot from the hip, literally. As these ladies and gentlemen were asking to be paid to be photographed and I wanted more of an unposed shot, I didn't want to upset them by openly taking a picture. So, I used my D70 and 18-70 kit lens and fired off some shots from my side as I walked by. With the mid-day sun blasting down, I found my auto-exposure to be pretty hot and decided to enhance that aspect of it - thus the vibrant colors/contrast but very little shadow detail. I could have brought out the face of the man on the right in PS but left it alone so as to contrast with the colors in his hair. Now, after your comments, I see that doing that work may have some merit. And, Terri, I also noticed that sign so close to his face and considered cloning it out but decided the triangular effect of the signs (purely coincidental) added some interest to the scene and left it.

Thanks again.

Tuna

blinded · Feb 15, 2005

cool picture. What do you mean they wanted to be paid to be photographed?

Did they just ask for some change when you tried to take a photo or do they actually go and stand there with the intention of making money off people taking pictures of them?

Tuna · Feb 15, 2005

blinded said:
cool picture. What do you mean they wanted to be paid to be photographed?

Did they just ask for some change when you tried to take a photo or do they actually go and stand there with the intention of making money off people taking pictures of them?

Some of the folks dressed in this manner (including this group) would approach anyone with a camera and offer to pose for cash. Not that unusual - I have had similar offers from the locals during my travels in other countries as well.

Tuna