Black-And-White Photo Competition 2 2013 : Entry Number 955

Judges Comment

Obama may have lost some of his glow since he campaigned for Yes We Can, but this photograph has a lot of very strong visual layers both in what is shown and what you as the viewer put into it. The fact that it is a portrait of a well known person has to play into the way it is viewed, also by us as judges. On one hand it speaks against it, on the other hand it makes it interesting. In short, had it been anybody else, it would work differently.

Technically it is perfect, the tonality, capturing the rain in motion and backlit, the closeness to the subject, the framing and the moment of an expression that could be seen as pain, a pause or simply trying to avoid the rain.