Cafe de Paris

Great one. Just doesn't seem funny to me, more sad. I love the fact his back is turned , and you can't see the whole face. Great! You should've uploaded this ages ago! :) Love it.

...to say that I like the fact that you tightly focused on his wrinkled face , while almost everything else is slightly out of focus. This is really great.

Well, I love to work with shallow DOF but in this case I couldn't do else! The cafe was barely lit and I used the Kodak TMZ as ISO 1600. Thank god I had the 50/1.4 mounted. Hence, the shallow DOF :)

I like it too and my girlfriend loves it :)

This is a wonderful shot..I really like it..

No, he isn't sad, just smiling at his dog. But the interesting thing is, one cannot actually tell, whether he's smiling or not.

Ratings and comments are welcome :)

 

Thanks for visiting

 

Cheers,

this is great! it should be picture of the week, i think. the sepia works well as does the depth of field--those 50mm fixed lenses are great for this type of thing. i must say that i agree with the comment made above that this feels more sad than funny, but, then, i wasn't there... also loved the "mafia" pic in your folder.

Nicely toned and classy, Milos. Job well done. Blago

Damn I don't know what's happenning or if I'm the one who missed alot of great pictures in the past, but it seems like recent (two weeks at least) uploads are all very high quality. This must be the second time this week that I find a picture that is absolutly worthy of being POW. This is photography at it's best.

this is fantastic -- you've captured the beautiful in an ordinary moment... congratulations!

Nice job of capturing a nice mood. I love the whole feeling of this shot. Nice job.

Milos,

I like the toning and I like the use of DOF here - really adds to the feel...

 

but when I read your story with the shot it kind of leaves me wanting more - I mean... where's the dog? What's it doing that is so funny?

 

If you hadn't said that part I would have gotten a totally different picture... which is why I clicked on the thumbnail...

 

Your story seems more alont the line of this shot...

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=525350

 

Anyhow - I like the shot... but I don't know if it really works with the story.

It's fantastic how a picture can tell a diffirent story than the reality. I feel a so different athmosphere and feeling in your photo than what you described. Anyway, bravo!

I'm probably going to take some heat for this, but I find this photo invasive. No technical complaints, but without an editorial context for this picture, and a description that differs from the implied mood, publication of this is questionable. Got a release?

Lucas cites a photo by a member of photo.net who is truly a master of candid photography - Tony Dummett. Somewhere in Tony's vast contributions to this site he states (and I paraphrase liberally here) that shooting candid subjects from behind is a photographic cop-out. While I'm not particularly concerned about the issue of a model release, I do feel that you have done the subject of this photo an injustice... and the injustice is that we have no clue as to what this person is really feeling. All we have is a small portion of the side of his face. I fail to see any story (actual or implied) here at all.

 

Furthering this notion, I should point out that I have attempted street photography all of one time... and at that, I was unable to push the shutter release even once! I came across an interesting subject sitting at a park bench smoking a pipe while appearing to "contemplate life", but I just couldn't work up the nerve to confront this subject head on (or even close to it). The best I could manage was a perspective much like this one, and to me, it felt cheap to take such a shot. Good street photography is tough, and that's what makes the works of photographers like Mr. Dummett all the more impressive.

 

Sorry, I'm not trying to be overly critical, but I'm simply not impressed by this particular photo.

I must say, technicaly my photo is perhaps not the best. Also the subject is not very impressive.

 

I didn't mean to offend this person by posting his photo. As I already said, he did not notice that the photo was taken but I think his wife did. Where is she, you might be asking? Well, she's sitting right next to him but in this very moment she must had been playing with the dog, or something, so you cannot see her. But she was there (see the two cups of coffee?). So was the dog (well, there's no dog food though:).

 

I'm aware of the fact that the photo shows a sad mood. Indeed, the sepia toning and the wrinkled face don't look that funny. But, as I can remember, the wrinkled face is only showing him laughing. No, his mouth and the rest of the face are not visible but that's the way it was.

 

Perhaps this is also a very bad reportage-photo since it hides some essentials and has it's own language. It makes the viewer feel whatever the viewer wants to feel. Even with the added comment, one can feel sad. If you want to do so, do it.

