Billboard and Man (B & W ed.)

It seems my ideel, Henri Cartier-Bresson, beat me to it about 1945-47 in a place called Uvalde, Texas, after he came to America to do his 'posthumous' (they thought he was killed in the war) exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, then toured the U.S. taking great photographs. The attachment is one of them, of a lunchwagon with a Coke poster.

(By the way, I never have seen this photo published -- this arresting photo came from the Magnum archives -- the part devoted to the photos of Henri Cartier-Bresson, during an extended search by me of mostly mediocre photos -- the ones not published.)

Maybe the Coke image had a copyright which attorneys would flag as a potential 'issue' though the doctrine of 'fair use' would seem to shelter this public image. (I think it is as wonderful as it is unheralded.)

John

'Street photography' as critic Judy Ben Joud notes elsewhere in my commentaries, is supposed to be 'difficult' and it certainly is an 'art' or at least a 'reflex', because the art of 'framing' a photo on the street to 'catch' a moment like this and get in things like the pertinent parts of the poster including the entire words 'red passion' are indeed an 'art' -- especially if one is to 'catch' this guy with his head in a corollary position to the poster model shouting with corollary lighting.

But somehow when one has taken thousands or hundreds of thousands of photos, and taken (or ruined) so many photos, and had so many of them reviewed, (and read through photo books of accomplished artists and carefully reading and examining all the critiques -- whether the points are accepted or rejected), the 'art' develops into an often-failed but sometimes successful response somewhere in the 'limbic' part of the brain, I think.

It helped in this case that this man was 'static, I had an opportunity to take a couple of photos, he repeated the motion, without urging, and both photos were almost equally successful, but this one was the better framed of the two with a better facial expression.

(Everytime I take a photo like this, I wonder what else will I take that could be so good, but then I'm taking photos and another opportunity in an entirely different direction or genre presents itself . . . and off I go.)

(thanks for your continuing commentaries Judy Ben Joud.)

John

If I could take photos as good as this every once in a while -- say once a month -- I'd be the happiest photographer in the world, I'd bet. This one of the happiest photographs I've ever taken and, although taken in early 2005, ranks right up there with those taken in my very early days when I walked the streets from morning to night (or night until morning).

John

Notice that the lines of text, top, lead to the poster guy with the Coke bottle.

Below, with the laughing bystander, head upraised, notice that there the lines of text (vertical and horizontal) also intersect at this head.

I've been looking at this image for six months and just realized how to articulate the use of 'lines' in this photo. I'm really 'dumb' about my own images sometimes.

John

This B&W version (28,000 views) plus the color version (16,000 views) = 44,000 views for this photo. This is one of my all-time finest photos, taken this year. I'd put this digital photo up against any photo I've ever taken, or for that matter, up against the photos of any other 'street photographer' for comparison, at least, though certainly not the best in the world, but good nonetheless.

'Street photos' are notoriously under-viewed and 'underappreciated' on Photo.net is the conscensus.

John

As this photo, in both black and white and color versions continues to climb in number of 'views', I continue to believe that someday it might even be my most-viewed photograph (if one takes into account both versions -- color and B & W.)

It's almost impossible to know, when one is in the 'street' limping along taking photo after photo, which one will be the very best, but I had an inkling (only an inkling at that) this photo might be very good in reproduction and reception.

(But for certain, I was very much amused by this, and since I showed it to this man on my digital screen afterwards and got both a smile and a 'thumbs up' from him, I know he 'got' the photo, all there in the 15 seconds it took to show it to him.)

Imagine H C-Bresson who took wonderful photo after wonderful photo for a lifetime and filled books with wonderful images and how he must have felt when he had 'bagged a good one' (After all, he started out as a big game hunter in Africa and always was 'on the prowl' to create (yes 'create) a good one throughout his photographic career.

John

This poster man and man beneath somehow form a split 'V'.

Two figures in a 'V' formation is repeated in the 'Foremost' bottles in the poster behind the Coca Cola sign.

John

Other comments about this photo can be found under my 'single photo' folder (mostly color) which has the color version of this photo displayed, also with a very large number of 'views' and high ratings, but not so high as this B&W version.

I like this better as B&W, but it also succeeds as a color capture, and is quite a different photo in color.

John

The reason is out of frame, to his left.

At this man's left, seated, is another man, trading stories with him, bantering.

An examination of the five frames I took shows the buddy on one or more of the frames.

I took two almost identical frames of this man throwing his head back like this, but in one the head was less clear, so this was posted.

I actually had difficulty telling which one I had chosen from a view of the 'raw' thumbnails until I blew them up for detail and one, almost identical, lacked proper focus, or the exposure time was too short causing a blurred image -- but the thumbnail on the back of the camera looked great -- a good reason for hanging around and to keep trying, even if you think you have a great on in the camera!

John

From its first posting, my most-viewed image has been the photo of a soldier with a bare bayonet and student protestors, and as of this writing it has about 81,00+ views.

This photograph, in B&W has considerably fewer views, but this photo is split in to color and B&W.

Together -- the two -- B&W and color, add up to about the same number of views as that other photo, which make this 'image' (not the photograph in Black & White or color alone) tied for my most-viewed image.

However, I regard it as my second-best image ever.

My first is the photo 'Balloon Man' --- my first post, which is at the start of this folder.

However, this photo is considerably more 'sophisticated' -- read 'complicated', than 'Balloon Man', and requires a more complicated ability to view and analyze to understand and stretches the imagination more than 'Balloon Man', a photo which is apparent to nearly everyone who views it.

John (Crosley)

As of this posting, May 16, 2006, this image, both in color and B&W is my most-viewed image, exceeding slightly the higher-rated B&W only view of a National Guardsman, bayonetted rifle with gas mask donned facing down a hillful of rather gleeful campus protestors in 1969 at Berkeley, California that has become emblematic of the era of protests/campus and otherwise (including Chicago's famous Democratic Convention protest which I missed because I was in Viet Nam with a camera (or on my way).

That photo was a 'gimme' -- a photo anyone could have shot, and in fact, if numerous photo libraries and photographers went through their archives or old film many would find they took the same or a similar image (if they thought to keep their old film/images, and that photo was dismissed at the time as 'trite' and unsalable, though I then thought better. Time has proved its worth -- as it has become emblematic.

For pure photographic 'worth' I'll put my money on this image, one of my finer images ever, taken last year, on a short walk through Bangkok's Chinatown -- or just nearby -- this is a Thai man (jokingly talking with a man just to his left -- our right, out of view, and I have two, get 'em two, captures almost alike, as he repeated the gesture, but only one was focused properly and framed correctly -- the first I think. Sometimes you get it right the first time.)

All that being said, I think 'balloon man' is my finest image ever, and perhaps it's the finest image I may ever take.

John