Grazny? In the Eyes of the Beholder.

Neat and clean as I view it from a photographer's perspective, or a 'little

dirty' as viewed from one pedestrian's point of view -- that is a dichotomy

presented by one viewer of this photo. Your viewpoint is important to

me for this somewhat different photo, and I would appreciate it if you

would share it. Your ratings and critiques are invited and most

welcome. If you rate harshly or very critically or wish to make a remark

or express a point of view (as requested) please submit a helpful and

constructive comment; please share your photographic/art knowledge to

help improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

'Grazny' here spelled phonetically (the only way since it is a Russian word and spelled in the Cyrillic alphabetic, which is not reproduced here or easily read by most Photo.net members), basically stands for 'dirt' or 'dirty'.

 

The issue between the commenter and myself was whether this photo depicted 'dirt' or a 'dirty' scene or not.

 

Photographically, I insisted it was quite 'clean' as it photographs full of crisp tones, from bright light tones, lots of intermediate grays through very dark blacks -- basically the entire range of tones, and lots of them.

 

Moreover, the resulting photo is interesting and intriguing enough I put my name to it and posted it.

 

The other person was more interested in the 'way' as a pedestrian way, and suggested it was 'not clean' which it decidedly was not. The 'street'/way was not 'clean' and not the pavement in need of care like many of the city's streets - it was really a comparison between Kiev, which is basically a pretty 'clean' city in most parts (and relatively well-paved streets) and Dnepropetrovsk, which also in many ways is a well-run city, but with poorer people, less wealth, smaller population (one-half the size at about 1.2 million, regionally isolated, versus Kiev's being central, antedating Moscow as a 'world' hub, and Kiev's present-day status as a major 'world' or at least European city, versus Dnepropetrovsk's having spent decades as a city 'closed to westerners' because it was a missiles and space manufacturing center . . . . and therefore inaccessible . . . and also physically inaccessible too, (in a sort of microscopic a way analogous to Perth, Australia; it is geographically quite isolated from major population centers of Ukraine -- even though the major Dnepr River runs through it and that river connects the Black Sea in the South to Kiev in the North.)

 

Except for nearby Zaporozhye, which has a dam, electricity and a new car manufacturing plant and Dneprodzerzhinsk (yes, it's truly spelled that way) where mining and manufacturing things such as LEAD and lead products are leading products), the trip to Dnepropetrovsk is generally quite a side trip through the huge country of Ukraine (Europe's largest) --- 8-9 hours by bus from Kyiv and equally distant from the Black Sea Port of Odessa, though the two major cities are connected by a superhighway that allows one to drive between the two in about five hours (Kiev and Odessa).

 

Narrow, two-lane roads often are the links from Kiev (capital) to Dnepropetrovsk (there are some stretches of super highway). Buses go long stretches, no toilets on board, and sometimes stop for 'toilet breaks' are aside broad fields sometimes (if lucky) where there may be an old abandoned outhouse made of stone or concrete, -- open pit of course - no paper ever and in - 40 Cold, the last place in the world anyone wants to go to the toilet.

 

Three fast trains a day connect the cities of Kiev and Dnepropetrovsk - about 5-1/2 hours at high speed. Trains are comfortable and first class by Ukraine standards -- second class by European standards (which are world's highest).

 

Going to Dnepropetrovsk, in many ways is like going to another world from Kyiv, though it is a major city in the same country and one of the largest.

 

And though it also has many universities and institutes of higher education and a quite friendly populace (and incidentally quite an extraordinary amount of large wealth despite the average citizen's not making a very large income at all. . . . . . it's a center in the heart of agriculture and mining country . . . . and maybe the only a place for wealthier citizens (and foreigners) to buy designer clothes for several hundred miles around . . . . from most every major designer in the world (even if 99% of the population never would buy anything but knockoffs at the local bazaar).

 

Brezhnev started his political career at Dnepropetrovsk, although he often tried to pretend he was not Ukrainian by making jokes about Ukrainians being 'thick-headed' or 'slow', but he promised the local populace of this large city a Metro (subway), and he delivered.

