Tuscany Street 2009 by Clara Rojas
Clara Rojas was born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1975.
Her childhood was always related to art. Music and photography has been a essential part in her family and her growing process.
She studied graphic design in the Instituto de Diseño de Caracas in Venezuela. After finishing the career she went to New York City and studied Video Digital Production at NYU.
In 2003 studied at Venezuelan recognized Taller de fotografía de Roberto Mata, from that point she decides to focus on photography. In 2004 she moved to Barcelona, Spain where she is lives now and works as a graphic designer.
Nice snapshot.
It’s actually a nice picture.
Captures the freedom and joy of childhood. The light and shadows are superb as is the choice to use b&w.
Patricia
I’m coming from a place in the northern Mid-West where people cannot be found doing things like this. The parent’s would be too scared, it’s too cold, there are old folk around who would yell at the kids for giving them heart attacks… I love this moment. I love seeing kids have fun like they’re supposed to. Plus the image has excellent control over the B&W media. most certainly not a snapshot – because that POS flash would have drowned out the image. The lines are real nice and technically speaking, the highlights pop so well they keep your attention from what might be lurking in those dark corners. It’s a nice fun photo of kids enjoying their youth.
Jim can I challenge you to a game of kickball? I’m sure we can find enough people here to make a team for each of us :)
It is a lovely photograph. The composition is very interesting along with the use of light, and it wonderfully captures the sense of play of the children. I do not know how the photographer captured the image – e.g. whether it was anticipated or captured serendipitously – but a dismissive use of the term “snapshot” is inappropriate here I think.
Yes, a nice snapshot indeed!
I like the playfulness of the kids and their faces looking at each other. Nice shadow!
Personally I would have prefered a little more meat (more of the frame or picture), because the girl on the left touches the edge of the frame and the shadow on the right as well. I feel if you crop, then do it in a radical way or not at all. This looks a bit half-heartedly to me – never mind – just being fussy.
A funny thing happened when I looked at the picture on my shiny laptop screen. It looks rather bright there and I was wondering if I was happy with the girl on the edge? Then I leaned backwards in my chair and put my arms over my head – pondering over the picture. So I looked at the screen while the laptop screen and my body formed a 90 degree angle and suddenly the picture appeared much darker and I thought wow, that looks pretty cool as well.
Everybody, go and check out Clara’s web page, lots of more good stuff there! And boy – finally someone uses pink!
And while looking at Clara’s web page it becomes clear that this picture is no longer an accidental snapshot, but more like part of a larger series or body of work.
Very nice work indeed!
Reimar
Interesting picture; I like the sense of graphic movement and the simplicity of B/W. Wish I was 6 again…
Steve
Jason, snapshot isn’t a derogatory term.
This one shoots a blank with me. I see very little to hold my interest, on any count (children photography, B&W treatment, compo, mood). Sorry…
Wonderful photograph. Love it.
Nice moment. That’s what keeps us looking. Nice light. The light will tell you what to do.
Great photo, I thought “very nice!” the instant I saw it… clearly better in b+w than it would be in color, and I don’t often think or say that. If somebody asked me to define the term “chiaroscuro” I would show them this photo. The happy felicitude of the two figures in sunlight versus the two in shade, and the compostion that includes action figures whose shadows are in exactly the right position within the architectural space make this a classic.
Great moment!
Ok, but this is no Cartier-Bresson 1958 Rome shot nor a Koudelka shot. You must go beyond the immediatey obvious.
I can’t decide whether I would prefer it if the photographer had let go of the complete shape of the sunlit arch and put the kids in the centre. Or if I prefer it the way it is. I keep worrying that all the action is on the far left. But of course that patch of sunlight on the right does draw the eye back there. A slightly strange version of balance. Anyway, it is what it is. I can’t decide how much I like it.
hey……
wait
for
me……..
**
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Nice timing, fresh atmosphere and wonderful, sharp lighting. I can hear the sounds just by looking at this. I like how her hair seems to lift from the ground, but even better the girl on the left side which drag my eyes inside the picture instead of disappearing out of the frame.
Not a fan. composition-wise, it feels very off balanced, the people exiting the frame, leaving 2/3 of the picture pretty much useless emptyness that does nothing in the picture. Had they been entering the frame, it would have been much, much better, it would feel right, which still wouldnt get past the other problem: nothing happens here.
i like the lop-sided symmetry of the doors in the background, the triangle the girls make together and the 2 pools of light.. also the girl on extreme left turning her head quickly.. i think that she, as well as the shadows, push yer eye back into the frame..
Interesting how differently we each see the compositional aspects of this photo. To my eye it is perfectly balanced in a sculptural sense, which is how I’ve been trying to look at frames since hearing Jim Natchwey bring this element up time and time again in the Look3 workshop.
Yes, the children with their sense of motion are to the left of center, but my eye is also drawn to the girl’s shadow framed within the arch of light on the street, and that shadow is in the right side of the frame. And I find it essential compositionally that the photographer chose to include the entire arch rather than cutting it off. I see other interesting negative/positive shapes in the right side of the frame–the black triangle in the right bottom corner, the arched door in the background that repeats the arch of light on the street. To my eye, the right side of the frame is what anchors the action on the left. And I’m with David B about the importance of that little girl in shadow who is turned back towards the center of the frame. She keeps my eye from falling off the edge.
As much as this photo is all about light and shadow, I also see it as showing motion and stability. And it gives me a sense of past and present. I find it a deeply satisfying image aesthetically and emotionally.
Patricia
I like it; it’s getting difficult to photograph in the street these days: particularly children. A great shame. There is quite a lot of “empty” space to the right of the children, but a photo editor would love to overlay opening words in this space! As such it is a perfect opening shot for a magazine spread.
Congratulations Clara!!
Mike.
A moment. A story. An intriguing space. A powerful composition. It’s a classic. A photo to be damn proud of.
A addendum to my previous post (so I’m not breaking the one-post rule, am I?): although the photograph would work well on one page of a publication; it would not work as a double-page spread because the central character would be lost in the gutter between the pages. Something to be mindful of if you are shooting for the page. Still a good photo though.
Best,
Mike.
Clara,
Maybe because I am Venezuelan living in Spain for 20 years now, but this image as well as the other images in your website say sooo much to me. You brought me back home for a moment…
Amazing photos!!, Keep up the good work!
Clara, there simply aren’t enough photographs out there that so eloquently speak of those rare moments of the “joie de vivre” that can occur so spontaneously in childhood. I love this photograph and actually think that it adds to our dialogue about the things in life that continue to make us smile, and be human.
Best regards, Phil
the clean digital b/w tones are a pity.