David Desouza a Bombay based photographer who calls himself an anti-fashion, fashion photographer in his first critique on Fotoflock not only comments on the selected photo but extends a few suggestions to the other members of the flock as well.

I did browse through the members section and must tell you that the observation I have is that most members choose really banal photos as their profile representative images. This in many ways does not entice you to take the next step to want to see their work. It’s the judging a book-by-its-cover syndrome, and being vitally interested in books myself, I have to admit that that cover decision is critical. Most are not going to browse through your book or lift it off the shelf if you don’t have an arresting image there to begin with. I don’t know who selects the profile (cover) shot, but in most cases it is just plain boring. I think you guys are doing a superb job but how to take it to the next level is what I am suggesting.

I waded though 3 or 4 screens till I came upon this image which is the only one that I saw that grabbed my attention. I did not go further than this.

The photo, apropos of my comments on profile/cover shots, grabbed me instantly,

It is a simple shot and yet its geometry is complex, the first thing you notice about the photo is the cube and square and the shadows that seem to work surrealistically in an ominous, extra terrestrial sort of way. The uncanny aspect is that it seems to hang like the sword of Damocles over the children who are oblivious of its impending weight, the children are 'escaping' a peril Once that cube comes down to lock in the facade like a tombstone. Their shadow side and the cube are merging pall mall into each other. The draw-bridge seems the only skywalk to safety.

That the photo is called clone factory adds to the portentousness. The factory is made more ominous by being almost gulag monochromatic, the wall with boring square facade tiles and the children in uniform most daunting. The clones are escaping hastily. It’s the kind of photograph to which you can ascribe so many motives and layers of meanings, in other words it is a great photograph.

David Desouza was a bio-chemist before he turned photographer. He has also compiled a book called the “Itinerants: the Nomads of Bombay”. He enjoys photography and believes that he was destined to be a photographer and the first camera he bought acted like a magic talisman for him deciding his fate as a professionalr. He enjoys trying to redefine all forms of art and not just the art of photography.

David Desouza’s Website | David Desouza’s Interview | Photo by Emile Zwaltek | Fotoflock Gallery

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