W/NW The Look

Saul said:
You mean CIA trained Afghans?
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agentlossing said:
Cool photo!
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Thanks. Not sure who trained them to do what. But for sure no one trained them to greet a foreign NGO volunteer into their village. Instead, they were rather serious as we approached them (see shot below).

I should have noticed that "little detail", as it stood in stark contrast with the hospitality I otherwise met in all other villages. And I should probably have behaved consequently. Instead, stupid me thought they had a very photogenic look and snapped a few photos of them (Afghans generelly love that, and all my previous encounters had been extremely happy to pose). Only once out of there did my interpreter told me that those guys weren't exactly our admirers..

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peterm1 said:
Lunch Time in a Hong Kong Park by Life in Shadows, on Flickr
Lunch Time in a Hong Kong Park by Life in Shadows, on Flickr
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Peter, while I love and respect your vision, sometimes I find your treatments a mite too overwhelming where I would pull back the opacity a bit. These, however, are perfect. Such delicate, soft highlights! Such warm, loving glow! The second one especially caught the people in poses so perfect that this could be a scene from a renaissance painting.
 
Judge Holden said:
Peter, while I love and respect your vision, sometimes I find your treatments a mite too overwhelming where I would pull back the opacity a bit. These, however, are perfect. Such delicate, soft highlights! Such warm, loving glow! The second one especially caught the people in poses so perfect that this could be a scene from a renaissance painting.
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Thank you for this, it is much appreciated. I have to admit sometimes I overdo the processing. I am trying to wind that back and get a better balance. Its a process of learning.

I too am especially fond of these two photo interpretations. For me though I really have grown to like the 1st one (having started, like you, especially liking the second for candid nature it has (e.g. the young woman on the phone on the right of the image) as well as the gentle smile of the young woman who caught me taking the shot.

But the thing I really have grown to like about the 1st is the young woman on the left. She is the hero of the photo I recently realized. She is standing there, looking off to her right, relaxed yet somehow alert and coiled as if in anticipation of something about to happen. She almost reminds me of Super Woman because of her cape like garb.

The back story to this is that many young women come to Hong Kong from all over Asia to work as personal servants in middle class Hong Kong homes. They seldom have very nice accommodation for themselves though (Hong Kong housing being notoriously small) so on their days off they gather in groups of similarly employed friends in Kowloon Park (where these were taken) and other parks etc in HK where they can relax a bit away from the strictures commonly placed on servants. (For that is what they are - it is a bit like a latter day scene from "Upstairs, Downstairs" or "Downton Abbey".
 
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