'The Steps' (II)

This young boy walks down 'The Steps' outside a supermarket in a

Ukraine city. Your ratings and critiques are invited and most welcome.

If you rate harshly or 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

This supermarket or the building in which it's housed almost certainly was designed by Soviet architects, before the Soviet Union fell apart from its own lack of inertia, Christmas, 1991, into separate Republics, Ukraine being one.

The steps, without ramps, elevators, escalators, or any aids for the handicapped, strollers, carts, or anything to help those mobility impaired, surround the front of this supermarket.

To enter this supermarket you MUST descend these steps; on leaving, you MUST arise on these steps, effectively eliminating this supermarket's access for the handicapped or those with ambulatory impairments of legs, knees, or those who need attendants or even those who might have wished to use shopping carts (personal or the store's).

This dramatic failure of function is Exhibit 'A' in a long list of reasons why the Soviet Union's central planning fell apart; this building probably was designed in Moscow by some central  architectural planning bureau and the architect maybe even have won a prize for it.  However, for practicality, it's a complete failure for it's intended function as a public building (no handicap access).

It does make good 'lines' however, for a photo, so please if you rate, please rate the photo, not the architecture ;~))

john

John (Crosley)

Awesome shot!

Intense and really well composed. Black and White is also perfect.

Thanks for the fine compliment.  That's just the ego booster I needed.

john

John (Crosley)

Simple, clear, talking, lines running, and two food dots in the rear - kind of which I really like - my compliments! Ciao Axel

Believe it or not, this is 'overlooked' and 'from the files'.

I had 'better' to post from the same download and overlooked this one.

Strange, hunh?

My downloads are scattered with passed over gems which I'm trying to 'mine'. 

Thanks for the fine evaluation.  (those are 'feet' in the background', of course.

john

John (Crosley)

The boy in motion adds dynamism to a very graphic composition with great lines and nice textures.

Simply the right position and the right moment in time. You've done it!

I waited until the boy was just about to exit the frame before firing, just to add the dynamism.  There are actually ten (count 'em) stairs, and he is going from nine to ten, (counted from foreground).

When you have a bunch of parallel or converging lines like this it helps to create an 'accent' figure, like this boy to break it up and especially if the 'accent figure' is way off center, so that everything is NOT symmetrical -- that's my personal view anyway.

thanks for the comment.

john

John (Crosley)

Like from 'My Fair Lady' (the musical)  By Jove, He's Done It!'  I only wish I could do IT more frequently.  It's so often between the really good ones that seem to please everybody, especially these special ones with strong graphic elements, that are so hard to find.

Thanks for the kind comment.

john

John (Crosley)

classic and timeless. wonderful contrast of the activity against the straight lines

PS: Your PC comments about accessiblity are unfair to the Russians. Back then, those folks you're talking about would probably be out in the Gulag somewhere for not contributing to the revolution, so why bother with ramps?

This is one of those really good ones that one 'sees' only every once in a while, and the trick is to identify those places and situations, then wait around a while until the perfect 'accent' figure, such as this boy comes along, and try to catch him at the perfect place.

It requires a very good concept of what it is you're trying to frame, all arrived at sometime before you depress the shutter (or even right up to that moment).  It does not necessarily require having taken lots of prior frames -- one will do or a thousand.  All that is necessary is to get one keeper.

Thanks MY J. 

john

John (Crosley)

I don't know in the workers' paradise what place was assigned, say, injured workers who were disabled.  Maybe they were heroes of the Revolution?

In any case, they couldn't easily enter this supermarket.

And in my own view any number of amputees still are without prostheses, and that does not speak well for the health care system; it's ofter better in places like Afghanistan or Iraq where wars have raged -- maybe even Sudan or other parts of the Horn of Africa, but that's speculation and fed in part by watching the BBC and National Geographic Explorer, etc. (available in Ukraine).

