King Going to Meet His Queen . . . and Knights, Bishops, Rooks and Pawns

This man walks purposefully across the street toward Kyiv, Ukraine's

institutional chess game set in a popular downtown park. Old men

meet, play chess or backgammon, tell stories and pass the time . . . .

and maybe wonder where their compatriots have gone (old men are

relatively rare in Kyiv, compared to say, neighboring Poland). Your

ratings and critiques are invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly

or wish to make a statement, please submit a helpful and constructive

comment. Thank you for helping improve my photography by

contributing your photographic knowledge. Enjoy! John

As this photo shows well, things aren't always done in Ukraine (or other former Soviet countries except possibly Poland) to the highest standards.

For instance with the wall phones and the paint:  masking tape?  Masking tape?  Whoever used masking tape?  Either there was none or it wasn't in the 'job duties' as seen by the workmen.  Let the phone company take care of it, and the phone company is in tatters; no one makes phone calls with hard wired phones any more -- everyone has a modern mobile phone with FM radio, maybe games, picture phone, and maybe G3 or G4 Internet, and to heck with wired phones.

Phone wires have one purpose for most Ukrainians in Kyiv:  serve the poor with basic phone service in their homes and provide a line for high speed Internet (2 MIPS or higher on those lines -- higher speed than in many Western countries and absolutely higher than in many American cities).

Progress goes in leaps and bounds in Kyiv.

Sometimes basics get overlooked as it stretches into the future.

And old men get bypassed, what few of them are left, after alcoholism, heart disease, death from drowning (often while drunk on the huge river that runs the length of the entire country), auto accidents (while drunk), smoking related illnesses, and in general overwork and stress-related disorders from having to work too much and being ill-suited for the changeover from Communism to Capitalism . . . . .

The question is when will it end . . . . in a few years or in decades?

Neighboring Poland which made an earlier and spirited transition from Communism made the transition . . . . and has a large number of old men . . . . and Ukraine does not.  Women get old -- often very old -- in Ukraine, and men expect to die on average in their late '50s (Source:  World Health Organization).

This man and his chess-playing cohorts are statistical anomalies, whether they are aware of it or not.  The question is when will there be lots of old men to play chess and backgammon?  In the near future, I hope; Poland did it, and old Polish woman are not as lonely as old Ukrainian women.

john

John (Crosley)

A reverse of Lewis Hine 1874-1940

The compared Hines' photo is a girl in perspective in a factory caught between two rows of machines, probably garment machines, looking like she's trapped and quite under age.

Here the subject is elderly and he's definitely in a reverse situation; the perspective is entirely reversed; he's not trapped at all; perspective falls away from him, not trapping him.

Again, well observed. 

You need never worry that anybody will complain that your observational powers about photography are turning to dust, Meier . . . . they're among the most acute . . . you made a most observant call with this critique.

john

John (Crosley)

Forgive me please for misspelling your first name.

The disappearance of the editing function after a short time makes this comment necessary rather than a 'quick fix' to the previous comment.

john

John (Crosley)

Not a problem. I misspell it myself sometimes.