Schoolboy, a photo from Bukidnon, Northen Mindanao

Photographer's Note

This is part of a series of pictures of my stay in Miarayon, Bukidnon, Mindanao with the Tala-andig people: Miarayon and the Tala-andig

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The school uniform of the pre-school classes are based on traditional Tala-andig designs.

Attempts are continuing to introduce more cultrural elements in school to provide the young with a sense of their own history and way of life. However these attempts have to compete with TV, and missionary elements in the community. One positive is that the language, Binukid, is still the lingua franca of the community--but with this they also have to learn Visayan to do business with the outside communities, Tagalog to understand what's being said on TV, and English classes, which doesn't have any immediate use.

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With this shot I wanted to try something different in the PP. I went for a higher contrast, higher saturated image. Does it work?

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CliffW (2381) 2005-05-02 23:42

Could be my monitor to some extent... I think the contrast and saturation work fine with the sky and the trees (like the repeating bend by the way). I'm not sure it works as well in that the exposure on his uniform is pretty close to that of the block/wall he's up against.

I do like the way you caught him peeking around though and the overall layout and focal point of the photo though and well worth the experiment.

AnimeshRay (9089) 2005-05-03 0:10

Very interesting photo, Alex. Perhaps the most unusual photo of a boy going to school I have evern seen. The unusually low angle, the trees bowed by the wind, the sky and the little fellow's unwilling head and oblique glance all combine to create the mood of loss of freedom that schools imply to children of this age. A striking photo.

mrbialy (2568) 2005-05-03 4:07

Very good capture. Exellent composition and colors. Great blue and white sky. Background with tree's and wind looks like.... like... live. good luck

mlopes (494) 2005-05-03 21:03

Hi Alex, i know that this ain't about points, but im surprised that this ain't a winner.

It's almost perfect to me, the colours, the tigh crop, the expression of his eyes.

Just one detail: IMO the wall is overexposed and we can't see the line between the shirt and the wall.

Regards,
Mario

tongapup (0) 2005-05-04 14:56

This shot grows on me the more I look at it. It's really all about the angles of the trees and the fence slats. I really like the composition. Generally I am a fan of high contrast but I agree it's a shame about the wall being blown out... maybe you could history brush some details back in there? Also his face is a bit too dark, I think.

joseelias (0) 2005-06-21 9:07

I personally like the work on the contrasts and colors and it works for me. Also like the boy positioning and body position as well the curved trees at the back. It’s almost theatrical.

Still, I believe the horizontal framing is not the best for this one. In fact I’m imagining a vertical framing with a huge sky (great BTW) “crushing” the landscape and boy at the bottom of the frame…

Made a WS to demonstrate this. With a more careful work a better cropping and sky extension could be achieved (making this in a hurry in my lunch time…).

[workshop] [compare]