Old Character, a photo from Hong Kong, South

Photographer's Note

I am hoping we can center a theme around only this guy. Maciek, Kourosh and I spent a day shooting around Hong Kong and we came across this guy at the Aberdeen area. In this area, there were lots of older men hanging around. Playing chess, smoking, basically just hanging out. I think this guy was a favorite of all three of us. We all got some shots of him, and I hope we all can post to the theme. Unlike many of the men in the area, he had no aversion to having his photo taken, so we all got our share. One of my favorite things about living in Asia is seeing the groups of men hanging around. In Canada, I guess they do it at seniors' centers, but you don't see groups of them in parks so much.

Maciek and Kourosh, please get a shot or two of him up, I want this to be a fun theme. Anyone else who has come across him in Hong Kong, please post your shots as well. If you are visiting Hong Kong, have a look for him and join our little theme.

Rhiannon, maciekda, Rinie_Hoff, carper, bfly, eelliott305, manny, Catcher, eleparc, Jebelis, smael, Riz, elena, Bogdan, touristdidi, caliane has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

kourosh (2346) 2004-03-24 9:25

nice portrait Darren. great focus and DOF. The best thing about this shot is that he doesnt look at the camera (when i took the shot he looked directly into my lens!), but the hand in the foreground is a bit distracting to me.
unfortunately my shot turned out to be soft in focus, but i'll post it tomorrow.

maciekda (19895) 2004-03-24 9:31

what a nice portrait, i like it a lot, the shallow DOF is wonderful here - only his face is sharp, the background and his hand are blurred, lovely. but maybe the picture is oversharpened a bit, expecially the face. and the guy is a real character! very nice picture!
much better than mine with him ;) but maybe i'll post mine one day too, just for fun

DaveLarson (798) 2004-03-24 9:35

Excellent, Darren. It looks like your trip to HK was fruitful. This is my first critique. I haven't written any before because I don't have much to contribute technically, but I can at least say that from a layperson's standpoint I love this photo. Did you do any post-processing on it, or is this the original? With all the improvements that you and others have made in WS's to my photos, it's made me question all my originals. Do you find yourself doing post-processing regularly, or just occasionally?

piozac (2065) 2004-03-24 9:41

Great portrait Darren. This hand out of focus is outstanding. SUperb composition.

Rhiannon (1728) 2004-03-24 9:42

Colours, clarity, DOF and suject are perfect!
The texture of the old mans skin and hair are amazing! I think this is a beautiful portrait and I love his teethless smile :)
Very well done!

Cougar (1752) 2004-03-24 9:43

Very nice composition, nice portrait. Nice soft colors.

ainy (33) 2004-03-24 10:45 [Comment]

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bfly (5775) 2004-03-24 10:48

beautiful picture..eveything is said about it already :)..what excited me as well is your note about other members..This is really great to read that you shared a day and shot the same guy...

carper (96) 2004-03-24 10:52

Well Darren this is reaily a great portrait.

What a nice face, good foto good colours, very good note, it's all good very well done, bravo

claudiaf (4438) 2004-03-24 11:06

Great portrait!

Luko (14000) 2004-03-24 12:24

Ha, small world !!! I know him too !!!

I've shot this guy in Aberdeen, but honestly my image's not very good because I waited too long and I prefered concentrating on this scene (I suppose you see now how this was shot, but you now I prefer scenes than plain portraits), at the time I as happy with my shot the guy was leaving from his place I took a or two snap but this was not a decisive moment indeed... :-(...
Darren, read what I wrote in my caption, the bearded guy was...him!!!

A good portrait, it seems he put his sunday clothes that day, I don't remember he was specially well clothed... ;-D

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Keitht (1342) 2004-03-24 12:37

Colours are great, lovely framing. Character oozes from this guy. Just a shame about the hand being out of focus as it really does tend to grab the attention.
Still a superb shot.

ninadev (5377) 2004-03-24 12:45

I think he knows he has a very special look and he is proud of it... it shows in his eyes and smile.
Nice shot, I like the blurred background but the blurred hand I find a little annoying.

