[skipper954]

Hanoi, Vietnam

The streets of this capital city of Vietnam are populated with tens of thousands of small motorcycles. Add to that the fact that there are few traffic signals and it becomes apparent that crossing the street is difficult.

That is true if you are new to Hanoi. However, the secret is to pick a small break in the traffic near the curb and step into the street. Look at the oncoming traffic, but continue to walk across the street at a steady pace. Do not stop, turn around, run, or otherwise alter your speed.

The cyclists then judge your speed and adjust their course to miss you. It is quite harrowing the first time or two, but if the visitor has nerves of steel, it can be done and is even fun. Even a clutz like me did it, and I didn’t see any accidents while I was there. So this scene evoked a great memory for me.

It was quite interesting to see your interpretations absent any explanation. Everyone had a bit of a different context and feeling about it, from wanton disregard of pedestrians to a lonely girl going from nature into chaos, all perfectly valid.

Isn’t that one of the things that makes our art so interesting? We try with all of our images to create an emotion in the viewer, and obviously those feelings vary. That is as it should be.

So, I am very pleased with the way this turned out and the responses. I only wish that more people had spoken out. One doesn’t have to be an artist to have feelings about a work of art. One only has to have a head and a heart.

For the techies among us: This was exactly the effect I wanted, and I got it with only one shot! The cycles were traveling at about 25 – 30 mph, and this was shot with a 105mm (35mm equiv) lens using spot metering at 1/125 sec at f/7.1.

I for one would like more focus on the emotional aspect of images. That would be a good balance to the great technical advice.

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