Boylston Street, Boston

oh my gosh.. how unexpected and cute!! this is really good!

Dearest Toshio, Sir Tamaki!

 

Sorry for my being so late. To late is impossible for this majestic shot! No spitting, no machine-gun.. HDR-sunglasses, just that staring. Those eyes! You did the only thing possible.. click! That's all. Only about twenty of us would have done the same.. click! It had to be done! In each others name.. You did it for us so very much thanks for this jewel we think they don't exist anymore for everywhere the cities are the same and real surprises can only be shot in shooting they did for us, the movie! Haha.. small or tall, the twenty of us just don't believe that! Take a seat and just trust. From now on we will try the only things possible. Yes, also in color. Cropping your shot..?! Sir, ever heard of cropping a Japanese..?! :) Big hug! Olaf.

I do agree about cropping it, maybe the right side, but still fantastic!

Wonderful image. I'm not sure why so many people want to cut off the fender of this car, I think it would be a rather strange car without wheels personally. There's alot to like in this image, but I have one problem with it. The fingers coming out of the window appear to have been edited in some way, leaving them flat and without detail or contrast. The fact that this is so very near the center of the frame really disrupts the flow and precision of the overall image for me.

Very nice use of B&W. Contrast is superb. Wish I could see the full upper head on the owl, but does not take away from the over all picture. 7/7

I'd hate to be a mouse!

wheel at lower right corner was distracting. In the 5 seconds that it took me to realize that it was part of the car after all and not an object that the car slammed into, i'd quite forgotten about the lady at the left (who is more important than the wheel), and the bird (which is more important than the lady).

 

But never the less, it's a gorgeous, classic grab. i gave it a 7/7.

all i can think about is, those tallons diging into the guys arm.

this is an amazing photo.

wow! crazy amounts of atmosphere. Great job of capturing the scene, or if it was set, awesome job setting up.

Matthew Dapkus..

 

In general I would agree, but not this time. If the right side was cropped the side mount, hood shape and headlight with chrome ridge would be lost. Those items point to the high quality of the car. Now it denotes classy bird, classy car. Cropping would also get the frame farther away form the Golden Ratio.

WOW !(and double WOW !) Have to totally mimic Holly/Peter/Minh/Bill & Arond -- this photo is exceptional, and to my eye, just another reason I still shoot film exclusively -- But the many moods, surprises and "amazements" here just keep begging you to see it ALL ! ---- FANTASTIC eye Toshio !

Street photography at it's best. Fabulous shot...I hope that it was candid. I suppose that even if it were staged it would be quite genius.

fantastic, dark strange!

Tamaki-san. Fantastic photo. I agree the best part of this photo is the eyes of the owl and his/her "driver." Also the talons and the fingers. Marvelous. Really great job. Love it.

Great Photo! Very interesting and dramatic. I am not sure if I should be affraid of the owl or amazed that he is just sitting there.

I love this pic, coming from the past...

I, too, found the wheel fender distracting at first because I couldn't figure out exactly what it was until I read the other comments. Ditto with the headlight. I also first questioned whether there should be that snippet of truck on the right, or if it shouldn't have been taken out through cropping or shopping. I think it depends on what your personal narrative is on this story. I love how the main car is in the middle of the seemingly busy street with moving traffic and at the weird angle compared to the other cars and the building. This would be ruined if you cropped the right side and/or took the truck out on the right. Also, now knowing that those are the headlight and fender, I think the lines and curves are gorgeous instead of distracting. I don't feel like I need them to know that this is a high-quality older car. I love that you can see that the car does indeed have a chauffeur (although some of the previous critiques insinuate that this has been missed and the owl handler is mistaken as the driver).

 

However, cropping the right makes me notice the woman in front of the building which I would have completely missed had I not "cropped" out the right side of the photo to the right sill of the window just right of the corner of the building. I love how it appears that she is beckoning the driver, or hailing this enigmatic taxi from the past. The owl seems to be blocking the window, sounding a warning, protecting the passenger who seems to be a fugitive through time (the modern shirt and watch in contrast to the car). I like that the owl's companion is looking away and ghost-like. I agree with another comment that the hand seems flat--it almost looks like a latex glove! Why is there more definition to his hand and the texture of his skin inside the window as opposed to the outside when the rest of him is so nebulous? Perhaps this is just a symptom of the altered reality associated with this car and its passengers.

I am sorry, I saw only now that you received POW. My congratulations!!!

 

I was not very active this year on photo.net, maybe also because I am now in Romania and travelling less. I try to recuperate now ...

 

kind regards

Maria

I don't know how long it's been since you've lived in the Boston area, but on the ground floor of the building in the background is a restaurant called the Cactus Club. This is a very curious photo and your owl is fierce and means business.

 

Regards,

Maria