The Flu: Suddenly the Opposite Sex Doesn't Seem So Important

Priorities sometimes shift. Here, in a country where male/female

relationships between young people often are paramount, this man does

not even notice the blur of an attractive passive woman, as he rests with

his back to a pillar, anti-influenza mask on his face. (The Country's

Leader declared a three-week school and campaign moratorium and

started talking about 'quarantine' after just one confirmed death. Your

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

or very critically or just wish to make a statement, please submit a

helpful and constructive comment and/or critique. Please share your

photographic knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks!

Enjoy! John

This indoor, nighttime capture at moderate to higher ISO was taken with a hand held telephoto lens, a 70~200 f 2.8 Nikkor,stopped down slightly for some depth of field, but not at full extension.

 

John (Crosley)

I like the composition ,well captured . warm regards .

So many of your images have something significant to say and this no exception. Signs of the times. Good composition and well done. Take care.

 

Regards,

Holger

Thank you for the compliments in your analysis.

 

This actually was taken almost the night after the female co-leader of Ukraine ordered the schools shut for three weeks, and then she talked (at length as always) about the possibility of quarantine possibly nationwide (Ukraine) even though of 13 deaths, only one was confirmed from the H/A1N1 virus.

 

It was, I guess, prophylactic. U.S. schools in general are not closing because they recognize it merely delays the inevitable and throws budgets into craziness anyway.

 

Ukraine has fewer health resources; almost immediately in talking with a pharmacy worker, I found there was a run on masks, aspirin (spelled lower case in America, but upper case in Germany where it's still a Bayer trademark), cough syrup, etc. Last I heard, such things were unavailable, mostly.

 

The model beautiful leader (she was a model/actress in earlier times and still is very, very beautiful (and a leader of the Orange Revolution which toppled the last government) talked of official inspections for pharmacies and health supply stores to guard against what Americans call 'price gouging' that seemed probably something that would be looked at as 'good business' by most Ukrainian businessmen - supply and demand, and that sort of thing, you know (at least in the absence of enforceable government regulation).

 

Even Obama's children go to a fancy private Washington D.C. school; rank has its privileges. I'm sure the leadership is not going to (in this campaign season) volunteer to 'get the flu' to share the grief with fellow citizens.

 

If it were I, for instance, and I were campaigning to be president of a country and flu were a danger in a close enough election, I'd make da*n sure I had a flu shot or nasal mist brought in for me and my staff . . . . but then that's just me, and I have absolutely NO information about such things at all, or the workings of the government in Ukraine, as I'm not a political critic or even much of a political watcher.

 

(But I just wonder if the USA which backs democratization and Westernization for Ukraine hasn't maybe helped by 'providing' a few flu shots to strategically placed individuals . . . . because it's in the USA's best interest that the leaders 'not get the flu' with an election coming up within a month and a half . . . . )

 

That's not anything more than a guess, but if I were a US diplomatic, I'd probably have made sure such 'arrangements' were made. (After all they provide Viagra to nearly impotent Afghan leaders with multiple wives to 'gain their loyalty' so why not a few flu shots or nasal mist vaccines for those the US favors?

 

Personally, I do not take sides in the US/Russian struggle for Ukraine.

 

I take photos and personal photos that are of many things, including 'individuals' but not generally 'world historical' individuals, (Richard Nixon in my B&W folder is an exception, as he was touching me, when I took that photo).

 

The Ukraine health system, once part of the vaunted Soviet health care system, has stagnated or worse along with Russia since the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991, almost of its own top-heavy weight. (or maybe I got it wrong, but it did fall, and fall hard, devastating hundreds of millions who were not prepared personally or economically for 'privatization' and a the well-prepared and foxy (and some say 'ruthless') few who became billionaires.

 

I don't have personal knowledge of such things; my knowledge mostly came from Russian publications during the late '90s and early '2000s, when I lived there and Russia was more 'wild west' than today.

 

People who may criticize Putin (and Medvedev) may not know the extent to which the security of ordinary Russians was endangered; from hooligans/Mafia knocking in flat doors with axes (it was attempted twice at my last wife's family's flat) to murders (friends saw such things and of course were too afraid to call militia -- police, for fear of reprisal - and police they feared were in cahoots with the criminal elements -- to the hijacking of entire industries..

 

Even walking down a Russian street, then attempting to cross the street was a challenge.

 

Westerners will have a hard time imagining what every Russian then knew.

