A mistake?

The image I think I should have used in the final part of my assignment.
100 ISO, 24mm, f2.8, 1/160 - speedlight set to manual 1/4

Ever since submitting my first assignment for this course last week I have regretted the choice I made for my final image showing contrast within a single photograph.

So this is a post that will be filed under thoughts and reflections as well as being an afterword in the assignment.  I'm not sure if I would be allowed to change the final image after submission if the assignment was going to be counted in the final overall grade for the course so I'm simply adding this as further reflection rather than replacing the actual final image I chose.  For me what matters is the process I have been through - making a decision and then questioning it; and then finding a way to adjust if possible and if not at least record my thoughts.

I set out to take a photograph of my son who is 9 wearing a suit which was relatively expensive especially considering he will hardly wear it because a) he is either in school uniform or jeans as appropriate for a 9 year old boy, b) we are not the sort of family who regularly go anywhere formal, c) it's too expensive to live in the dressing up box where his nylon £5 suit which he wore when pretending to be Doctor Who (David Tennant) resides, d) he hardly dresses up in play now anyway as he seems to have moved beyond that unlike his younger brother who is 6.

As well as wearing the suit he is standing in a room that is very chaotic indeed.  I venture in periodically to tidy up and disinfect but I tend to leave the room alone on a day to day basis as it is not mine.  The room is filled with very childish toys which he rarely looks at now apart from the Lego.  It also has a baby motif on the wall as we are renting and I have not removed it.  So there are symbols of various stages of childhood in the room.

As well as the all the outer contrasts  - a grown up expensive suit more commonly seen on adults in the corporate world where we presume (perhaps mistakenly) that order and structure reign, childish toys, a chaotic room filled with childish toys, no shoes - there are also contrasts evident in the face and body language of my son.  He is still very much a little boy but he is growing up and beginning to get a sense of what it might feel like to be a man.  He is sweet and kind but also brooding and angry and determined to present an image of himself that is at odds with how is when he is free, running round the playground laughing about things young boys laugh about.  His manner in the string of photos I took is quite an extreme example of a male boy presenting a very tough exterior which denies but reveals the insecure inner child who cries and gets upset when computer time ends or worse is banned, or who flies off the handle about seemingly small things.

Finally, the last contrast is the way he looks straight into the camera but is actually hiding behind his gesture.  So he looks like he's being very upfront but in fact he is not.  I gave virtually no direction other than asking him to stand in a certain spot.

When I took the photo my other children sidled in on a couple and I loved the extra contrasts they offered - which I speak about here.  But the photograph I chose for the final part of the assignment is technically flawed and it's quite obvious.  So I think on reflection I should have stuck with my original idea and used a photo that was as I'd imagined and conceived, plus better technically. 

In a way the individual child is more striking, not least because of the gesture.  I think after all it is a much stronger image than the one I originally posted.

Finally, I don't think I mentioned the reason for using black and white.  The mess in the room is so overwhelming that I felt removing one dimension, colour, would make the image stronger.