Facing death Photo

Photographer’s Note

Sometimes, playing the photographer can be dangerous...

In a spontaneous bravado, I’ve decided to lay on the street to catch a low angle of this scene. I was annoying the charmer to turn his cobra towards me, so I could shoot its face instead of its back.

Just after this photo, I guess the snake was pissed off and he attacked me viciously without warning, missing me by an inch... I almost make an heart attack and it’s a miracle I didn’t drop my camera.

I was so shaky that for the rest of the trip, I’ve decided to shoot goats and camels, from 500 metres distance... :-P)

pastadog, ebruardil, Clochette, yasoda-nandana, summersun, postvikram, leiju, PixelTerror, Jyothi108 trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

pastadog (12821) 2006-03-11 3:53

Hi Andre, I believe it was definitely worth!!, the compo is superb, the background so well captured - and colorful too; great note, I was shaking too as I read about your courageous efforts, and laughing too of course. Would you like a TE assignment for photographing sharks or hungry lions? Keep travelling, shooting and posting! Regards, Daniel

ebruardil (461) 2006-03-11 4:23

Hello Andre,
It really seems dangerous but with its excellent colors and light, the photo is worthy of viewing. Congratulations...
Regards, Ebru

dvlazar (6488) 2006-03-11 5:04

Great photo - an angle you dont see too often of this subject! I like how all attention is on the snake - and his charmer is out of focus and even partially cropped out.
Nice colors too.
Your near terrorfying experience was worth it for the photo!
Regards,
dave.

marietom (32058) 2006-03-11 6:26

Brrrr ! Impressionnant. Je ne pense pas que je me serais approchée !
Dommage, cependant que le serpent soit un peu trop centré, et que le visage, même flou, soit coupé.
Merci pour tes commentaires sur mes photos.
Marie

Clochette (8076) 2006-03-11 6:27

Salut André
Magnifique, et très impressionnant. La profondeur de champ et le cadrage sont impeccables.
Mais quelle frayeur ça a dû être !... La prochaine fois, essaie le téléobjectif ? ;-)

yasoda-nandana (430) 2006-03-11 9:00

the photo itself puts me in fear...

great shot...!!

KiltedArab (0) 2006-03-11 9:42

Great image, giving a true sense of "being there". Which thankfully I wasn't. Bollox to that, I must say!

For sheer bravery, this deserves lots of points!

Great angle with the charmer in the background, lovely clarity on the snake and basket.

Very good indeed!

johnpaulb (91) 2006-03-11 15:45

Hi Andre,I would have used a zoom len,And the next time I bet you will to. But it was worth it for us to critique it.Great colours and depth of field.Keep up the good work.
Regards john.

mangotree (20) 2006-03-12 4:42

should i scare you a little more...?:-)
i'm pretty sure the cobra didn't "miss" you at all!
excellent shot though, congrat.
fine reward for the danger faced

summersun (4964) 2006-03-12 6:02

belle image, quelle netteté sur le cobra, avec le soleil qui fait briller ses écailles... bonne idée d'avoir inclus le charmeur dans le fond, qui donne un contexte et de la couleur à l'image.
bravo mais évite de risquer ta vie la prochaine fois !
Vanessa

talikf (1290) 2006-03-12 6:26

Wow Andre, this picture is really impressive, and technically it is also quite amazing. You did a great job regarding composition and the colors are so strong! Congratulations.

dHitman (0) 2006-03-12 9:07

Hi Andre,
Wow, brilliant shot! Focus is spot on with great details and texture. It's a good decision not to include the chamer's eye, so all focus is at the snake. Beautiful colors and light. TFS.
Regards, Jino

simplyoga (5174) 2006-03-12 19:41

Salut Andre,
Impressionnant !! tres bien compose..
Bravo !!