 

If you walked across a street in the late '90s, cars would aim at you and try to 'hit you' or 'come as close as they could' to chase you across the street onto the curb, less so in Moscow or St. Petersburg than in the regions . . . . where such behavior was quite consistent (as I observed personally).

 

Even private cars (hired as taxis since there were no organized taxi companies then) often (outside of Moscow) tried to chase people crossing streets, and come close to them, even while carrying passengers - not all, but some.

 

It is my understanding that behavior has pretty much ceased, and while Yeltsin (prior government leader in Russia) did little to stop that, the present leadership probably has had a great say.

 

If I were a Russian I would have a view that I would be thankful to the first leader that let me cross the street more safely, did not allow murders from Russian Mafia in front of my flat, and otherwise made it more safe to get around.

 

It has been said 'all politics' is local . . . . .and just the safety of walking across the street can be the source of profound gratitude and thankfulness . . . . no matter who provides that safety.

 

(I wonder if Obama knows that or his advisers can tell him that so graphically - the fear you see as your 'taxi' driver is three blocks away when a mother hears your car engine and the sound of your tires (taxi) on the road, and starts to break into a sweat and sprints across the street, 'scooting' her children faster than any bird ever did its little ones when a hawk flew over -- all a block or more ahead of your hired car.

 

I'm a people watcher, and I watch what's around me. When I saw such behavior, I was not taking photos actively and did not to the mid 2000s.

 

I have found, for instance, that after the economic crisis of last year, the young women who last year were smoking "Virginia Slims' everywhere in Ukraine no longer are.

 

Why, I asked a big tobacco executive (nameless and his company nameless) today, and he said (1) the crisis and (2) Ukraine apparently has significantly raised tobacco taxes which raised the price of tobacco. A combination of higher prices and lower wages has cut tobacco consumption measurably, it appears.

 

In any case, big tobacco is focusing on China, where EVERYBODY smokes; a carton of cigarettes is often given with a calling card, but (as the executive told me, and I think reliably) cigarettes in China cost as much per pack as in the European Union.

 

In any case, many fewer people (women especially) are smoking in Ukraine now.

 

Which is good for me; I'm allergic to tobacco; even 'second-hand smoke' which clings to people's clothes after they've gone 'out for a smoke'.

 

It just makes my nose stuff up horribly and gives me a severe headache.

 

So, if you didn't notice (and I'm sure you didn't) this woman (this year) is not holding or smoking a cigarette (no red or yellow lighted tip in a blur with her upper body or arms).

 

Same also with the guy, which also is a change.

 

Seems that 'higher prices' in a nation that is 'economically stressed' (it does not show much in the street) have an influence on tobacco consumption . . . .

 

Who woulda thunk?

 

I know this started out as a photo about the flu, but it's really about men and women, relationships between the sexes,, 'life in Ukraine' and even about 'life in general with Ukrainians being a metaphor for their brethren worldwide, which is how it morphed into this discussion of the economy (and tobacco consumption, safety in Russia, health care, etc.)

 

I did sit on this photo for a week or almost two before finally posting it.

 

A stroll today reveals that most shop people wear masks; but most pedestrians don't, with some significant exceptions, and it appears fewer people are on the street, but still many are whereas streets were almost deserted after the school closing announcement.

 

Ukraine is a country of limited housing and lack of private transportation (but lots of good public transportation in Kyiv - world class in fact -- including a copy of the famous Moscow Metro) so that it's easy for girls and boys to meet, such as at the very place depicted, beneath the famous 'Independence Square' (park and meeting place' also home to a modern shopping center (underneath the park).

 

Ukrainians are not stupid; summers get very hot and muggy, like in the upper Midwest and winters get plenty cold, especially in the North, so they do a lot of shopping underground, like at the shopping center, entrance just out of sight to the left.

 

There you have it, more than you ever wanted to know about Ukraine (Russia) summed up in terms of one photo (and my commentary based loosely on it).

 

Americans tend to be very myopic about their own culture and know nothing about others', and Ukrainians tend to want to emulate American culture or at least in a survey the vast majority of Ukrainians equated themselves as 'middle class' even though in reality their salaries and buying power in the vast majority come nowhere near 'middle class'

 

Ukraine is a vast, fertile country, and once it gets going (with politic straightened out . . . . and laws enforced reliably and stably), there are great reasons to imagine this as a major economic power - even though Ukrainians long had taken on the mantle of being 'second class' - something fostered by the Russians of the Soviet Union, when Ukraine was a Soviet Republic.

