A wonderful image, Tim. All the elements work beautifully. The child with his western clothes and traditional hat is a metaphor for China. There is much economic progress evident throughout China while still being a country steeped in the "old ways." While this child "steps" through an ancient site, he hold the promise of China's future.......which hopefully will be a step in the right direction, politically and socially. Perhaps his upward ascent holds some optimism. In the light of current events, let's hope this is so.
That is very important. We get two chances to make our pictures work. First in the camera. Later in the computer. And often we combine the gifts of both. In my workshop with Minor White, I recall him telling us that when he photographed, he felt his own energies going through the camera to combine with the energies being released by his subject. He also told us that every time he put an old negative into his enlarger a
felt as if he was about to give birth to a new "child," because no two prints of his pictures were ever the same. The energy, he told us, always changes, depending upon where are are in life.
Minor White refers to the gifts we are given. I think in many ways my hope with my photographs is that people will resonate with the gifts the world gives us. There is a song in "Flower Drum Song" - "A Hundred Million Miracles," that speaks to the miraculous in the everyday. In this case it is my editing not my shooting that saw the gift. I contemplated cloning out the "ur" of the sign but decided viewers would concentrate on the work step. So in answer to your question - sometimes I find these things in the capturing of the image and sometimes I find them during the processing.
This image is also rich in incongruity -- the small child dancing on the boards of an ancient palace. He wears the hat of Old China on his young head, while the rest of his costume speaks of China's passion for sports.
Your linkage of his step, and the word "step" framed in the stonework, is so very Tim-esque. How do you see such things?????
