A Portrait From China

[Tom Dunne]

My daughter and I were treking through a tiny little hillside village in Yunnan China when this lovely lady saw us struggling in the heat, took pity on us and invited us into her home. She and her family fed us and filled us with copious amounts of rice wine.
Before we said our goodbyes we asked if we could take some shots of her family and home. She happily agreed but in this portrait she has an apprehensive look and the little boys (her grandson) expression is also one of insecurity in front of the camera and strangers. Maybe they have not been photographed too often in the past.
I would really prefer if that bright area top right was not there. I did tone it down and then decided to leave it alone especially because it contained the single flower in the bottle and I could not leave that out.
So, all in all I am very happy with this now and have come to terms with the light area and I still find it difficult not to be moved by the expression in the eyes of her grandson.

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

Wow Tom , not going to say much as the picture says it all. Beautiful ,tender truthful for me.

 

[Dave Green]

They do look very apprehensive. Nicely done shot!

 

[Pete Askew]

Lovely Tom and I think the composition and the expressions dominate the image so much that the light area is of minor importance. I guess a tiny bit more off the top might help reduce its impact but it is so good anyway that it probably doesn't matter.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Really nice, sympathetic portrait, the type you only get after sharing rice wine. I love the rhythm of the yellow string (?) the boy is holding, with the cracks in the bench.

 

[Ivar Dahl-Larsen]

I'm not going to say much Tom, 'cause I'm left speechless. Exc ept, what a lovely portrait and the boys eyes kind of speak to us in a sorrowful mood it seems, and as if he wonders what you are doing. A wonderful image of life elsewhere.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Those deep say eyes - wonderful connection

 

[Tom Dunne]

Very many thanks to you all for taking the time.
Pete, thanks for referring to what I considered to be the problem area; it's great to get that type of feedback.

 

[Darren Turner]

wonderful portrait, quite powerful image as in they both look a little uneasy the little boy more so or is he just very curious ?

It was really nice of them to look after you so well with you obviously being not a local just a little curious if i can be on the families intentions, was it just good will on their part perhaps or did they ask for any payment or did you offer ? ( feel free to ignore my question )

I really don't think it needs cropping at all.

Great work

 

[Tom Dunne]

No problem Darren. I'm glad you like the portrait. Thanks for your comment on the cropping too.
The rural Chinese people are hospitable and friendly people whatever their intentions might be. In such circumstances we would normally give some money especially in isolated places like this that are not visited by the tour buses so they gain little or nothing from the tourist industry. Not having the language, I tend to stand aside but Aisling, my daughter, has fluent Mandarin so she can hold conversations and report to me.

 

[Darren Turner]

wow impressive & defo handy having daughter who's able to speak the language, i can fully understand offering a little something as a thank you

Did you take any furtehr similar shots while out there ?

 

[William Moore]

great pic - visual story with impact --

 

[Tom Dunne]

Thanks William.