LOVE IS . . . . (II)

I was taking this man's photo, at 1/5 second, handheld indoors at a 'big

box store', after eating my hot dog, when his wife bent over for a touch

of what I felt was an extreme expression of love. | snapped away lots of

photos, and only one came through clearly but oh so clearly and in my

mind, what a photo! 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 comment; please share your

photographic knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks!

Enjoy! John

Very successful, especially considering the 1/5 sec exposure!

PDE

A really beautiful shot, John!

I agree, you captured a very special moment.  Becky

Sometimes, you  feel like you've come close to touching God, or something nearly like it, and the closest for me is to see an expression of pure love that has endured.

When I saw this my heart melted, and my task, by taking a large number of blurry photos, was to capture this scene, and out of maybe 20, got one that  was razor sharp.

My heart sank as I reviewed all the prior photos, before I came across this one.  Then I said to myself 'wow' 'Got it!' and it was among the very best.

I wouldn't have posted a blurry one of this couple.  (Her spotty skin is due to coloration, not due to any manipulation as this is ISO 200, not manipulated.

Thanks, Bob.

john

John (Crosley)

Sometimes, we photographers are lucky to witness extraordinary things.  When I took his portrait and she rested on his shoulder afterwards, I did just that.  I began taking (blurry) photos after that, and got one shrap one (this one).  Thank God!

Thanks for the complimen t.  Perhaps we should thank them for sharing.

john

John (Crosley)

I am always impressed when I can elicit a highly complimentary comment from you; your discernment is my goal.

Thank you so much, Ruud.

john

John (Crosley)

Thanks so much for the compliment.  Let's thank them for sharing, hunh?

john

John (Crosley)

Brilliant capture with so much emotion it really caught my eye! Santa looks like he's a lucky man. Best regards!

So many ideas in a short (length) comment.

This is indeed a rarely seen moment; caught in a very public place.

There is a secret of mine which I have shared before, but which bears re-iteration.

First take a bunch of photos.

After taking a bunch, as I did of the guy, whom you call 'Santa' inexplicably' and fortuitously (I'll discuss that later), people tend to revert to themselves.

People often behave differently when they know their photo will be taken, so the 'magic' part of the portrait, or 'street portrait' is to make a capture which is 'real'. 

Some people when you tire them out or take many photos cease being receptive to being photographed.  Churchill, when captured by world famous portraitist Karsh or Ottawa, had just returned from a hard meeting, glowering, and was captured immediately by Karsh, but liked a warmer portrait taken soon afterward.

Karsh's portrait became THE ICONIC portrait of Churchill and literally defined the man by his iconic photo.

If you tire out a person who gets angry easily or is tired, that anger or tiredness soon will show through.

Contrariwise, if you take a bunch of photos of a guy full of love, that love will continue to flow . . . . as with this guy . . . . he relished being photographed.

And he had full support of his wife, who with a granddaughter I had photographed (and well) earlier.

So, as my photographs of him (sitting on a bench near me, almost directly in front of me with my very wide angle lens) was drawing to an end, she snuggled up to him while she stood, and he sat there.

Then there was a very prolonged moment of warmth . . . . all which I captured on lots of blurry photos, but one of them at the end was sharp despite my 1/5 second shutter speed and my own movement, as they also were moving.  But I seldom ask people to 'sit still' for that detracts from the magic and it was my own inadvertence that my camera as set at ISO 200, and it should have been ISO 1000 or above, I think.

But in the ONE SHARP PHOTO there's NO NOISE AT ALL, and tons of data, though his beard is blown.

And this guy, 'Gene' whom I did not reveal or name' actually calls himself Santa' and hires himself out, with his beard as a true bearded Santa.

I think if you hire him, you get your money's worth.

All this in a Costco on a bench in the food court.

Good photos come from the most unlikely situations and places, which is why I always carry around my best equipment despite the enormous, bone-crushing weight and the pain it causes. 

I suspect there is no other member of this service who could have elicited this photo, as it required (1) great interaction to get this impromptu pose with the trust they reposed in me to prolong it as I snapped away at fps (frames per second, varying my viewpoint somewhat most times), and (2) to get the quality that comes from having used top quality equipment in a most unlikely place where most photographers would feel it was 'unnatural' to be trekking their huge gear . . . . and likely would have had a 'backup' camera, or a tiny Leica which would have not commanded the 'authority' that a large DSLR commands, and that 'authority is never to be underestimated when dealing with strangers who are not knowledgeable about photography and are impressed by gadgets and who assume 'big equipment = professionalism.

For all anyone knows, I could be a rich doctor with fancy cameras, as I know a few who have great cameras and can't take a photo but get great respect when they take out their cameras and expensive lenses.  People think they're straight from National Geographic.

I hope I can 'walk the walk' now.

Thanks William.

And, a pro pos your remark  . . . . as we parted, I told Santa, he was indeed a lucky man, and she that indeed she was lucky too.

And I envied them both . . . but not too much,  because I know and experience that feeling regularly.

john

John (Crosley)

John, in the previous shot of yours that I commented on, the writing ("Love Is") was on the wall and the inclusion of a blurred human left me with a 'fleeting' impression.

In this instance, the love is written in the faces of your subjects and it makes me go in an opposite direction and consider that "Love is Eternal".

I normally don't take much notice of portraiture, let alone post comments on them. But I couldn't go past this one... 

What is amazing about your wonderful comment is that both photos (portraiture from the 'street', both of them) is that each was entirely impromptu, and yet somehow they fit a theme, and each was taken within a month of each other yet almost 10,000 miles apart.  It doesn't matter however on which continent which was taken however, as love doesn't know international boundaries, I think.

I am very pleased to read your comment, as you can imagine.  Thank you so much.

john

John (Crosley)

Thank you so much.

I've missed you.

Enjoying the heat wave?

john

John (Crosley)

Hi,

Nice portrait I must say. I like the expression on their faces.  Regards, Mladen

This turns out to have been one of my most noteworthy and memorable (and warm and fuzzy) portraits in some substantial time.

Good reward for seeing an early photo mentor who once ran the photo department at Costco and now is a supervisor, then eating a hot dog and Coke at $1.50 (plus tax).

You never know if you're me when you're going to encounter the winning combination that leads to a memorable photo, so all the time I'm schmoozing with people and when someone remarks on the camera (usually two) that I'm carrying, I try to think of a good reason to photograph them to show THEM how the darn things work in hopes of making an excellent photograph of them because they already are interested and have communicated that to me.

Large cameras, publicly carried bring with them a ready-made supply of potential portrait subjects, as here.

Too bad for those guys carrying those itty-bitty Leicas - they'll never get a photo like this, because they'll never get approached by this man or his wife for starters.  (I have long been also a Leica shooter, though not much of one).

Thanks for the comment.

john

John (Crosley)