Archer being watched

[Michael Nagel]

I like this photo for some strange reason, but when I show it, the message does not always get through.
What are your impressions, opinions and recommendations?

Archer being watched - click on photo to get to the original version​

Best regards,
Michael

 

[Cody White]

I kind of see where you were trying to go with this, but for some reason it is not there for me.

 

[Sandrine Bascouert]

I see it rather square, getting rid of the light area where the CCTV are, in order to build a vignette and drive the eye to the light point far away....
I also see it with a little more details on the foreground shadows, maybe a little less contrasty. I think there is some texture missing on the roof...

To me, it worth keeping the burst of light with the mirror on the left, the man shape and the lookalike flare on the "bridge"...
The comp is very nice but there just tiny improvements IMHO that can make the image more "obvious"...Hope it makes sense...

 

[Andy brown]

G'day Mick (hello Michael),
I love it, The little archer cut-out style, stick figure guy is lining up to take out some sleeping security guard and may or may not be caught on camera (what are they gonna do?, reassign him to some more mundane job? The poor wee chappie is sick of his lot and is breaking out by rebelling in the most extravagant way.
Little does he know, the whole building is following suit, taking up arms, drawingback a magnificent bow and is about to unleash on the boring arsed, staid museum next door.
Still life anarchy! Brilliant stuf!

 

[Michael Nagel]

Sandrine - Thanks. Post-processing is my weak point I have to improve upon. The visual relationship between the camera and the archer figure could be stronger and the high contrast provides quite some distraction. I will have to go back and take photos at different angles and at a different time of day and focus solely on this aspect (I got distracted by the light setting when taking this photo).

Andy - Thanks. I like it when my photos trigger (imagined) stories. Yours goes basically the same direction as my thoughts when composing.

Cody - Thanks. The fact that it doesn't work for you is important to tell. This is what I experienced earlier and here is my intent:

The archer figure and the CCTV on the opposite ends of the photo are symbolizing a person or crime scene and the (now becoming ubiquitous) remote surveillance in the cities.
Underlying subjects are privacy but also the uselessness of the CCTV for the potential victim as there is nobody to intervene. There is even some loneliness becoming visible for the remote eye...

Did you see some of the above in this photo?

Best regards,
Michael

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi Michael,

Where is this and what exactly are we seeing. Is this part real and part reflection? One can dispense with the right side and the camera as the rest of it makes for a pleasing composition, however I have no drive to want to do so.

I didn't realize, at first, that "arch" or "archer" was not referring to spans of bridges, curved v. square.

The archer figure is not clearly pointing in to either the right or the left, it's ambiguous. Also it seems to be male! Did you add the figure or what is it really? Why not add a real bow of that's what you want or have a woman with a bow? The apparent vehicles in the right center are distracting to me. Are they needed?

Having said all that, I'd have no problem with this picture in a series of pictures of some unifying theme. Isolated images are harder to criticize unless there's a clear title and description we can examine the image against. There's enough of interest in your picture to be able to look at it for while and not dismiss if for any of the reasons given above.

Asher

 

[Michael Nagel]

Hi Asher,

thanks for your elaborated critique. I am sorry for having caused confusion by using an unclear definition - I did not know that figure implies female in this case.
Here is a better view of the archer:

Archer - click on photo for larger version​

The photo was taken here. It is not a reflection.
The only PP applied to this photo is contrast and b/w conversion.

I did not think of a series - this could be interesting.

General thought: The more complex the message is you want to transmit, the more context-dependent it becomes.

Would you agree with that or am I wrong?

Best regards,
Michael