G 2019.05 Critique

Thanks, George. It is a cell phone selfie held at arms length with no extender. The camera, the ride and the subjects did all the work. Thanks for your kind analysis. You attribute more thinking on my part than I actually did. I was just trying to hang on!

The beautiful child (grand-daughter?) is having a blast, as are her grand-parents! They’re all pressed against the seat by the fury of the ride… but that seat looks as comfortable as a sofa. ;-) Is a compositional secret hidden here? Are there also secrets of technique? Is Lou holding a selfie stick off frame? Why is the child in crisp focus while her grand-parents are blurred, is the motion of the ride such that only a child could maintain her bearing, while adults physically react to each erratic movement of the ride? Perhaps the photographer would share these secrets.

Technically, as a viewer’s eye is always drawn to children, her crisp focus and catch lights in her eyes tend to hold the viewer’s attention even more, while the blur of the adults in peripheral vision informs the viewer of motion. That’s quite a trick of composition. And though the adults take up fully half of the image, their placement and blur relegate them to providing framing for the child. Note also that the child is a bit off the vertical center line, and the back of the seat is not horizontal; these elements add to the image’s sense of motion. Nice job!