Sunshine on my shoulder

[Kerry Perkins]

In the spirit of posting other subjects ("It ain't just birds...), here is an image I captured with my Blackberry a few years ago. This is a "spray park", where little kids come to frolic in the water that is shooting out of the concrete. This was very early in the morning, as I was drinking coffee and getting ready for work. I saw this scene and had to capture it, as it appeared that some little ones had drawn the solar system with colored chalk (note that Pluto was still a planet). I placed the sun on my shoulder and pushed the button. The concepts of composition, form, color, and story are all important - even more important than the gear sometimes. I did a slight crop from the top and some post-processing to make the colors stand out.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hello, it's ok for you to tell me you hate it. I'm trying to stimulate some discussion here... Anyone - Bueller?

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Kerry,

Greetings. I can usually tell a good composition from the thumbnail. The small rendition of this image clearly shows the compositional elements of the focusing lines of the shadows 'midst the more graphical color blocks. On opening it up, though, the IQ leave some to be desired.

When you said this was a "spray park", I thought: you mean they have a park for graffiti artists? That's different.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[gary ellwein]

Kerry, had you put the sun on your head insted of your shoulders, we could refer to you as the sun god Ra. A missed opportunity. Perhaps you relate more to Atlas. As to the image, I find the large red and blue areas distracting. The use of the shadows as leading lines works.

Gary

[John Chardine]

Very creative Kerry. Love the colours and the strong diagonals leading your eye into the distance. And phone cameras have come a long way since then (are you thinking 20mp iPhone with a Canon EF mount in five years??!).

[Kerry Perkins]

Thanks all, I knew the IQ was lousy but wanted to start a conversation about the other elements - thanks for your replies.

John, a couple of years ago I read an article on one of the computer geek sites that said "soon there will be no reason to buy an expensive DSLR, your phone will be all the camera you ever need". They sure have come a long way, and I will post some pics from my Droid X, but they aren't ready to replace the DSLR quite yet... There are already some lens options for the iPhone, like this one - http://owle-bubo.com/

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Kerry,

Color alone is enough to justify a picture and this is interesting and unique. I like the person shadow as well but not a fan of the additional shadow - so it goes. I have been trying to get a variety of different images posted for a long time and for that I thank you. This is the type of street photography we performed in NY City with Jay Maisel - neat and different.

[Ian Cassell]

When I was at the lookout over Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe last week, a guy was carefully composing his photograph of the bay on his iPad ... who needs a DSLR?

I like this. I find the extraneous shadows distracting, however.