'I'm Lovin' It'

A couple, thinking themselves unseen and enjoying a happy moment,

plays a little game of 'slapsy' -- here the girl makes a lunge at her

boyfriend. Note the logo above them and the wall graphic. Your

ratings and critiques are invited and most welcome. If you rate

harshly or very critically, please submit a helpful and constructive

comment; please share your superior knowledge to help improve my

photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

hey, John: I'm responding because you sound like you truly want to get better - and that is the right attitude. Regardless on how objective one tries to be when giving a critique (I'm assuming some on here try)...a critique can never truly be free of subjectiveness...here are my objective/subjective thoughts....

 

I can tell you really like the photo...you were there and you saw this unfold...a photograph though should be able to tell a story on its own...if you gave me no text, I would not be certain what was happening here. He is smiling...but she could have grabbed a fork and lunged at him before he even knew what was happening, for all I can tell. Her face is completely covered - and with that, you do not get any facial information from her. The sign on the wall has no connection (to me) to what is going on...in fact, I would even crop that photo, getting rid of the sign and the girl in the next booth. Even with that, I just don't think the photo works...mainly because it is unclear what is happening...I think part of the confusion stems from her going over a table to playfully hit him, most people would not do this...if you are seated next to me, fine. But I would not lunge across a table to playfully pock you. Again, those are just my thoughts. You may find other people who love the photo...what is really important is that you enjoy taking pictures - and the results...and I can tell you do. Ken

The snapshots always have something to say as they are moments of joy ,sorrow or the unexpected.Technically i wouldn't suggest anything else than what you already did.Usually in such cases you aim and shoot, no time for manually operations.I like this picture a lot, the colors match perfectly.I agree with Ken , it wasn't necessary to escort your photo with explanations.Let the others explore it.Best regards

such fine work, John. me too..........

If someone, a woman, perhaps, and a thinnish young woman, lunges across a table at me, I put up my hands in a (mock) defensive posture and laugh at her, that seems to me to be all the information I need to convey to others that I'm having a pretty good time and that maybe we're playing a game of 'slapsy' or something like that.

 

That works for me -- it's enough clues, but perhaps it doesn't work for you, and we differ on that, but for you, then the photo is a failure, because it didn't convey to you the fun these two were having.

 

The woman on the wall graphic was left there to reinforce the idea that 'yes, indeed' they were 'lovin' it' (McDonald's slogan), and indeed were having fun. It was not meant as irony, but as reinforcement. Thus, as intended, the entirety of the composition, for it is a composition, is about fun and mock encounters -- something we only do with our dearest and most loved. (except in the military where it's organized to save our lives in the future, if we serve)

 

Well, one can see by his expression, he's not like that assassination by sword in 1960 of the Japanese Socialist Leader by a 17-year-old, on live television, in which the victim's face was all contorted, his glasses partly off, in a look of total, abject disbelief that he was watching his life end.

 

This guy is here having the time of his life, not watching some bizarre and unreal drama unfold.

 

Sure, we can't see her face; she's too busy in mock combat. But it's mock, and we see the 'mock' reflected in his face.

 

And yes, indeed I delight in taking photos and photos such as this, not just bums lying on steps, but in all of human behavior.

 

I have a whole series of photos of this couple playing that game where one holds one's hands out and the other tries to 'slap' the top of the hand before one can withdraw it -- what I have called 'slapsy' but which surely has a better name, but they they are not nearly as dramatic.

 

In frustration at not being able to hit the top of his hand(s), this woman lunged at HIM . . . which indicates he was winning -- he had the superior reflexes in withdrawing his hands before she could pound the top.

 

Exactly how a game with a young woman she be 'won' -- she lunges at you, for your superiority, for you have proved your mettle in the mating game . . . which is what she really desires.

 

Fun!

 

Indeed!

 

And I thank you for clearly writing your thoughts; which I will take into consideration the very next time I make a post. I believe in this photo, but perhaps others had the same issue and it's more ambiguous than I thought.

 

For which I thank you.

 

(Oh, yes and I did take time to show this couple ALL the photos I took of them, and they said in Russian 'KLAS' -- their way of saying they were plesed-- very like our word 'classy'.)

 

You might note a post the other day under my 'Alien's' post, from a PN member who was moved to become one after in the Paris Metro, I showed him a photo I had taken (he even names the station). I make friends wherever I go (although also an occasional enemy. . . .)

 

John (Crosley)

But did it work for you. Although I didn't have camera to eye, this is exactly how I would have framed it, had my eye been at table level, with the logo being very important to reinforce the message and being right there in the upper right hand corner (with the smiling girl -0- a proxy for the girl, left, whose smile we can't see -- you didn't 'see' that one coming did you. (A proxy smiling figure . . . humh . . . that's a new one . . . but maybe he's got a point)

 

This is more than a 'point and shoot' . . . it's a precisely timed moment, but in a sense it's point and shoot also, of course; it's certainly not posed.

 

And to those who say 'do you ask your subjects before you take their picture?' - this is my answer. I am sure you can figure out the answer from this after reading these posts.

 

If I asked them for permission, he would never have played this game, she never would have lunged, and he would have gone home to put on a suit, while she would be in the restroom putting on her makeup for a half hour.

 

'Street' is 'street'.

 

You get 'em now and make excuses later if you overstep . . . because you can't always know and one has to go by instinct. You can't always be right, and you have to be ready to apologize if you 'get it wrong' but don't delete. Just say to your subject, 'it'll stay on my personal hard drive' with a hundred thousand other photos and they'll relax.

 

;-))

 

John (Crosley)

Thank you for a nice comment; those comments really mean something to me and are taken quite seriously. If a comment is negative, I truly look to find the other person's point of view, and don't just look for 'atta boys'.

 

However, the latter I don't mind one bit;-)

 

John (Crosley)

In this photo, from lower left, to the upper right, the three figures (woman, man and girl figure on wall), form a sort of 'line' which creates a partial diagonal throughout this photo.

 

I could have cropped 'more' to create an even stronger diagonal, but that would have eliminated using the woman's shoes and feet, and showing her 'seat' was upraised, which to me is important to this photo.

 

A diagonal is a most dynamic figure, and thus helps make this a most dynamic photo -- reinforcing the 'action' taking place, I think.

 

Do you agree?

 

John (Crosley)