Great composition !!!

Fascinating shot. Isn't it interesting that people go to the park to be with nature and end up losing themselves inside the digital world.

Yes, it is strange, as romanceworks wrote. It is a fascinating shot. I like the DOF in this shot and I smile of the girls orange shoes, as the upper one looks like it has backlight or rather glowing on its own, which of course is not possible. In my head it should have had deeper shadows, but it hasnt. That surprised me. It must have exactly the angle that can catch the sun. :-) But the fascinating is the mood here. It´s thought provoking.Three people each in their own cyper world, even though they could sit and admire the nature and listen to the singing birds. :-)

Wow! Social comment at its finest, Mark! A masterpiece. And how very sad that they cut themselves off from each other and the world.

Wow!! This is outstanding, Mark. Just the right angle, just the right content. Social commentary aside (which everyone else has covered), the composition of the shot is brilliant. You've taken the classic "threes," left space where I would have (mistakenly) cropped it, and come up with an image that implies infinity, contains solitude and intimacy, and all in a finite, public space. Forgive me for perhaps overusing the word "brilliant" to describe your recent posts, but honestly ... I can't think of another word that's more accurate. This is absolutely, jaw-droppingly good stuff.

EXCELLENT WORK

wonderful image

Mark, this is a superb capture and I honestly had no idea this was your first venture into photographing people. Guess I always assumed you were a seasoned pro, as you're work here certainly illustrates that to me. One thing that stands out in your landscape photos as well as those featuring people is the amount of thought that obviously goes into each capture. I almost feel as if you search for the perfect scene, and then wait for just the right moment when it all comes together for you. That is the sense I get from this capture of the girl in digital repose here. Not only is this a perfect illustration of the title, but by including the two others in the background you have shown a clear contrast to the more traditional form of relaxing with a good book. (still my choice) I will be sure and keep you and your sister in my prayers.

Reminds me of the phrase "alone together." Strangers sitting close in a park yet worlds away from each other. Fine photogrpahy, Mark.Sorry to hear of your health problems.Hope this year brings healing.

This disturbs me. Quite a lot, actually. It's a fantastic shot. It's just the exemplification of our modern culture that I find so disappointing, so powerfully disturbing. And this one little shot speaks so loudly of our societal decay which we prefer, instead, to reference as technological "progress." How incongruent. How disturbingly, entirely, markedly incongruent. But, I'm a creature entirely displaced in time, so I take this particularly hard, and often feel like a salmon swimming upstream against the current. Still, this image makes me queasy. Look how self absorbed we have become...it is all here. Look at us, so vain and narcissistic we haven't even the time for a glance, much less a work, for our neightbor....so self consumed the "word of the year" becomes "Selfie"...a name for photos of ourselves. Time was we needed to preach the value of loving onself. Now, it seems that in current society, at least certainly here in the U.S., the "self" is all we are concerned about loving. I don't mean this translates to good self esteeen, or self value...only an unhealthy consumption with the self which rarely seems to look beyond the self much at all anymore. I will never be able to accept this, Mark. I perceive this as an "ungood." Moderation has become a lost thing. Look again at this shot. Not only are we withdrawn and detached from those around us, but look how detached we have become from the natural world in our surroundings, instead consumed, absorbed, sucked into devices that only allow us to withdraw deeper, and deeper still, from the art of real forms of communication, and comfort of kindredness with those who walk this world with us, the beauty around us which has the capacity to heal, nourish, restore us. There is a whole generation now, with great hand/eye coordination skills, but who are entirely socially inept...incapable of conversing and therefore lacking on problem resolution and social skillls overall. And social graces? Grace in general? Convenience...is displacing spirit. I don't understand, nor do I want to understand. In fact, I would be quite happy to live the remainder of my life, in this personal misunderstanding between myself and the world. And, I have come to wholly accept it. There, now you have a little Nancy soliloquoy for the day. Lol. It's a lovely work, Mark...I just don't like what it represents in the least. But maybe that's precisely why you felt it was a shot worth taking..which is exactly what I suspect. :)

And btw...I'm so, so very sorry to hear it seems you, like me, have joined the realms of the adrenal defunct. I'd say "Welcome to my world.." but I'd have been so much happier if I'd never had to utter such a thing to you, Mark. I hope you've at least found a steady state with treatment. This really is some crazy stuff to live, and what those little buggers can do to an entire body, is mind boggling. :(

Interesting... I see a woman in a park, locked into her digital space, but I don't see it as necessarily a bad thing. She's communicating, either directly or by reading/viewing something created/posted by someone! Is that bad? And there are two other people in the shot, both locked into their analogue worlds (reading books, for heaven sake...), so why don't people comment about them? Why is the digital world so bad? Isn't your camera digital? Are people reading books being antisocial? So why don't we ban all books? And smart phones? And tablets? Force those people to sit together and talk! I'm being silly and way over the top, but I think you get my drift. Books, and more recently digital devices, have enriched my life, and ultimately have made me a better communicator (I think). Oh, and this is an excellent photograph that beautifully captures four separate worlds, one encapsulated in each person, and the one they're all sitting in. I love it!