 

It has a Metro (subway) which to this day is unfinished and I am told by residents still has just six stops.

 

Promises were meant to be kept . . . . .but I gather Brezhnev didn't promise how many stops his promised Dnepropetrovsk Metro would have. By contrast, Kiev's Metro, through a little older, is WORLD CLASS, a nuts and bolts exact copy of most of the world famous Moscow Metro, with trains every 3-5 minutes on almost all lines during open hours and relied on by almost the whole city's populace for transport.

 

Even some some platforms appear to be copies of some Moscow platforms and trains are absolutely identical, though nearly all coaches have three overhead bi-directional TV screens with news, stop announcements and quite, often featuring pouty-mouth, stick-thin fashion models touring catwalks showing latest fashions on runways worldwide.

 

(Ukrainians love - even revel, in viewing attractive women as does much of neighboring Russia, and it also exports a lot of beautiful women both as models and as brides.)

 

Dnepropetrovsk, despite having a Metro (subway) with its six stops has a very functional (but rudimentary) tramway system, and lots and lots of jitney buses (marshrutka) which are exceedingly well run, composed mostly of van-like affairs which offer personal service along fixed routes for a very low price, as well as larger bus-like apparatuses (Bagdan) which are just a little cheaper, carry more people and more rare.

 

Taxis are not used by many, but are plentiful.

 

Brezhnev, who cut his political teeth in Dnepropetrovsk, and who promised and delivered his budget Metro is widely regarded in much of neighboring Russia as the man who kept Russia's (and the Soviet Union's refrigerators full, no matter how officially 'poor' the populace was, and his loss of leadership helped presage the fall of the Soviet Union and thus of Communism almost worldwide.

 

John (Crosley)

I like the composition a lot. Its balanced, and both the pathway and the woman and in the foreground work together to lead your eyes. The woman turning her face away also makes it very interesting for me - maybe keeps with the sense of dirt and grime.

This is NOT a photo for everyone.

 

Definitely it is not the photo people expect to see when they open my folders or portfolio, even though older members may know my cross-genre tendencies well enough to expect the unexpected.

 

This might be found more in fashion, avant-garde, or 'fine art' work than in my very classical 'street work' but then I shoot 'news to nudes' as well as scenics, and everything else in between.

 

I like your analysis; it comports with my own. It definitely is not a 'Crosley street shot' that viewers expect to see when they open my portfolio or any folder, which may confound some regulars -- older regulars are used to being 'challenged.

 

Fact is I am a cross-genre shooter -- if I have an opportunity and the equipment, and 'see' something,I'll just take it. It's my entire photo philosophy summarized in one photo (when compared with the rest of my shooting.).

 

I like it specifically for the compositional elements you note, as well as for the tones -- which I find exceptional. I don't usually shoot for 'optimal image quality' as opposed to 'getting the moment' however I can,, but here I had the luxury (and the light) to go for both -- sometimes a rarity in my life because I often shoot under deep cloud cover (in daytime) at dusk, and indoors often at the dead of night I(or even in Metro tunnels, and underground complexes, which I find particularly interesting and satisfying . . . . as the product is unique not only on Photo.net but mostly for the world, and it's highly interesting with a unique subset of behaviors and individuals depicted. (as one Kyiv critic put it: 'Anyone well placed with a camera phone could have taken the same photos.

 

But I notice no one has (or even attempted so) since such a comment was posted a year or so ago. It's easy to say, and much harder to do. (This is Dnepropetrovsk 9 or so hours by autobus southeast, a well-run city but not in a league with Kyiv in the world class competition.

 

Thanks for a helpful comment; please be sure to return sometime soon; intelligent commenters are always welcome.

 

John (Crosley

How about Wyeth?

 

Christina? (in field).

 

John (Crosley)

Here's a link to google.com images. Cut and paste in your web browser if it doesn't embed if you are not familiar with painter Andrew Wyeth's work or especially his famous 'Christina'.

 

http://images.google.com.ua/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GPCK_enUA367UA367&q=andrew+wyeth+christina.

 

Remember, I said 'influence' I didn't say 'copy' by any means.

 

John (Crosley)