'Downstairs to the Midnight Supermarket'

Of course this supermarket is open all day, but when a person 'Jones'

for some food, (or if in Ukraine,some alcohol, it's worth a trip down the

stairs past these graphic bottles of wine *alcohol* to pay dirt -

handicapped need not apply, no matter what time of day and the trip is

well traveled, especially at might and greatly on warmer weekend nights

when the beer blows upstairs. (contrary to the laws of gravity, but in

synch with the laws of commerce?) Your ratings and critiques are

invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly, very critically or with to

make a remark, please submit a helpful and constructive comment;

please share your superior photographic knowledge to help improve my

photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

(To Jones, is addict or *narcoman* slang for needing a 'fix' - here a 'fix'

of cookies, cake, potatoes or commonly at night a beer or vodka, at a

wee hour (marijuana is not a common drug in Ukraine -- beer is

extremely common, vodka too,but less so among youths - more among

adults.) jc ;~))

The young men (boys often) standing outside this supermarket that evening probably wondered what I was doing pointing my camera beside them as they leaned against this very glass window, even having to move aside for them to this particular place to get a different capture than expected.

So I moved to avoid a confrontation, and saw things differently (and more complexly) than originally, and returned with this for moving down the window a little.

I am pleased, and long have learned to be rewarded for not having my ideas completely fixed (e.g., not having to have them move from their spot so I can have MY original shot which they were blocking as they drank their beer outside. I just moved and saw MORE).

Thanks for the nice comment.

John (Crosley)

As I was to take it, the photo was to have the bottles centered, the rail in the center and someone in the center of the rail, their body arising.

Instead I moved to one side for some beer-drinking youths and saw if differently.

I shot a number of shots, thinking that someone 'dead center' beneath the wine bottles would be best, arising, but as I reviewed the shots, the person disappearing absolutely and most clearly was the best shot.

That's what I posted. Color also was very strong, but somewhat less graphic, and harder to 'fill out' with color in the descending patron.

So I desaturated for this capture (others might well lend themselves to color).

I am pleased you like the graphic complexity of this/as do I.

John (Crosley)

This is entirely a graphic photo . . . one which I was almost surprised myself to take, yet I am ready any time to take almost any type of photo.

Intriguingly, with so many lines, especially intersecting diagonal lines, this photo has an abundance of triangles. I regard triangles as particularly dynamic figures, particularly opposed to the four-point square or parallelogram, etc.

When taking street photos one night on the street in Kyiv, I went also to this supermarket and outside (while carrying in a plastic sack, a frozen pizza bought cheaply inside), I wandered a little, as I almost always do, and just looked around.

I figured that the youths gathered would present an opportunity to take a good street photo/youths and drinking often yields interesting things including great expressions and gestures . . . . that often extend to the 'outrageous' so I was truly 'on the lookout', and such people often are happy to share their joyous expressions with a sympathetic photographer.

Instead, the young crowd, while drinking, was a little cold and more glum, and more exclusive, but that pointed me immediately to the photo of the diminishing wine bottles in the window, then the staircase going downstairs, and I figured 'I'll make a photo from straight on of a person descending the stairs with the person 'dead center'".

I tried that, but the person's top showed only, their bottom being cut off by the window frame, as I was away some distance, and as I moved in, drinking youths blocked the window.

The rest is explained above, as I moved to an angle.

This last 'shot', taken almost as an afterthought showing the man descending after turning the stair corner, really 'makes' this series for me and was the obvious choice for the best of the series of 'test photos'.

After shooting, I was a little disapppointed. I planned to return to 'do better'.

I needn't worry now, having seen this. (I like it, obviously.)

John (Crosley)

The word from the Request for critique is 'Joneses' not Jones.

As in 'when a person 'Joneses' for a x x x . . . . '

Apologies for the spelling error.

John (Crosley)

Yes, alcohol advertising is big in Ukraine, but here it is just 'grist for the mill'. I use just about everything I see as elements for my photography.

Even if I write about alcohol in my commentary, the point is the photo and its geometry, for that is the point of exhibiting my photos here.

The commentary is just something 'added' for those who might have interest, not the 'point' of my photos here at all.

It is my own 'social commentary' to make my photos have 'social relevance' though they are intended to stand on their own.

I just realize that many photographers on a service such as this who are new to taking photographs may wonder 'how does such a photograph come into being' and then attempt to answer that question.

For, after all, this is not a photo of a landscape, with a farm and mountains in the distance, which are obvious to all.

'Seeing' a photo like tihs or even recognizing it takes a little more 'insight' or recognition abilities than seeing a nude or a landscape (though photographing nudes is very very hard - much harder than many realize.

Best to you Svetlana,

John (Crosley)

Thank you.

Some days I go a long while taking nothing but cliches, then one minute, expecting to continue taking cliches, I suddenly am forced to a new situation where I can 'see' something and voila (French for 'there it is')

That's all.

Even so, I thought I had not got it right, as I was concentrating on centering descending or ascending figures with the centerline extension of the wine bottle arrangement . . . but that was all wrong.

It was the guy going around the corner of the stairs which actually showed the turn of the stairs, which added that little bit of depth to the photo giving it added dimensionality, and in in a photo frame corner to boot, drawing the viewer's eye around the photo, engaging the viewer (or so I hope).

In my view, that causes the viewers' eyes to linger a bit longer, and except for the very worst photos, a lingering eye, generally is indicative of pretty good or at least engaging photography.

And that's the purpose of showing our 'best' photos -- to engage the viewers -- to 'draw the viewers in.

I think you are telling me that this one accomplished its purpose however, naively my method in adding the finishing touch (the descending patron).

I value highly your endorsement.

Thanks again.

john

John (Crosley)