Passerby, Woolworth Building, San Francisco

Thanks for your advice and encouragement. I'll do it! Time to move on from flowers. But I'd like to ask for advice: Frankly, one of my problems is focusing. My eyesight is not what it used to be. I need a camera that can zoom in and set a distance. Suggestions?

There are several answers:

 

1. Use auto focus lenses and practice with them incessantly. Try Nikon cameras and if you use film cameras start with the very cheap cameras from the N8008 series through the N90 series which can be had for as little as $50 on the used market through the papers if you know how to shop (and in perfect condition.) They have center autofocus only, but if you frame and hold the shutter button down half way, it holds the focus, and you reframe.

 

Additionally, all (or almost all) Nikon cameras have electronic rangefinder aids (little arrows that point whether the focus indicator point is 'in focus' or not and which direction to turn the lens. Practice would tell you which. The arrows are lighted in standard use. Most photographers ignore them. Use lenses of large aperture numbers, say f 2.8 or higher and they'll give the brightest viewfinder image and aid in focusing, and you may find focusing by eyesight is possible.

 

(Focusing is no problem for me.)

 

All modern cameras have built-in diopter adjustments, but older cameras have screw-in diopter adjustments in case the image is blurry because you're a glasses wearer -- so if the problem is blurry image, try using 'diopters', adjusting the 'diopters' or wearing your corrective lenses with a so-called 'high eyepoint' camera which allows you to view the entire field of view from a distance.

 

If you are looking for film cameras, such cameras are cheap -- the very usable ones, and the very expensive ones (formerly) are rapidly coming down in price. Even the digital one are coming down in price, but I'd recommend against the Nikon D70 as its viewfinder is too small, but would recommend the D1X, the D2Hs is you can afford it or definitely the D2X if you're made of money.

 

Happy shooting. Watch the price of those lenses with large diameter openings (low number apertures, f 2.8 and lower, say f 2.0, f 1.8, etc., as they can be stratospheric.)

 

Zoom lenses with those aperture numbers can be quite expensive, but one of the best lenses for such work can be the 80~200 mm Nikkor f 2.8 which everybody says (I agree) is one of Nikon's finest ever lenses.

 

Also, a Vibration Reduction Nikon lens can do wonders, say the 24-120 lens is my mainstay even though the maximum aperture is f 3.5~5.6 at its two main apertures.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Those two lenses are really all a good shooter needs for 90% of shooting, and should be available on E-bay for less than $1,000-- buy a V.R. lens new, an 80~200 lens can be bought used, but beware of haze, fungus, scratches, etc., and beware a seller's 'feedback'.

 

John

 

 

Thanks, John, for taking the time to advise me. Your interest in capturing people in the camera reflects a generous nature, but I should have recognized this from your wonderful pictures.

Ransford (this old dog is learning new tricks)

I'm both generous and stingy, Ransford. I jealousy guard what I have, so I won't become a drag on the system and my friends, but when it comes to my time, I'm extremely generous, which is an anomaly, as in a previous life as an attorney in which most billed by the hour, I often gave away vast number of hours of otherwise billable work, almost always to the indigent or for cases with poorer people who had no other place to turn, yet I made a phenomenal living, because they in turn sent me their friends who were missing legs, got cheated in real estate deals out of large amounts of money or (most commonly) were cheated by large insurance companies and even were unaware of having been cheated, and all they had to do was talk with me.

 

So, I learned long ago, to just be generous with my time, and disregard whether I 'get paid back' or not and let the chips fall where they may -- it's just in my nature. I like sharing. I'm not stingy with my time and my advice, and I get genuine pleasure from sharing what it took me considerable time to learn and even master, and to distill it into a few lessons and/or words to help someone like yourself breeze through what trial and error took me months, years, or even a lifetime.

 

I probably won't have a tombstone, so there'll be no epitaph, but you probably can imagine how I'd like to be remembered.

 

Go get those candid captures, tiger.

 

John

John, how curious. I practiced law briefly, and part-time (I was a full-time professor), but I lost more money than I made, probably because my heart was never in it, at least not for the money. My clients were grateful and impecunious. Despite being an underachiever money-wise (Hey, I went to Harvard, then got a J.D. and a Ph.D. and I am living off social security and a state pension), I have lived better than my friends, and lived longer than my best friends. God must be looking after me, even though I give Him nothing in return. Now I think I would like to be a good photographer, but I cannot imagine making any money at it.

John, this weekend my project is to take pictures of subjects I never take pictures of. Thanks for the encouragement.

 

This is very nice John.

Thanks, it was a long time ago, but I remember every detail of this capture. Amazing, isn't it, how a mnemonic device (a reminder) such as a photograph can revivify one's memories. I guess it was imprinted from a decaying memory when I saw the negative and realized I had captured what I intended, and it was striking.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

John

This is my favorite and so special to me dear John!

 

Biliana

This is just perfect. From the crosshair effect that others have already mentioned right down to the speckles on the wall and on his coat.

 

All of his lines are leading downward - the angle of the hat, the slope of his nose, the slight bend forward at the neck and shoulders, the front of the jacket. It all gives the subtle impression that he is being pulled down by a heavy load. But there is no physical load so we imagine he must be thinking heavy thoughts. His is a great face, worn by the cares of a lifetime yet still full of resolve and kindness. I can't tear myself away.

 

Every detail came together just right. And I'm glad you were there to capture this moment.

Often I write long replies, often explaining more about a photo on which a critique is written.

 

Your critique stands by itself and needs no explication.

 

It helps me understand my own photo better.

 

Thanks.

 

John (Crosley)

Mention of the repeating speckles: wall and coat, is entirely new to me, and I've been looking at this photo (off and on) for over 30 years.

 

So keep it up, let's have some more insightful commentaries/critiques.

 

Just another example of how I use (or maybe just recognize inchoately) the technique of 'mirroring' unconsciously -- something I wrote about just earlier today, as something to watch for in the most unusual places and manners in my photographs, and here you show me a way I used it that I didn't even consider at all!

 

John (Crosley)

Fantastic!

Thank you so much.

 

Comments like yours make a trip to my computer a very happy occurrence for me.

 

Thank you again.

 

John (Crosley)

The background suits with his suit...is this good english?

A "one of a kind" photo came in my mind when i saw this picture.

Very beautiful John!

I think your remark is original -- something no one else ever remarked on if I recall -- and a wonderful remark too -- it adds considerably to my understanding of this photo.

 

And I waited over 35 years to learn that (to 'see' that).

 

Thanks for the insight.

 

John (Crosley)

..composition :) bot portrait and street..

 

yes..

Not much to say.

 

An all-time favorite.

 

A once-in-a-lifetime grab shot.

 

John (Crosley)

i like your conceptual BW view. Congratulations for all your portfolio very "deep". ciao Elena

You do understand my work.

 

And maybe me.

 

Thanks for an enlightened comment.

 

I hope that your trip through my gallery has been rewarding.

 

Come back as often as you wish. I post from 10 to 25 new photos a month here and some on another service as well.

 

John (Crosley)

This is a wonderful, classic photo! I am so happy you just snapped what you saw...it's excellent and in the moment. Thank you for sharing. :)

Part of the lesson of taking this photo to me, as a young man of 22, was that just ANY MOMENT, you can look up or turn, and if you can foresee the position people will be in 'at the next moment or so' you have a chance to take photos like this.  It is something I now call 'predictive human behavior' -- knowing who they are and where they'll go then waiting (however briefly) for the person and the surroundings to come into harmony, as here.

It was a GREAT LESSON to take this photo, and even now to have it acclaimed by a viewer such as you.

Thank you so much.

john

John (Crosley)