Town and Country - Myanmar 2013

[The_Traveler]

I have a friend who said this


"Street shooting is maybe the hardest niche of all in photography. The photographer stalks his chosen environment where, essentially, nothing is happening - people are quietly going about their business - and yet has to select tiny moments when an image can be snatched which is more than the sum of its parts - fractions of people are going about their business, where some fleeting coincidence of expression, gesture, positioning, and movement come together to create an instant which holds some undefinable meaning."

and I have always taken that as my mantra.

I think this picture reflects, as well as any I've taken, where selecting a very small view out of everything you see can show a meaning. I'm not implying that this is a great or even good picture but that this is the kind of frame I'm looking for.

 

[pixmedic]

as you probably know, im not really a fan of B&W in general....so take any comments from me with that in mind.
there's something about the facial expression of the person on the right that really gets to me. i don't know what it is, but i am fascinated by it. i REALLY want to know what they were thinking about at that moment.
for me, this would be GOLD (even as a B&W) if the shot was JUST them. im afraid the girl with the laptop doesn't really add much to the shot for me, even though it is part of that "scene".


also, street photography might be the hardest niche...but wedding photography is the most stressful.

 

[imagemaker46]

I like the shot, it looks like a clash of cultures, the old woman in her closed world and the young girl on the laptop in a new world.

 

[The_Traveler]

I REALLY want to know what they were thinking about at that moment.
for me, this would be GOLD (even as a B&W) if the shot was JUST them.

I think that a picture that is enigmatic is much more interesting than one where the entire meaning is spelled out. You like her face because you can tell that something is going on inside and I think, it is the mystery of not knowing that draws you. Getting pictures of faces is easy but, for me, the girl with the laptop makes the picture because then there is that extra level of meaning beyond just a picture of two people.

I like the shot, it looks like a clash of cultures, the old woman in her closed world and the young girl on the laptop in a new world.

Thanks for looking and commenting. Although South Asia is a remarkable place to take pictures, the lighting conditions are often very difficult.
The sun jumps up in the sky and by 9:30 or 10, the shadows are deep and harsh.

 

[PixelRabbit]

I like the shot, it looks like a clash of cultures, the old woman in her closed world and the young girl on the laptop in a new world.

Agree, this was my immediate thought also, the young lady's eyes being hidden is perfect and I quite like the light on her face as well as the expression on the older lady's face, great capture IMHO.

 

[PixelRabbit]

Actually I lied, Imagemaker saw it backwards to what I saw, the older lady is open to the world around her and the young lady is closed in the new world, we don't see her eyes, her ears are covered and she is immersed in a very different world but she doesn't see the world around her and isn't present like the older lady is.

 

[imagemaker46]

Actually I lied, Imagemaker saw it backwards to what I saw, the older lady is open to the world around her and the young lady is closed in the new world, we don't see her eyes, her ears are covered and she is immersed in a very different world but she doesn't see the world around her and isn't preset like the older lady is.

Quite true, it's a thinkable picture.

 

[Bo4key]

I really like the shot and the contrast between the two subjects. The title is very fitting.

I do agree that a shot of just the woman on the right would be a nice shot on it's own, but there is nothing wrong with just this shot either.

 

[RobN185]

To me the image has a great story, I see less of "Town and Country" and more of both women being locked in there own generations.
There appear close, and yet are miles apart.

I like it that each viewer sees a different take on the image, all similar but each one subtly different.

A quirky observation: "flip-flops" are the only things that comfortably span the generations, and probably always will.

 

[pgriz]

Lew, I’ve looked at this one several times since you posted – it deserves more than a quick glance. In addition to Judi’s comments, the image works in purely visual terms. The lady on the right is occupying an intersection of vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines, implying to me a continuity. The overall tones are closer to her surroundings, giving a feeling of fitting in. That contrasts with the tones of the lady at the left, whose visual surroundings are dark, while she is light. In addition to the observations that have already been made, the visual elements blend in nicely to allow us to read into the image and construct a narrative. Very well done.

 

[Rick58]

I see the same generation clash, be it Asia, Europe or the USA. There's the young girl with the laptop and headphones, completely tuned out of the world around her. Then there's the mother in her generation starring, completely unoccupied. Unable to communicate with her child.

 

[The_Traveler]

Thanks, all, for the observations.
In point the observations go deeper than my original thought when I saw the image but it was probably the not so obvious meanings that made this stand out for me.

(I used 'Town and Country' as the title because I couldn't think of another phrase that would so sort-of familiar and yet point to what I was seeing as the clash)