The death of Sam Patch

A amusing but scary photo at the same time. Very well taken.

Was the police verdict suicide :wideyed:
 
The post-mortem revealed that someone had knocked the stuffing out him before he died....
 
Going back to the themed competition - I remember on the night being very frustrated with the judge. He either had very poor eyesight or a complete lack of imagination. He didn't rate the image at all and his comments were "Hmmm. A child's toy in an alley. Not sure what story this is trying to tell..." :(
 
Technically a competent image but I'm with the judge on the telling the story part I'm afraid.
Perhaps you could expand on your thought process behind the image here? Being a member of a camera club, I know that its frustrating not being able to speak up about your competition images during judging.
 
It was just supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek crime scene photograph. I acquired the police tape and thought the alley made for a nice backdrop. I thought the girls walking away in the background added to it as they looked like they were consoling each other over the death of Sam. My frustration with the judge wasn't that he didn't score the image well (I've done CC judging myself and there's always a degree of personal bias and subjectivity), but that he clearly missed the knife! Wasn't just my image that night anyway - the one I was sure was going to win involved a elderly grandmother on a shopping centre gallery sighting with a sniper's rifle on throngs of people below. The judge's comments were very similar - "don't know what's going on here - an old lady in a shopping centre..."!
 
Interesting how people interpret things differently.

I already had my own narrative for this and it's completely different to the one that you intended.
I saw the young girls in the background as an integral part of the story, but I perceived them as drunk and staggering home from an evening of partying rather than consoling one another.
With the child's toy knifed through the heart in the foreground, I see it as a commentary on death of childhood / innocence or something like that.

Clearly I have a far more vivid imagination (or a more misspent youth) than your judges :LOL:
I think to work with my version of events, I'd like to see the bright yellows in the toy toned down a touch to bring it back to more neutral tones - creating more contrast with the red and helping draw the eye to the background.
 
With 20+ years in Crime Scene Photography and forensic investigation I'm completely lost for words ! The cordon is too small and those two girls wouldn't be there!

Good lightening though and I do quite like it. Just for information only, you would photograph this at f/22 or f/16 to record as much detail from the scene as possible. Good effort !
 
Last edited:
Blank_Canvas said:
With 20+ years in Crime Scene Photography and forensic investigation I'm completely lost for words ! The cordon is too small and those two girls wouldn't be there!

Good lightening though and I do quite like it. Just for information only, you would photograph this at f/22 or f/16 to record as much detail from the scene as possible. Good effort !
Click to expand...

Lol - you're taking it far too seriously Nick! Given that this a knitted child's toy that's been 'murdered'...

And aperture settings were entirely intentional... but thanks for the feedback.
 
Funny comments :)
Anything a bit out of the ordinary is always interesting to look at in my opinion.
At least he died with a smile on his face :)
I understood the image totally by the way, girls consoling etc.
 
psybear said:
Lol - you're taking it far too seriously Nick! Given that this a knitted child's toy that's been 'murdered'...

And aperture settings were entirely intentional... but thanks for the feedback.
Click to expand...

I totally got that about your choice of aperture, when I opened your image I was just a bit shocked, I've been to a number of similar scenes and post mortem examinations. It just brought back a lot of real images to me, some of them which I'm trying to forget. Constant reminders in the media are just something I have to live with and deal with. At times times it's not easy though.

I really do like your image though, it's very well executed if you'll pardon the pun. On a commercial note it could make a successful stock image.
 
I think I interpreted it pretty much as you intended. Works for me on that level.

I do think the knife is easily missable. Could have been more clearly staged by repositioning it at less of a vertical angle (so the handle wasn't as in-line with the crack of the gutter; and the join between handle & blade was offset from the toy's 'horizon'). Either that, or with a light set to reflect off the blade so the reflection it carries doesn't blend in as well with the rest of the toy's outfit.

Not criticism, really, just sharing what I've learned to look for in the occasional toy shoot :)
 
I like this. Technically sound and does tell a story. I have to admit I also thought that the girls in the background were on a night out rather than grieving
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top