Submitter's name:	Alan Krantz
Gear used:	OM-2SP, Vivitar series 1 28mf1.9
Aperture used:	f2.8
Film used:	Superia REALA 100
Subject information:	I considered a number of pictures for this Tope but discarded the ones that showed remorse and sadness. I felt it was time for a "happy" picture. Every August/September the Italians hold a "mini" fair outside my apartment when they celebrate the various Saints (it lasts 3-4 weekends). I took a few pictures the week before this one and was rather unhappy with the results. While, "playing" on the roof of my building I watched the fair as the sunset and came upon the idea for this picture. The next weekend (last weekend of the fair) I took this and a number of other pictures at dusk. I mostly focused on the faris wheel but alas it was too small to produce much of interest. I think the colours are a little off but I'm still not proficient with scanning.
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Comment left by: Olaf Greve (no e-mail specified)

Very nice, just the right amount of motion blur to show the action, and the guy on the left hand side nicely adds to the composition. Great shot!

Comment left by: Bill Barber (nsurit@aol.com)

Nice composition, color and particularly like the sense of movement. Like the way the guy on the left kind of anchors the photogragh. I might have tried to crop out the real bight portion at the lower right. Great picture that you might expect to see published in a magazine.

Comment left by: Tris Schuler (tristanjohn@mindspring.com)

I tried for something similar in Spain and failed miserably. Oh well. Nice shot you've got, though.

Comment left by: Mickey Trageser (mickeytr@yahoo.com)

This is a great shot! It's like standing with the ride operator and seeing the thrills of the patrons. I can almost smell the carny food and hear the noise of the machinery.

Comment left by: Dan Mitchell (danielmitchell@smarttech.com)

I really like the contrast between the static elements and the motion of the people -- how far was it from the balcony? It looks as if everything's right on top of itself; the view through(?) the window in the bottom right looks almost detached from the rest of the image.

Comment left by: Adam Bolt (boldbolty@iprimus.com.au)

You say that the colours might be slightly off, but I love the colours you have produced. This is one hell of a shot to capture a 2 dimensional image and give us the 3D effect with the blurred riders. A fantastic carnival shot, one you must be very happy with.

Comment left by: John Pendley (jpendley@alltel.net)

You say that your intent was to convey something happy. Well, you succeeded beautifully. The whirling motion and the vivid colors are not just happy, but excited and joyful. The picture draws me into the experience of the people on the ride; it's very exhilerating.

Comment left by: Anonymous Visitor

With regards to Dan's question: I'm standing 5 to 10 feet from the ride. This is nearly full frame (~90%) image taken with a 28mm lens. What you see in the bottom right is a portion of the ride's power source. There is a small light there. I left it in the image to contrast with the rest but perhaps it is distracting... In the text above - what I had observed the week before I was on top of 10 story building across the street...

Comment left by: Simon E. (ruralwales@yahoo.com)

I like this shot, there is enough interest thanks to the combination of just enough blur and the lighting.

Comment left by: Charles Packard (packardc@hiwaay.net)

Nice photo! Composition and framing are nice. It pulls the viewer into and around the scene. I especially like how there is one person in the ride's car isn't blurred like the rest. I don't find the light from the ride's power source that distracting. It fills a space that might otherwise be empty and dark.

Comment left by: siddiq (no e-mail specified)

i'm impressed (from a bit of experience, it isn't the easiest thing to capture this kind of scene!). re. the bright bit lower right, one option would be to either frame/crop so it starts where the fence/bright bit ends, or, alternately, do this in portrait format, vs. horizontal. another offbeat idea to eliminate foreground clutter is get down on your knees and shoot up; sure that'll get perspective distortion, but it's an idea. i'll also echo the fantastic 3d effect, and great exposure.

Comment left by: Walt Wayman (hiwayman@mynra.com)

I really like this picture. It's one of those I see every once in a while that I wish I had taken. Composition, color, feeling of motion -- this deserves to be on a wall.

Comment left by: Susan Steele (DaEyeGuy@AOL.com)

Wonderful motion, color and composition. Frame it!

Comment left by: Bruce Hamm (bhamm@magma.ca)

I see nothing wrong with the cropping of this photo. What I do see is a strong composition. Anonymous Visitor may be surprised to find out that many of the greatest photographers considered cropping to be an integral part of the photographic process. This is a fine shot that demonstrates the effort made by the photographer before, and after, they pressed the shutter button.

Comment left by: Eric Pederson (epederso@darkwing.uoregon.edu)

I too really like this picture. I'll also support cropping on the right, although less the bottom to remove the bright spot, but the right edge: just at the edge of the shadows of the cables. This removes some of the bright area, of course, which decreases its dominance. But importantly for me, it increases the importance of the observor on the left. By taking out some of distracting space on the right, it looks almost as though he is looking into a mirror and provides a greater balance to my eye. It would be nice if we could lighten his head slightly too. Nice colors and superb motion vs. stillness contrast!

Comment left by: Michael Virsinger (mikev@virtechsolutions.com)

I really like this shot. It drew me in and I found myself coming back to look at it more than once. I love it when a photo captures me in that way.

Comment left by: Donald MacDonald (Donald.MacDonald@care4free.net)

I like this, the 'outside looking in' aspect as well as the 'pure fun' side. The colours are great, doesn't everything seem more saturated and bright at the shows...?

Comment left by: R. Gries (gries@nothingrhymeswithorange.com)

I'd agree about the colors - right on! So very much like a National Geographic shot! great balence between active and still figures.

Comment left by: Steve Goss (no e-mail specified)

I too like the motion effect of the riders versus the unmoving carnival employee. What really draws my eye in all that movement is the one guy looking off to the left. It's like he's at the eye of the storm, at least for that moment.

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