Crossroads

[Dvir Barkay]

140095
I am usually a nature/landscape photographer, but at the end of the day I just love taking pictures, and so when my family travelled in Jerusalem, I couldn't resist. What is fun about street photography, is its similar to wildlife photography, in that you try to capture moments that often take split seconds. Here is a scene that was taken under rather difficult circumstances, through a dirty car window, at a high ISO for my camera, and at a low aperture. But I think that the moment speaks louder than any technical perfection at the end of the day. I was stuck in the backseat and saw the young group of Arabic boys all on their bikes climbing up the street next to the car and conversing. I also than saw a hasidic jewish man coming up the large street on which the car was parked. It was a friday night, so he was on the way to the Western Wall for praying. To my luck just as he crossed , the group of boys all came down the street on their bike, and he turned to look at them, I waited for the right moment when his gaze met them and fired away. It all happened in a matter of a second, but it was well worth it. Because of the slow shutter speed he came out blurred as if almost a ghost and I personally think that it works because they are also moving. I wished it wasn't through a window, but it was one of those small cars that the backseat window does not open (yes a few expletives came out of my mouth as I realized that :) ). Overall a different shot than my usual, but at the end of the day, I love to be versatile and shooting everything, this certainly is one of those images that stands out in my portfolio.

Sony A700, Sony 16-50/2.8@50mm, F/2.8, ISO 1600, 1/25s, through a dirty window lucky the AF locked in the rather dark conditions, decent crop, 2013, Jerusalem, Israel

[Don Railton]

Hi Dvir

Something different but IMHO still valid in this forums scope. You have a nice capture of a moment in time that appealed. I am glad you are happy with what you caught because it is obviously difficult conditions you were dealing with and there is a degree of satisfaction in getting an image under those conditions. Well done to you. For me the image shows nice dynamics with the kids on the bike and the blurry foreground man walking by, all set in a typical back street scene and there is enough interest in the scene for me to linger... The obvious dislike is the lights that steal the eye, not sure if you would consider toning them down, but for me that would add a lot more appeal to the scene, however I understand why you might not want to distort what you actually saw.

regards

DON

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Nice shot under difficult circumstances, well done! I love the reflection of the light on the street!

It's obviously a personal thing but the blurred guy does not work for me. Had it been mine I probably would have framed everything between the two white 'pipes'(?) on the left & right and trimmed the brightness of the lights (perhaps as a vertical crop in order to keep the space in the foreground). But a keeper, regardless!

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Dvir, not something that I have ever really tried my hand at, but you have handled the lighting well. As with Tobie, I find the blurry man a bit of a distraction and I am not found of the garbage cans and cardboard boxes. Would love to see more of your street scenes!

[Morkel Erasmus]

Cool shot! I actually like the blurry man with his traditional headwear, gives some context of WHERE this was shot, which is crucial in travel photography.