* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #884 / Revived #104 on 2025 03 26*

Thanks Chris!

That glass of beer was in that position for an instant. A millisecond. I was lucky to have caught it. I can't claim to have been aware of it as I fired off several frames, following the waitress' moves at the table. I just knew I had a good scene and "covered" it. You can see the glass still on her tray just before she picked it up in the other image.

Like so many "moments" in street photography, the photographer has no idea what actual slice of time the effort has captured until seeing the image in "post."

Rich

A creative approach to capturing Sagrada Familia. It lends itself to non traditional concepts like this. Love the play of light and dark, the details of the organic construction revealed by the light, and the floral design created by the light.

The bright colors on the patterned container and on the child's shirt make this image come to life. Color is necessary here. It is an Eggleston-ish image, in a foreign land. the star-shaped compositional design centers on the child's mouth, and obvious thirst. An advertisement to raise awareness of the importance of clean water in our drying world.

Interesting architectural set that's almost abstract in nature. The third is my favorite with all those lines large and small, and the unusual vanishing point. This one would be appealing in monochrome too.

The watchman. Ancient trees have seen so much. I love this - the weary, gnarled old tree with its twisted dark limbs contrasting with the bright sun spangled hillside with all its much younger greenery stretching off into a distance How many stories has the old tree seen and heard?

This one needs to be looked at large to fully appreciate. The thumbnail is darkened and doesn't reveal all the detail and texture in the limbs that's visible in the full size version.

You could sell this one for stock! Beer and bar and travel ads. The colors are so rich and intense, the angle so perfect, the moment decisive. It is rare to see an image solely of people and none are identifiable. Really nice image.

Fierce colors and excellent detail in a bug who looks like he should be a piece of jewelry.

An almost abstract entertainment photo that's interesting and original. It takes a bit of looking (as it should with any abstracted image) to figure out exactly what we really see here. The sinuous line of her twisted form, bright against a dark mysterious background, forces our eyes up and down until we finally figure it out. The slight blur is a plus rather than a minus here, taking it a little further down the road to abstraction. I kinda wish her foot weren't cut off but you can have everything when you're shooting in a situation like that and perhaps it adds more quirkiness to an already quirky but successful image.

The image is very abstract, which is surprising considering how large a section of the very tangible church is being shown. That is helped by Gaudi's dreamlike architecture, but your choice of angles, lines, brightness and dark sections are well chosen.
I wish you luck converting the mainly square lego bricks into a represantation of this flowing, organic building!

This is excellent.
The subject is reduced to the thirsty child, the water container without much water and the many helping hands (and feet and legs), which appear out of the darkness and lead towards the child.The composition balances the water container and the child, with all the lines leading to where the child's gaping mouth meets the opening of the vessel.
The tension of the child straining backwards is made all the more intense by the fact that we can't see any water, so we are left wondering whether the child's thirst was quenched at all.

That looks like an interesting venue with a colourful history.

What an interesting development in the world under the dam. I wonder how the regulars will react. Potentially it will be a welcome new variety, but it could be their arrival is anything but welcome, and with an uncertain outcome.

I agree. An evenly lit acrobat in a more usual pose would not be anything like as good as this, as unravelling the puzzle is half the fun.

The sharply focused head and thorax, with their rainbow of colours(except red) are set off beautifully against the soft focussed flower.
I like the position of the beetle in the frame too. Coming from the top left seems to give an impression of being invasive, whereas coming from the bottom left would make it seem at home.

I agree with Minnie. It is unusual that no faces are visible and it works well that way too.
The colours, her hair and the pose of her arm with the beer give a lively and extrovert feel, implying people are having fun, but that is all by deduction, since we have no faces or other more direct evidence that it is actually true.

It gets more and more difficult to write about the Dam Series. I keep saying the same things about the stagelike setting, the dramatic light, the variations in water effects. They continue to be true while your cast changes and they strut upon the stage.
Now pelicans. They are the comedy act.
Not an egret in sight. What happens when the usual suspects nd the newcomers collide? High drama?
Do your visiting troupes nest in the vicinity?
Keep them coming
Edit addition. I looked again and noted one of yesterday's stars in the background. Sulking?

Yes, the depth of field didn't quite go as planned here. I wanted the background to be very slightly blurred to allow the leaves from the lower branch to be clear in front of the landscape, but I rather over did it. Sharpening slightly in Topaz helped a bit, but f8 would have helped more! I think it still works, but must do better next time. 😬

Reassurance. There was plenty of water to come and the child was fine. I wish I had taken more shots in this carriage. It was incredibly hot and the carriage was overcrowded. People were sitting in luggage racks above. On the other hand, the degree of consideration between everyone was inspiring.

I'll piggy back on Roel's notes.
Great shot. Because we have no faces, the hair and the hand become very important. It's a hand grip I recognize. The waitress is in a crowded, jostling workspace and has limited elbow room. The fingertip grip on the glass is highlighted. Her haircolour, tanktop and the hat on the right tell us about a scene we probably recognize. Beer and chips and noise.
Great shot.

I much prefer the shot you posted first and I agree about the landscape format. The first shot gets the movement, the closeness of the crowd and the tension of the waitress as she works in that environment. There's plenty to like in the second shot but it lacks the drama of the first.