 

(Brezhnev was a Ukrainian . . . . and often denied it, I am told . . . or made jokes of which Ukrainians were the butt, or again, so I have been told.)

 

I never met the man.

 

I did know one of his subordinates and (lesser) leaders, however -- we used to eat cheeseburgers to

Thank you for the kind note about this (and my other) photo(s).

 

I try first and foremost to be 'interesting'.

 

Who wants to look at a portfolio composed of nearly the same photo taken sixteen ways from Sunday.

 

Although now I have long accepted that many of my photos have enough elements in common to make them identifiable to me, their range and breadth is worldwide, transgenerational and representative of numerous cultures -- and shows in many instances commonality among the people of the world.

 

If also shows red and yellow apples, the 'hoodoos' of Bryce Canyon, the mist floating over Oregon's Heceta Head(lands) from the Pacific Below and lots and lots of other things (including a few nudes, but very few).

 

I try at once to be 'interesting' and keep my photos 'pleasing' -- at least to those secure enough to understand that 'successful photos needn't always be the most 'pretty' photos -- or that 'aesthetics' often can involve just the sheer 'shock' of an unexpected image that has impact, and many other things than 'sheer beauty'.

 

Thanks, also, Holger, for letting me know you are a regular viewer.

 

I'll try to take some photos with you in mind too.

 

John (Crosley)

In the 'Request for Critique' the phrase should be 'attractive passing' woman, not 'passive' (as in passive-aggressive?).

 

John (Crosley)

The image sends an strong message, however your writings are a lesson in awareness! Thank you for sharing an original master piece! Warm regards.

It turns out the flu virus that closed the schools and had these people wearing masks was probably a political ploy by that beautiful political leader in order to unite the people behind her leadership; no evidence was ever given that meaningfully explained people died of such a flu or there was an epidemic or a pandemic.

 

Moreover, talks with a transportation figure well-placed in charge of air cargo into Ukraine tells me that corrupt and/or outdated government regulations caused FREE medical supplies donated by neighbors and well-meaning institutions had to be returned.  

 

Of course, it all makes sense if one understands there really was no epidemic, much less a pandemic.

 

Since then, that woman leader spend years in prison under her successor president the corrupt President Yanukovich who under the Maidan  Revolution was driven from power; she suffered a crippling back ailment during her imprisonment which was for allegedly driving up and/or taking kickbacks for pushing up energy prices.  Although a 'reformer' and 'populist' in name and by reputation, her political career had predated the 'Orange Revolution' which drove her (and a cohort) into national power where they feuded and drove the government into the dust, to be taken over in a lawful election by the corrupt Yanukovich.

 

But his corruption is now well documented; I was at Maidan when demonstrators fought against his militia, and then just before he fled the country fearing for his life, first to Crimea (which Russia grabbed in a phony election) then to Rostov Na Donu (Rostov On Don), Russia, where he allegedly lives the good life of the fallen but loyal neighbor dictator who pursued neighbor Russia/Putin's goals to the end -- literally to the end.  His lavish palace like personal residence has been set aside as a park in a 'memorial to corruption' in which most things in the residence are plated in gold while Yanukovich told others he lived a simple life . . . . an enormous lie.

 

But then the monied and wealthy of Ukraine do a lot of lying, but at the same time, I'm not one of them, and I don't comment on them other than this single thread.

 

I'm much more interested in documenting them, and if I were in Russsia I'd be more interested in documenting the people's behavior, dress and actions, than anything else. After all, I lived there for a while during Yeltsin's time in regional Russia and Moscow, about half time, commuting and found the Russian people more genuinely warm and inviting than the Ukrainians.

 

But parts also are much more aggressive.

 

And, well, businessmen of both countries, watch out!

 

So, I have no wishes to align myself with either country, but bide my time away taking what I hope are telling photos.  I know the stories and the history, past and present, but I am no obsessed with it and seldom if ever speak about it; it's personal knowledge I almost never share.

 

I share my photos, for the benefit of photo connoisseurs like you, and for the people of the world to see the similarities between us all.

 

But from my unique viewpoint.

 

Thanks for the multiple compliments.

 

I may publish books of my photos, but never about Eastern European/Russian politics . . . . . photography is my life.

 

Best wishes.

 

john

 

John (Crosley)