Three Generations -- Three Aspects (Viewpoints)

I just reviewed the CF card on which this photo was recorded before reformatting it, and looked at the elapsed time between my initial attempt at portraying the old woman (babushka) and child (background) and the sudden occurrence of the very fast-walking woman, middle ground.

 

I had taken about two or three photos of the babushka and child, when at the left (of the uncropped frame, for this frame was cropped left), one can see the glove of the walking woman, appear frame left and in the next five frames she walks across the scene.

 

The sequence ends, naturally enough, with this photo, because as I well knew, I had captured 'the' photo.

 

Although I had to check the capture on my digital screen to make sure and had no idea how 'powerful' this capture might be, I was sure I had captured what I had set out to capture and the walking woman had filled out the idea as I photographed her walking across the frame, until she arrived at the final spot where I stopped releasing the shutter -- here.

 

For those who are interested in how such things come about.

 

(Few write about these things, but I do, because there's interest, I'm told and because I don't think that such things should be so mysterious -- after all, are you going to take my secrets and go out and steal my methods of photographing Ukrainian babushkas in front of posters with baby photos?)

 

John (Crosley)

Another interesting photo!

A blessed new year to you and your family, wish you the best in the coming year!

The contrast of expressions - the youngest and the eldest as opposed to the 'middle aged' - is priceless. A really thought provoking shot with many possible meanings there to take. It's one of those rare photos that makes you come back and look again and again. I like the colour as it is, but I reckon a contrasty b&w would give it a classical look that would suit the scene very well. Wishing you happy and prolific (even more!) shooting in the New Year John!

Thanks for the nice comment.

 

It's always nice to be commemorated, especially from halfway around the world, when one is alone on a holiday. I had been with a wonderful assistant for 21 days prior to taking this and we got along like gangbusters, which is to say like we'd known each other all our lives -- just famously -- though we'd only met part of one day previously and had corresponded. (She's depicted in 'Faces portfolio with a pullover halfway over her face to her eyes).

 

So, it's nice to wake up from my my mid-winter's New Year's sleep to find a wonderful recognition of yours, and to reflect and say, the world is peaceful and wonderful . . . thank you Ellen.

 

And HAPPY NEW YEAR to you also.

 

John (Crosley)

I see you've figured out that I am indeed incredibly prolific. In that regard I amaze even myself. My goal is to become . . . well . . . well-known for street shooting and in other genres as well . . . I'm working for instance on glamour . . . erotic . . . which is not posted . . . and practice makes one move closer to . . . well not perfection in the world of street.

 

Street is more like golf [not gold as misprinted originally] . . . where one 'scores' the fewer misses one makes. In golf, everyone has to count strokes . . . and the more strokes one takes, the less strong one's game is.

 

In 'street' of course, one golden shot every so often makes one a master, but the truth is you don't usually get that 'golden shot' at all, unless you're taking lots of silver and bronze shots along the way. In a way, you're counting strokes, and useless photos on gigabyte and multi-gigabyte cards, which find their final resting place on your hard drive.

 

More and more I'm not just taking 'worthless' photos which I throw away, or discard, but I find I'm locating good subjects and zeroing in with multiple attempts (exposures) on ways to depict them so I can portray them in the way I want to -- their best possible expression on media/their best photograph possible. So, now I may take a dozen photographs of something that strikes me as likely when I identify a scene that is marginally good, seeking by my skill to transform it from 'marginal' to something 'interesting' -- to find what it was and capture what it was that caught my eye in the first place.

 

And that is working rather well for me now, since I carry a large assortment of camera/lens combinations from superwide to telephoto and can switch at a moment's notice. People always assume they're going to be in the newspaper, but no such luck, I tell them (many, on parole or probation cease hiding their faces when I tell them the worst that can happen is they'll end up on Photo.net and the likelihood of that is VERY LOW.

 

As the scoring analogy, in golf one counts the strokes before one downs the ball; in street photography one counts the times per gigabyte shot that one gets a decent shot. I've upped my score tremendously since I began shooting for Photo.net two and a fraction years ago, and feel that I'm now as high in my game as I've ever been, even when I was in my early 20s and shooting well, though inchoately and somewhat naively, but shooting some of my best stuff.

 

The trouble then was I had no 'secondary stuff'. It either was wonderful street stuff or complete discards and almost nothing in between and film for me was expensive. I had to watch what I shot and cameras were single shot affairs. I bought 100' rolls of film and wound my own and often couldn't afford to process it, unless I did so myself, which I did in a giant canister for four or five rolls at once. (still have that stainless steel canister and rolls holders and they looks like new).

 

If my career had taken an alternate path, I might have ended up either world famous . . . or a hack. Who knows? As it was, I left for a career as a writer, then editor, then magazine editor, then law school and lawyerdom, then life after being a lawyer until I hit upon reintroducing photography (thanks to Photo.net and its staff) just over two years ago . . . almost three.

 

In a word, for me, it's been a saviour and has helped transform who I am and how I think of myself. It's also (musing at the start of this year 2007) brought me a world of cyber (and real) friends, such as yourself, Alexandre. And, it has brought me the ability to perform badinage upon the streets -- to loosen up potential subjects . . . to banter with them with desirable . . . to help bring out the best in them . . . for sharing with the good folks on Photo.net.

 

For this I am most grateful

 

And for the personal wishes of members like you . . . I am doubly grateful, for it is not something impersonal, I feel, but something warm and deep, and for that I give you my warm and deep wish also for a happy and successful New Year to come . . . and a year filled not only with family and personal happiness but also with delightful and wonderful images to fill your artistic soul.

 

John (Crosley)