We had the morning in the village of Kavrun, and I ran into the twins in an empty tea house that smelt of freshly hewn wood. It was Ramadan and few people were out and about. I had a few minutes of confusion before I worked out that they were twins. Have you experienced that? It turns out that they were the sons of the proprietress of the tea house. Look at their piercing eyes. They’re almost hypnotic. In retrospect, perhaps I should’ve chosen this image for the day’s Photo of the Day discussion.
I chose instead to submit a close-up of a woman’s hand with henna detail on her nails. There was quite some deliberation from the group as to whether I should’ve included the partial other hand in the composition. They concluded that it would’ve been better without. But I’m a stubborn cow and I still like it as it is.
~ Spotted Cow
Wandering Cows 
At least those guys weren’t wearing the same clothes. 🙂
Personally I like the partial hand included, offset to the main subject, for added interest. Assuming this is not a posed shot, to crop out the thumb would put the hand in the centre of the photo, and it would be less interesting (rule of thirds).
It wasn’t a posed shot. Or more accurately, she was posing for someone else and I took the shot when I noticed the henna detail on her nails. I’m glad you agree with my composition!
The hand shot is so interesting – older, workers hands but still delicately decorated with pretty things.
Yes! You’re never too old to like pretty things.
So, here I am trying to block out the partial hand on my screen to see which I like better – I actually like it better with it in (are you giving a fist pump?). Without it, the photo seems unbalanced to me.
That being said, I do love the photo of the twins. And I’m wondering what the Photo of the Day discussion is??
Yes! That’s what I thought about the balance by having the bit of the other hand. Otherwise there’s a big space of empty.
While on the Turkey photography trip, we would each submit a Photo of the Day for discussion, so that we can learn from each other. Sometime i would put in what I thought was a good one from the day, other times something a bit more interesting which would spur discussion.
Hahaha, I know that feeling! But think about this saying that someone told me once, in a similar situation (by the way, it goes perfect for you!): “eat grass; thousands of cows can’t be wrong”! That’s why art curators exist. On the other hand, I would have also chosen the twins photo to submit!
I like that saying ! Yes, I should have chosen to submit the twin photo … but at the time, I was choosing the images off the back of the camera and I didn’t quite appreciate it until I came home and saw in on a bigger screen. Anyway, the controversy over “the other hand” gave us something to chew the grass on. So to speak !