'Walking It Off'

Had a little too much? Your knees buckling? Friends or coworkers

came over to help you get to a safe place for rest and to protect you?

But first you have to take that long walk back home or to your hotel?

Have a look at this photo, taken recently in Kyiv, Ukraine and see if

those suggestions don't seem to fit the scene depicted on a major

public street in the center of Kyiv, Ukraine's capital. Your ratings and

critiques are invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly or very

critically, please submit a helpful and constructive comment; please

share your photographic knowledge to help improve my photography.

Thanks! Enjoy! john

Outstanding street capture of great light, wishing you all of the best.

I very much like this photo, but it does not have 'great photo' written on it, though it may very much endure, possibly well beyond my lifetime, as it has a timeless, if very subtle quality.

It's caught a universal moment, maybe over the heads presently of average PN raters, but let's see.

At first I thought 'unusable' because of the man's fist, then I realized the fist made the photo.  I can be myopic that way.

Thanks for the enjoyable comment to wake up to.

john

John (Crosley)

Good photo, maybe not overly original, but a good one.

Did he agitate the fist at you? A serious or a factious threat?

One thing: veeery wide-angle.

Luca

My goal, belatedly recognized, is mostly within an 'artful manner' to capture moments of LIFE.

This is one such; a revealing moment.

Is it 'original'?  Maye not, at least in the sense that there are three guys walking down a street, but look at the composition.  I didn't crop tightly, but left in the in the environment.

Look at the center guy's knees, seen to be buckling or wobbly at least.  Instead of using his arms to swing in balance, he has his left hand in his pocket, and his partners have his elbows firmly in their grasp, but he clearly is not under arrest.

He appears to be inebriated, though I cannot prove it; and so it appears to a classic capture - one that may endure for well beyond my lifetime, despite its subtlety.

And it is subtle; there is little  reason in thumbnail to click on it other than seeing my name or possibly just wondering why a photo such as this might be posted until one actually examines the fine details.

This photo survives in its fine detail, I think.  Do you agree?

As well as its composition.

Yes it's a very wide angle -- 12-24 mm f 4 as these men walked by, one of three or four captures and this is the one that didn't cut any part of them off and showed the buckling knees the best. 

The agitated fist was directed at my photography, and at first I thought it doomed the photo; instead it MAKES it, in my opinion and proves my thesis about the center man's vulnerability.

Otherwise, why a fist to a photographer passing by with a woman, anyway?  I think the fist is at their friends being captured in his sorry state, and of course, there is no possibility of real action, since the owner of the threatening arm is otherwise tied up.

Thanks Luca.  I always enjoy your commentary.

john

John (Crosley)

If you look at this for only a second or two, you may not appreciate it.

This photo has a few little subtleties that 'make it' in my opinion:

1.  The buckling of insecure knees.

2.  The raised fist, showing (if any other proof is needed) that the man, center, truly is incapacitated and 'being helped along'.

3.  The center man's left hand in pocket instead of being used to swing in rhythm with his stride, a sign his balance is shot or he is not going voluntarily or is otherwise incapable.

4.  The somewhat bewildered or unaware look on the center man's face, despite his business dress, his tie and his general good  grooming.

5.  The strong fist of the leftmost man, clenched, probably to give his left arm power and to lock his shoulder in place to support the center man.

6.  The index finger protroding on the righmost man (as we face him).  In the US 'the finger' is the centermost finger,but in Europe it is the index finger protruding.

He is not only giving me his fist, but judging from his more European business dress, he is European and (almost missed this) he is 'giving me the finger'.

Touchy, touchy, touchy.

And very hostile.

These guys must have been very embarrassed by their companion's state.

john

John (Crosley)