Me? Really? Me?

This young miss shows her delight and maybe fakes a little surprise to

her onlooking friend, as she cavorts in a public fountain in Kyiv,Ukraine

during a recordbreaking hot spell recently. Your ratings, critiques, and

remarks are invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly,very critically

or wish to make an observation, please submit a helpful and

constructive comment; please share your photographic knowledge to

help improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

I really like this image, John.  It has so much exuberance of joy displayed.  You have done a fine job of capturing the moment under street criteria.  Just sitting here, I am consistently drawn to her face, IMHO that means a job well done. 

-Dave

A prominent critic with a Lucie Award on a review of my entire shooting for then four and one half years, said to me, you should 'fantastic' photos, but 'you shoot way too much'.

That kind of cut to the bone, since he knew, was friends with, stayed and slept in guest bedrooms of people and even was godfather of children  of photographers who were so famous galleries would give their eye teeth just to have them exhibit with them.

But he did not have as much experience with street' as he thought he did, and I later learned.

I defended myself.

"You never know when that split second average shot will turn into a million dollar winner because of a split second expression that you never have time to '(1) see, (2 recognize, (3) process, and (4) react to in time to press the shutter button in time to capture it before it's gone away. [paraphrase]

'Street,' I told him meant just pounding away at the shutter in likely circumstances, waiting for a good enough situation to turn into 'magic' where in the case of rather routine looking photos, a wonderful expression crosses someone's face' just as here.

In taking this photo of a girl in a fountain, I took about six to eight of her, five or so from father away and two, maybe three of her more tightly cropped (this is an uncropped, full frame photo; I believe in not cropping wherever possible and when there is time to capture and frame it all in the viewfinder.)

In only one of the frames did her tongue stick out, and only for a split second, as some of the surrounding captures to this were on frames per second or I was shooting away at a rather rapid pace -- and since it was a telephoto at long distance, I could not process the information from her tongue fast eough to capture the magic expression in time to press the shutter if I had just been surveilling her.

And who knew the face and tongue would have created the magic expression; she was interacting with a friend, who might have provided the 'great shot'.

Sometimes people will repeat expressions, and those people who make wonderful expressions, seen from afar and repeat them as I move closer, I tend to wait for such expression to come again when I am close enough to frame and fire.

But this was a spontaneous, one of a kind and unexpectedly great expression.

My fast reflexes (and in photography they are pretty fast) are too slow  to have nailed this one in the way I did here, without having 'set up' the shot and taken previously a  few frames.

What may seem like 'really good luck' in fact was the result of a rather systematic approach to shooting that yields pretty good captures on a fairly regular basis.

I figured she might be good for a good capture since she's attractive, had good expressions/was expressive and happy, was clothed, barefoot in a fountain and was with a good friend having a happy time.

Now that's a person to train your lens on!

For the 'magic expression' that occasionally occurs.

Every once in a while, you capture one.

DL, thank you so much for the wonderful affirmation of the worth of this photo; I had no choice but to post it when I looked in my 'not posted but ready to post folder' from recent shooting.  Just no choice at all.

It just screamed 'post me' -- I'm a happy 'summer photo; post me now!'

john

John (Crosley)

A really beautiful shot with a lovely expression, John!

With best regards from NL,

Ruud.

Thank you so much.

A shot that gets a kind remark from you is always very special; I know you troll all the postings and know what is really good.

Thanks again.

john

John (Crosley)