The Four Lights

There are three large lights nearby on the side rails of this endless

escalator in Kyiv, Ukraine (a copy of Moscow's fabled Metro) but the

photo is captioned 'The Four Lights' -- It is obvious to me why. Can you

see so as easily? Your ratings and critiques are invited and most

welcome. If you rate harshly or very critically or wish to state your

opinion, please submit a helpful and critical comment; please share

your photographic knowledge or opinion to help improve my

photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

You can't be too tightly wound up to understand this one. Either you do or you don't, I think.

John (Crosley)

This is a play of light and shadow.

It is also a study in proportions and symmetry.

The symmetry here that is the result of my timing with the light sources (as we perceive them, not as we 'name' them.).

There are three major lights, foreground, that are fed by electricity.

There is a fourth light source, that makes the four lights symmetrical; the reflection of light; primarily of the left side of the woman's face (as she faces us.)

If you count her bright face with its bright reflection, then that is a 'light' also, and roughly then the two leftmost lights are proportionally spaced enough that adding her as a third light makes the four lights somewhat proportionally spaced . . . . 1 . . . 2 . . 3 . . . .4 . . . lights spaced from middle center to right, including her face as a 'light source'.

Maybe this was not so successful, or maybe it just looked 'interesting' but not so 'artistic' and casual raters just passed it by. I think it has greater artistry than some; I think at least one rater agrees; and his is an opinion I respect also (as I have written previously, though he does not explain himself often or with many words, being, I think, highly intuitive).

If you disregard the 'light' of her face as a light source, then that part of the photo fails, though it still is a play of 'light and shadow', but this time without the play on proportions.

I don't know if Ruud Albers can put that all into words, but I feel he did 'get' it.

Do you, or does it still rankle? Sometimes the 'things in a row' do not have to be of the 'same thing' if they occupy the proper place in the series . . . . here a reflective woman's face in place of a Bannister light. (see the movie Educating Rita, if you feel it doesn't quite 'fit in' for an explanation of the 'how' and 'why' such a thing might have significance.

;~))

John (Crosley)

Also, note please, that none of these 'light sources, is seen in its completeness, but instead is seen 'halfway'.

The rectangular light fixtures, left, are seen from an angle, so we see only a portion of their fullness and their light.

The same for the woman; she is 'half lighted' - her right, as we look at her.

The final light source, right, is cut off by the frame's edge; if not, we would see it as a full rectangle. (this is not a cropped photo).

In many ways this photo (to my way of viewing) is symmetrical, but in unexpected ways, making it far more complex than may meet the 'untrained' eye', but the I may have far more complexity in me than my photo is worth ????

So much for this photo.

Next photo . . . . (as we used to say with cases that consumed our lives when I practiced law, when the case was over . . . 'Next case . . . !)

john

John (Crosley)