Pavement Stonework

[The amateur]

The passage “They are workers who manually lay paving stones – either in artistic patterns or otherwise – creating sidewalks that are moderately resilient. These traditional pavements enhance urban spaces with beauty, yet they suffer a serious drawback: the weight of vehicular traffic, now that cars can weigh 2 tonnes or more when braking, combined with the dimensions of the stones, causes the pavement to deteriorate rapidly. This issue does not arise with pedestrian traffic, of course.” was part of a text I wrote on another thread about this work.

I recently revisited my archive and reviewed all the black and white work I did years ago, but this time I felt inspired to try a colour solution.
Instantly, I noticed that the quality of the images I captured back then does not quite match what can now be achieve with another piece of equipment that I truly admire and like.
Or perhaps I am simply biased, and there isn’t much difference? It would seem not, but…

I ended up selecting several photos that I felt were representative of this type of work, and I now present them for your appreciation and critique, as has become customary in this discussion space.
Let me begin the exhibition by introducing the two subjects involved.

[LenR]

Antonio, both these images look fine to me. I prefer the colour rendition of the first image which you had previously shown in B&W.
Regarding the second image the lower left corner seems a little distracting and I wonder if the arm could be cloned out or the image cropped?
Thanks for sharing.....

[The amateur]

Thank you, Len, for your comment.

In anticipation of further feedback, I must share that, interestingly, I went through Photoshop and was able to effortlessly remove the part of the arm by the sweater.
However, I did not like the outcome and decided to retain this “blemish".

Perhaps we become too focused on distracting details when they are, in fact, an integral part of the image's capture.
On the other hand, there is merit in being concerned about certain areas that may appear superfluous in the final image.
This may seem somewhat contradictory: on one hand, yes, and on the other, no. Ultimately, the best decision is likely the one that pleases us the most, without becoming obsessively bound by rules.

Let us await further observations, which as usual, are always both pertinent and helpful, enabling us to learn and share knowledge and experiences.

Cheers !