Watch with Mother

Watch with Mother, originally uploaded by paulrutherford.

THE SUBJECT
The Kitulgala resthouse overlooks Sri Lanka's second-longest river, the Kelani. As it was Sunday, many families had come to take the waters. We discovered it is a popular destination for people from the capital Colombo. They leave at six in the morning, travel by bus for three hours, stay in, on or by the river until six in the evening, then take the three hour bus ride home. A long, happy day.

THE SHOT
Taken on a 300mm telephoto, I was trying to stay out of the way. Of course, mothers with small children have 360-degree radar, so as soon as I raised the camera, she looked straight at me. What you don't see is that she smiled broadly a second later - so I think I was forgiven.

1/200sec, f5.6, ISO400. Processed in Raw, then taken to b&w using Levels in PS. Only enhancement was a very slight whitening of her eyes for added impact.