Critique Style Requested: Initial Reaction
Please share your immediate response to the image before reading the photographer’s intent (obscured text below) or other comments. The photographer seeks a genuinely unbiased first impression.
Questions to guide your feedback
I love “street” photography. Unlike landscape photography, “street” photography doesn’t give me the luxury of time - no tripods, no fiddling, no fussing. I feel like I’ve got to have my wits about me while at the same time letting go of all expectations. I love this photograph because it captures a perfect moment of intimacy. I would love to know how it strikes you.
Other Information
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Image Description
This is one of my favourite images of this past year taken at Grossman’s Tavern, Toronto. This is one of those old, venerable bars that hasn’t changed much since it opened back in 1956. It became known as “The Home of the Blues” and has always been a place where up and coming local musicians could get up on stage and play for an audience. Many “stars” of the Canadian music scene got their start right here. Grossman’s has never had a cover charge.
Technical Details
1 Like
I love the interaction of the two gentlemen and their expressions, Kerry. I know it’s street photography and you have to take what you’re given, but I do wish that foreground person hadn’t gotten in the way largely so I could see the posture and hand signals of the man on our right a little better as they can convey as much as facial expression.
I appreciate your comment, Dennis and I felt that way at first as well. But I changed my mind. I feel that the person in front adds depth to the image but even more importantly, gives the reader a sense of being a voyeur - looking behind the curtain, as it were, into a scene that is personal and private. Anyway, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it 
I fully agree. The person in the front adds another dimension. It adds and immediacy to the scene. Without it the scene seems more staged. I believe good photojournalists add such objects to give a sense of the real. Here on NPN we don’t use this approach.
@Igor_Doncov - I would add a caveat. I believe this picture would be better if there was a strong shadow in the left corner as well so that the woman on the right and shadow on the left form a frame through which we are seeing the two men. If I have the time I might try it simply by burning a shadowy blur in the LLC. Other than that, I might let it go as a near miss.
I don’t consider this a miss. The only thing that could suggest a miss is that the men seem posed. I don’t shoot this sort of thing but I think it’s very difficult to capture ‘change’ in a moment of time and still look there was movement. Eugene Smith was great at it.
You might enjoy this article I came across. I’m sure there are many others:
https://art-sheep.com/7-lessons-w-eugene-smith-has-taught-us-about-street-photography/
@Igor_Doncov - Thanks for this and a very interesting observation. But clearly it isn’t always true. For example, my absolute favourite photograph of Smith’s is the one of the women in mourning gathered around the corpse of someone’s husband or father that is laid out in a grotto. Part of what I love about that image is that it plays as a tableau and looks almost as though it was posed - though I have to imagine that it wasn’t.
