Newspaper Contortionist, a photo from Hong Kong, South

Photographer's Note

This is another of the many interesting older gentlemen who we found in the Aberdeen area. Rather than sitting down to read his newspaper, this guy chooses to stand up. That is normal enough I guess, but then he did something quite odd (at least to my eyes). He was using his foot to hold down one page of the paper. It was not windy, the paper had no chance of flying away, yet he chose to do this. I really don't know why and I really don't think it could have been comfortable. I caught him here as he was putting his foot down between page changes.

Rhiannon, henrye, ianmcall, Rinie_Hoff, Josh69, CVTJan, piozac, manny, scalerman, smael, pascalbene, richtersl, mdchachi, bertolucci, Salma, jowish77 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Rhiannon (1728) 2004-03-31 6:12

Great moment! He really look funny with his foot in the air. And at the same time he is so concentrate and focused on the paper.
Very well composed and presented.

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henrye (3500) 2004-03-31 6:14

Nice caption and a good photo of an interesting moment. Now I also wonder why the man reads the paper like this. Good colors and details, good compsition and nice DOF. Well done!

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ianmcall (1213) 2004-03-31 6:23

Very crisp details on teh guy and a good DOF to blur out the rest.

Pretty funny shot.

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Rinie_Hoff (9340) 2004-03-31 6:32

Great moment, and a great DOF. Maybe he was doing some sort of tai-chi, or just trying to keep agile? ;-)Cause he is agile, putting his foot up this high! It's a nice and funny moment, though. Thanks.

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kourosh (2346) 2004-03-31 6:37

Nice shot Darren, taken at the right moment. i like the way you have frozen him.
strange! what is he trying to do? sitting on the plants?

Josh69 (1437) 2004-03-31 7:02

Excellent. I can see what he is doing but I have no idea why he is doing it either! Great capture and taken at just the right moment (foot position wise) too.

clodreno (0) 2004-03-31 7:11

Something I saw a few times in China.. Very funny I never manage to shoot one. You had a good idea here.

Midnight_sun (1941) 2004-03-31 7:13

haha what an odd shot! I like to see little ideosyncrasies like this caught on camera, in some ways it shows the personality of the person in richer detail, as everyone can smile. Excellent shot.

CVTJan (1244) 2004-03-31 7:19

Dear Darren, great composition and use of DOF. The green in front is a major plus. Looks a little my like Yoda :) Thanks for sharing an original picture, Jan

piozac (2065) 2004-03-31 7:34

I just can't stop laughing... This shot is superb. You've captured great moment Darren. I love it. Your note is the clue here.. but photo is also well done. Good composition and light.
My humourous favourite...

manny (22032) 2004-03-31 7:48

This is a good picture Darren. Like the composition and the sharpness here. The DOF, as usual is very appropriate. Interesting note too.

Luko (14000) 2004-03-31 9:20

Excellent shot Darren! Nothing to comment about your since your choices are all good to me...

I simply wanted to add something about "Decisive Moments". Did you notice how often a photo can be pigeonholed into both categories "humorous" and "decisive moment"?

I think the tight relationship works in the way that BECAUSE you caught a decisive moment, your image will ooze out humor. This might sound obvious but if you think about it for 2 seconds, you'll find a definition for decisive moment. It's a climax of time, this is the exact moment where all expressions or emotions are at their maximum. Then laughter or other emotions can be brought up from the picture.

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maciekda (19895) 2004-03-31 9:29

hi Darren, this one is great! i like it the most from all the shots from HK you've uploaded already. the moment is absolutely great - his feet above the newspaper - brilliant! bravo.

gringofil (0) 2004-03-31 10:42

Amazing shot, Darren, simply amazing. This is a one in a lifetime kind of guy and one in a lifetime kind of moment to just grab the shot. I've never seen anyone do anything close to what this older gentleman is doing...quite bizzare to be honest, but it makes for a wonderful image all the same.

If I were to nit pick here I would say that the half a guy in the background a little disturbs the compo here, maybe some careful PS work could remove him from the frame.

Anyway, excellent moment and excellent image. Very well done, Darren.

eelliott305 (776) 2004-03-31 10:57

What a brilliant shot Darren. I love it. You caught the best moment with his foot just above the paper, not on it.

smael (2878) 2004-03-31 14:27

Incredible moment of time! :)
I guess this is the way Gollum would read a newspaper as well...
Very sharp and well presented here, and the note is informative. A really good one!

Terje

pascalbene (1717) 2004-03-31 16:04

Very nice portrait Darren. This composition is perfectly framed and the good texture is in agree with those colors. Thank you.

richtersl (3546) 2004-03-31 17:44

Excellent shot! You pressed the shutter at precisely the correct moment.

snuggleaphagus (4146) 2004-04-01 1:07

This photo is awesome and teaches me a new method. I have very short arms and always have a difficult time reading a nespaper holding it up never thought of using my feet. Must try it.
You caught it at at the best possible moment. Thanks this is great to see.

femkevdh (2633) 2004-04-03 15:30

haha, briliant! oh hell, why not use it all?!
the man still has a lot of souplesse, inspite of his age!
Great capture!

eleparc (24063) 2004-04-04 15:46

great shot! very strange as you put it;-)) I like this photo for its compo and the sharp focus. great DOF too:-)

cloverstar (0) 2004-04-07 15:56

The way you have captured this gentleman shows wisdom of many years. It has a nice human touch to it. I like the way his foot is in motion, yet without any blur. Well seen and taken.

lollie (0) 2005-10-06 0:23

Interesting moment and good picture, Very good colors and framed. thanks.