'Trying To Bring the Change of Seasons Into Focus'

This man, a Spanish guitar and mandolin player, apparently at one time

for a Ukraine Philharmonic, now on a pension, enjoys the first real

spring-like day, and tries hard to focus on a record hard winter past, as

the winters that will pass in the future seem likely fast to diminish in

number. Your ratings and critiques are invited and most welcome. If

you rate harshly, very critically or wish to make a remark, please submit

a helpful and constructive coment; please share your photographic

knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

What a great one-word endorsement:  'fantastic'.

Thanks so much.

Where are the viewers?  This is a first for me; just a few viewers, and two raters, so far.

Nice rates so far though . . . and I love the photo.  Glad you did also.

john

John (Crosley)

It's somehow a cool image. Undoubtedly an interesting person to put on an image, and you did it with the a special ability. The guy reminded me immediately of the character from a David Lynch film called The Straight Story. Regards.

I figured he'd be an interesting subject when I engaged him in conversation then started photographing him, but harsh mid-day lighting then his inability to do more than stare straight ahead or 'make faces' hindered me.

So, when he took off his glasses, then put then back on, that was my only chance.

I'll have to take a look at the David Lynch film you write of.

Thanks for the positive remark.

john

John (Crosley)

There is more than a passing resemblance between this guy and Richard Farnsworth who won a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of an old guy out on his tractor to make amends with his brother from 1999, a David Lynch film, with Sissy Spacek.

I previously had not known of this film (which shows you how narrow my horizons sometimes can be . . . . I'll be sure to watch it.)

Thanks for the reference. . . . now you know for sure this was not influenced by that film.

john

John (Crosley)

Sometimes I see this man walking slowly along Kreshchatik.
I call him a "magician" in my mind - he looks like a good magician in the fairy tale!

I will bet (wager) that next time you see him, you will remember this photo, and the fact that of all the many, many photographers in Kyiv, both amateur and professional (and there are many, many), that I got this wonderful capture of this man.

And also that he claims to play the Spanish (6-string) guitar and the Mandolin, in what to my ploho (bad) Russian appears once to have been the local philharmonic.

Sometimes plodding old men (me included) can yield big surprises.

I remember in Dnepropetrovsk one time, meeting a man, older and not rich, who once was the private driver for Libya's Muammar Ghadaffi during Soviet times, when Ghadaffi was more a terrorist, more against the USA (he has renounced terrorism after admittting a role in blowing up the Pan Am plane and Libya and he now have been released from international sanctions).

It is amazing what tales sometimes older people have; and especially those who once had privilege are much more likely not to have drunk themselves to death or worked themselves to death at an early age, so the ranks of the formerly privileged are over-represented in Ukraine's (and Russia's) older male population(s).

Women seem to survive much longer no matter what, ccmpared to the WHO average date of death said to have been age 55-59 for a Russian or Ukainian male. 

I'm a certain amount older than that, yet I spent the evening with people in their teens and early '20s, former strangers all, and kept getting told 'you're way cool', or 'you're wonderful' but myself feeling I hardly deserved it other than I had survived and had not had my spirit crushed . . . . or maybe because unlike their parents I could relate to these people one to one, talk their language and 'get along' as though I were from their generation (not of their generation) but knew anyway its secrets and its angsts.

(in a way, much as the author of 'Catcher in the Rye' was able to speak through his character 'Holden Caufield' of youthful angst, though in fact the author was an incredibly sophisticated and educated man as well as a very talented writer on many more levels than his most famous book --'Catcher in the Rye'.  In fact, J.D. Salinger was revered by generations to his recent death (in self-sought obscurity) because he was able to speak through the minds of another generation - something I never forgot when I read 'Catcher' the first time -- I vowed then never to forget how to think as I was when I was that age, and hope sincerely I have not.  Tonight's experiences would suggest I have succeeded.

Salinger never forgot the 'secrets and angsts' of youths.

And I do too, I hope.

I guess that's the answer.

I do.

I never forgot.

I hope I never do.

It's the secret to being 'cool' when you're 'stary' (old).

;~))

john

(Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment, Svetlana, I value them highly, for as a Kievite -- is that a word? -- with substantial photo talent you are in a better position than most to judge what it is I see and photograph than most who never have seen (or even before heard of) the country of Ukraine, or think it's a South Sea Island in the Pacific of maybe off the coast of Africa, somewhere near Seychelles (as some have suggested) or worse, that is it is Russia, as a friend of mine insists continually (and mistakenly).

John (Crosley)

The original photo has been replaced after rework because of overall lack of 'sparkle'.

There is  more to be done with the background when the original becomes available, but 'levels' has been applied and some judicious burning and dodging to the man's face to 'help' this photo a little, and it has become a better photo for all that.  I have long been bothered by the quality of this photo, still remain bothered by the quality of the background, and I plan to 'select' and apply levels to it also, as I think it still competes with the subject, the old man, by appearing too dingy and not using enough range. 

If it becames too 'busy' then, it may be saved by its being 'out of focus slightly, so our eyes still focus on the old man and his interesting glasses.

I'll do work on it in the future when I find the original in my vast hundreds of thousands of photos, then compare, and if I can imrove it, I will.

It may take a while for the improved version now to work its way through at least three servers that Photo.net uses which acquire changes at different rates and thus serve them the same way.

john

John (Crosley)