But it's true the Soviets seem to have been insensitive to the injured/disabled otherwise (at least( and many were shut-ins in third or eighth floor flats, unable to descend without elevators (or when elevators didn't work, often for years at a time, and so what's the use of having ramps for places like this.

It's probably purposeful oversight . . . . . some people are quite averse to seeing others malformed and shudder at the sight.  Out of sight = out of mind and maybe that's the purpose of all of this.

About the gulags and the disabled -- I have no knowledge at all and any thoughts thereon by me would be speculation (do you have specific knowledge?  If so, please print it here in a response.)

Thanks.

john

John (Crosley)

Thanks for the challenge, John.

I did dig these up....

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Sociology-1644/gulag.htm

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/200

This one mentions a trial in the 1990s in one of the comments...

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/

archives/171686/11.02/01-gulag.html

(you'll have to reassemble the above link)

Didn't mean to detract from your terrific picture, of course. Just pointing out that accessibility wasn't really a priority. For that matter, it wasn't much of a priority here in the 60s either!

The moment is well chosen.

I like special the composition. the lines that gives the picture depth.

I´m traveling, but before I left, I clicked on your links.  A couple of them mentioned the gulags, but one was blind and none made specific reference to the disabled and/or disability with relationship to those who were sent there andwere or were not seen as Heroes of Socialism (or some such).

I wouldsuggest it seems common sense that a distinction has to be made between a disabled war hero and a person who was born with what was called a defect, a congenital abnormality -- physical or mental (or both) -- as those may very well have been treated differently, but then 'who knows? 

I thought your links would shed light on that, but did not. One was a blind link, making reference to gulags, but ended there, with no text and a search box that went to several ´gulag´references including one for the 'Archipelago' with illustrations that were unsettling.

I´ll return when I'm not in an Internet cafe somewhere in the Middle of some far off continent.

Thanks for the offering.

By the way, this is my own place on Photo.net and the discussion range is here is far-reaching, and discussions tangentially related to the topic(s) of the photo of offshoot topics often are relished.  That's half the fun of these comments and I think why so many participate and so many more read them 'just for fun' or as a 'guilty pleasure' even when they don't contribute.  (I hear from time to time from such people and the yeas for those who approve of this style far outweight the nays who don't, and of course those who don't simply don't have to read.

john

John (Crosley)

You're a Dutchman of few words.  (or at least you have a Dutch name . . . .)

You choose and use them well.

Thanks.

john

John (Crosley)

Excellent B&W composition, John ... interesting & elegant perspective of the shot. Regards

I love this B & W. What an amazing shot! It is so unique and I love the depth of the picture.

Nice strong shot John, I also enjoyed the background story as well.

Chad

the best  this month

knockout great man  

Thanks for the fine compliment.  I am a little surprised by the'extreme positive reaction this photo has attained.

But gladdened of course.

Thanks again.

john

John (Crosley)

After posting nearly 1,500 photos, to have this simple photo be taken as such a standout is kind of overwhelming.

I had almost come to the conclusion that raters preferred for high rates the more complex photos and my often more simple (and graphically simpler photos) were not prospects for high rates and views, particularly, compared to some of the wonderful ''artists'' found on this site who produce absolutely marvelous and often very complex work (but often also heavily photoshopped).

This has almost no photoshopping at all, other than contrast and brightness, and I'm not even recalling 'selecting' or ''masking' any part such as this boy on the steps, just taking it, working it up minimally and posting it, then traveling and returning to find 3/4 of a thousand 'views'.  

Wow!

Thanks for the positive comment; what a surprise this has been.

john

John (Crosley)

I'm soooo glad you like this one so much.  It's graphically pretty simple, yet has some complexity, just not so much it can't be explained in a paragraph or two, unlike some of my other photos that can eat up ten or 15 comments to explore their complexity.

But frankly, if you explore my very early work, I think you'll find a great reliance on graphic simplicity and very strong graphic work, so in effect, this is one part of my various styles, and in great part a 'return to home''.

john

John (Crosley)