You mention that in Canada old men gather in senior's centers. In Quebec and probably elsewhere we would see old man and woman sitting in malls, where they can see people walking around and feel less lonely, and also in summer they'r more confortable there since there is air conditioning, which they don't necessarely have at home.

eelliott305 (776) 2004-03-24 13:02

Certainly an interesting looking character. You have really captured him well. Perfect focussing.

scalerman (26900) 2004-03-24 15:21

Maybe an old character, but the photo is timeless. I've noticed a certain color hue in most all your shots. Maybe the elitechrome.

Midnight_sun (1941) 2004-03-24 15:49

You do photgraph some real characters, i still remember that 'old salty sea dog' shot of yours... I wonder if this guy has any teeth, as it looks like he hasn't trimmed his beard. being critical now, the contrast seems just a little high, and his beard seems too sharp/bright. A few of your shots have that, it must be just the convertion to digital i guess. I also don't quite like the position of the hand, i'd rather it ended out of the frame. minor minor things, a great shot.

gmsanchez (0) 2004-03-24 17:46

Great Shot. I like the smile of that man is really funny. I like the hand out of focus in the front and in the back the subject. Very sharp and good DOF.

gringofil (0) 2004-03-24 22:21

I was a little dissapointed by your first HK post, but this makes up for it big time. Gotta agree here...what a character! Don't know about others, but for me anyway the out of focus hand does not bother me at all...kind of improves the shot giving a little depth. Good job on selective sharpening as well.

ianmcall (1213) 2004-03-24 23:44

This looks popular; I'll read the comments later.

A sharp looking guy. Some classic themes about old Chinese guys; the beard that only grows on the chin and the bad teeth, are combined with some more modern characteristics; the long hair and the casual relaxed atitude, combine nicely here.

An nice expression on a very self assured character, confident enough to know his portrait is being taken but not needing to stare into the camera. Only thing I'd do here is crop the top a little.

Lovely portrait.

manny (22032) 2004-03-25 4:41

This is a beautiful portrait, almost perfect, were it not for the fact that it does look oversharpened.The blurred hands is very good and but my monitor (the school's) shows it's a bit greenish. IMHO, the space on top should have been cropped.

These are really minor issues and i consider this shot really good: your best portrait shot so far.

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sulucas (229) 2004-03-25 7:02

Exellent portrait. He seems to enjoy being the centre of attention od all these photographers snapping away at him! LOL
The detail, the colours, the DOF, just perfect! Can't wait to see what the others are going to look like...

Catcher (845) 2004-03-26 22:52

Well, the theme seems very interesting but sadly i can磘 go to Hong-Kong right now, perhaps i磍l find a guy similar to that one, who knows! Fantastic expression he as, a lovely smile indeed!

eleparc (24063) 2004-03-27 5:47

great shot darren. glad you had the chance to spend some time with maciek and kourosh in HK. I met with Claude thursday in paris before the opening of the Photo Fair friday and went out for...guess what... Indian food;-) Back to the photo, the blurred hand does not disturb me, on the contrary, it confirms your mastering of the aperture parameter... Together with maciek and manny I agree that the guy's head is oversharpened IMO. some softer touch would be nice. maybe also a tighter framing slightly off center might bring something to it. Still a great photo darren;-) the number of smileys you got tells it all...!

smael (2878) 2004-03-29 14:26

Great character, and beautifully presented in this photo. For small issues I agree with Manny, but the skintones might be Hong Kong as well ;)

Nice!!!

Terje

touristdidi (8583) 2005-03-26 7:20 [Comment]

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MLINES (12516) 2008-05-12 1:22

Hi Darren, This is a fine portrait and he is a character to see with the long beard and happy face. Quite a few of similar types sit around and play cards at the park here in Shenyang also, it looks very much a social session and who wins the game is of little consequence! TFS. Murray.