Anatomy of the Backpack, a photo from Mountain, Ilocos

Photographer's Note

This was taken in a mountain village in Northern Luzon up in the Mt. Province of the Philippines during a bodong (peace pact) between lowlanders and the Cordillera native peoples. The territory where this picture was taken was considered hostile to the Marcos government. While this was going on, a military operation was occurring in the next mountain range.

I was trying to take a 'Madonna and child' photograph of the grandmother and her grandchild but she was quick to avoid me. But the picture didn't go to waste I think.

This photo was scanned from a slide and finished in Photoshop with autolevel.

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Critiques | Translate

avigur_11 (22535) 2003-10-08 4:22

Great composition, and very well seen.
I like the way you showed that everyone has to carry his own, different weight.

Well done.

olli (2091) 2003-10-08 5:35

Yes, very well seen.
I think this shot works much better than if there were only the grandmother with her grandchild in the image. Those two extra persons with their loads make this shot a masterpiece, I think.

chalcone (761) 2003-10-08 6:16

Manong, wow! It's been sooo long :). Nice to see your view of the world in pics.... what a take-off from the old *.edu* days. Minor comment, I wish the man with the lala bag had been more complete. Other than that, well taken!

balarila (313) 2003-10-13 23:37

I like the way the variety in loads was presented; modern, living, traditional. Excellent composition.

On the technical side, contrast/saturation and sharpness could still be improved plus some noise reduction.

[workshop] [compare]

Josh69 (1437) 2003-12-26 22:35

I find the persons rear end a bit distracting in this photo. So I wanted to crop out the rear-end plus the other person with the tape deck, but still leave a bit of space in front of the woman. I took Balarila's WS and then cropped it, but to get enough space in front of the woman, some of the tape deck was still visible. I cloned out the tape deck, then softened that area to make the cloning less visible.

[workshop] [compare]

roconnell (327) 2004-02-01 14:23

Great constrast between the items/people being carried - grandchild, boombox, and backpack purse. Although the grandmother turned to avoid you, you could still bring her into central focus with a crop on the right for a different type of photo.

Steely (895) 2004-03-20 13:24

Good street photography flip!
everbody's got a different load on our backs

rage_tm (623) 2004-11-08 8:56

Excellent capture of daily life here Ken. I like the composition and your subject's expression. It also attracts my attention that an old woman is carrying quite a heavy kid. Nice catch!

alford (4063) 2004-11-18 1:08

Hi Ken! When I saw this pic, I suddenly remembered my childhood days in Ifugao, also in the Cordillera region (I grew up there since my mom, who's a doctor, was assigned to a hospital there). Sights like this were very common, and old men still wear native G-strings then.
You've captured here a daily life reality in the Cordilleras. Most of the younger generation are now modernized, while the older generation still stick to the old customs & traditions. I'm going back to visit Banaue this December & will post some pics. Great Shot! rgds.