Niara78 (0) 2006-03-13 6:37

That's what I call devotion for the job >:) Excellent shot, fitting title ;-) I bet this shot compensates for another 20 shots of goats 'n camels...? =)

Best regards,

Nathalie

Kusto (0) 2006-03-14 12:12

impresionante toma.
La cobra se ve muy nitida en el centro de la foto, y el encantador de serpientes le da al conjunto una estabilidad que hace que esta foto sea diferente y muy bonita.

kusto

everlasting (10938) 2006-03-18 8:58

nice image and good use of DOF. ifyou crop just above the cobras head I think its even more dynamic, you leave the pipe/flute but take away the mans half face.

Framboisilla (5402) 2006-04-24 8:46

Bonjour André,

J'aime bien cette photo avec le cobra en premier plan dont la lumière se reflète dans les écailles ! Le charmeur derrière dans l'alignement est bien vu, bon cadrage.

Amicalement,
Stéphanie.

postvikram (1199) 2006-04-26 5:10

Hello Andre,
This is a beautiful one.. I have seen the thumbnail of this one before in your gallery.. I thought I have seen these before.. But now..I couldn't resist seeing the big picture.. you know why? Jaipur. Im just back from a trip to Jaipur and I dunno if this is the same place.. "Jantar Mantar" thats where I shot two charmers with two cobras with their back on the lens.. The same kind.

I appreciate your courageous effort.. Im too scared of Snakes.. Your efforts have produced excellent results.

Regards
Vikram

Andrzej_HHH (2558) 2006-05-21 16:37

Very beautiful snake, you captured it in interesting position, good focus and frame. Regards! Andrzej

fraggance (376) 2006-05-23 6:42

très jolie photo. Belle netteté pour le serpent et très bon arrière plan pour le charmeur. Je ne suis pas d'accord avec marietom dans le sens ou, il est plus important de voir l'instrument de musique que la tête du charmeur.
Mais par contre je suis d'accord avec elle sur le fait que le serpent est trop centré.Mais je crois que dans une situation pareille, on prend la photo et on court très vite.
Félicitation pour cette courageuse photo!!
en fait elle est superbe ta photo
Amicalement
Audrey
PS: j'ai vu d'autres photos et j'ai décidé de te mettre dans mes favoris.a bientôt

s10001in (1485) 2006-06-01 2:23 [Comment]

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leiju (1683) 2006-06-13 6:04

A wonderfully brilliant picture and one of the sweetest notes ever! :D
It certainly was worth the picture, yet the picture certainly wouldn't have been worth your Life.

The cropping here is absolutely PERFECT!
We see only what we need to see of the charmer and the snake is in a perfect location vis-à-vis him. It is as if the charmer was just the spirit of the snake, using the music as an excuse to manifest itself in this form.
The snake is peering right into you, and that is simply glorious.
A perfect battle picture between the photographer and a non-consenting model.
Above all that, the colors are brilliant, the DOF simply beyond words and as mentioned, the composition is *mmmh* perfect!

TFS! Kind regards,
Julia

CatherineD (4860) 2008-01-03 12:11

Bravo pour le courage! Et je dois avouer que j'ai bien ri en lisant ton récit car heureusement tu t'en es bien tiré. C'est vrai que la photo prise d'un peu à gauche en décentrant le cobra, cela aurait pu être mieux, mais bon, c'est déjà une fameuse audace que de le prendre de si près!
Amicalement,
Catherine

PixelTerror (86604) 2008-01-05 3:38

Salut Cousin,
Les p'tits canards et autres volatiles a moins d'etre rotis farcis aux marrons ca me motive quand meme moins que ce superbe cobra surtout quand on sait qu'il a failli nous priver de ta compagnie que tu sais unanimement appreciee... Je vois que malgre le mode carre vert tu maitrisais la differentiation des plans et le rendu lumineux... la faute a un matos trop performant sans doute. Bon, fais gaffe quand meme !
@++ J&Y

Jyothi108 (74) 2008-11-08 11:10

Hahaha! fortunately she ( or he) missed U , I have seen an indian man dead in Hampi due to one of this cobras bite . See my pic "Dancing cobras" . One of those was the killer . Normally they take away their poison somehow , but one of them was newly caught and her poison wasn't taken all out , he dared to go and tease her against the owner warnings and he went to samadhi right away . I took that picture the day before that this happened