I think photographs are free to be interpreted by their viewers and believe me, this Monsieur would not have said anything against me taking the picture and showing it to so many of you guys and girls.

 

I think that I understand your point of view and I think that north american folks are much more aware of the "private space" every single person has but me, as an European, don't have the same way of thinking and I do not feel like intruding his "private space". I've experienced some people telling me not to take photographs of them and I agreed not to. But let me ask you something, and please don't think that I'm thinking of having a chance to compete with Mr. Dummet or Cartier-Bresson, but did those two guys ever ask for permission when making really strong and powerful photographs?! I don't think that every single streetlife photo of them is made after the permission had been given.

And can someone explain to me what the moral and ethic difference between mine and Tony's shot is? I don't feel like competing with him and I find his shot better in execution but I think that they are quite similar. And in his shot the lady also didn't notice that someone was taking a picture of her. So, what's actually the main point, we're talking about? I don't want to be offending you, please don't missunderstand. :)

 

However, I hope that you understand me as I think to be understanding you.

And I will continue to make such photographs and try to contribute to photo.net. If someone feels offended and doesn't like them, feel free to tell me and post in the forum. If you like this kind of photography, also feel free to tell.

 

Last thing to say: Since I'm not making any profit of this and this is only for my private purposes, I don't think that this photo should be correct, whether in terms of photo-journalism or any other legal terms. After all, it's only for my photo-album.

Hi Milos,

 

I'm not sure if you are responding to Paul, who raised the issue of a model release and subsequent publication of this photo, or me. To clarify, *I do not think a model release is necessary*. Further, *I have no problem with the publication of this photo*. BUT, I think that the photo suffers because we, as viewers, are forced to look at this older gentleman as if we were spies lurking behind a post or something similar. As such, the gentleman in question is rendered incomplete, and we certainly have no idea of what is *really* going on without the additional notes you have supplied nor what we imagine *might* be going on because we simply cannot see enough of the man's expression to even begin to formulate our own story.

 

Again, regardless of whether the subject is aware of your presence or not, a direct, head on approach would be better. Or at least, not so obviously from behind.

If you're suggesting that Milos made this shot from the back because he didn't "have the guts" to face the gentleman and photograph him from the front I think you're wrong. I believe that he made the shot this way because he felt that it would work better this way (and I also think it does), or maybe, he noticed this gentleman and had to capture the moment and didn't have the time to go and shoot him from the front. As for the story the photo tells, I believe that each viewer has the right to interpret the image the way he wants to. Cheers

I think the perspective of this shot is different and brings a different quality. This is an excellent photograph and Milo did a great job. Plus..thanks for putting down the scanning info. I also learned something too.

 

Thank you,

Loren

Sorry my English is poor.

I just want to tell you that I would have liked to take this photo. It's what we call in France a great "instant decisif ". You really took the atmosphere of a Parisian cafe

I love this shot. Very eye catching

i wouldn't change a thing. this is what you percieved/wanted to create, and I for one, really enjoy it.

Hi Milos,

 

I feel you've been given some rough crit regarding this photo. One photo.net user said that he felt your picture was a cop out because it was taken from the back.

 

Well, I have to strongly dissagree with that person. They simpy fail to understand what photography is all about. It doesn't matter whether the subject knew you were taking the photo or not, what's really important is that the image should make an impact on the person who views it.

 

In my own case, I really loved the image as soon as I saw it. It has an unanswered feel to it which makes me think 'I wonder what this guys story is'. Apart from that, it reminds me very much of Eugene Smiths work.

 

I wish I had the nerve to take photos in public places. You obviously do and in this instance I feel that it paid off.

Milos,

 

I discovered this photo really by chance, looking at sb's comments. This is superb!!! If I remember well, you also did 3 towers - this picture of the old man is in a completely different category. Very very well done! Push it more!

 

Thanks,

 

Blaise

Trés belle image. I love

 

Pierre

I really like this picture. Can't really explain what it is that I like so much about it, though. Apart from the aesthetics and fine tones it sort of makes me watch it and think about the subject...