'The Real Thing'

Some subjects tend to look alike or like they came directly

from 'Central Casting'; other stand out, like this woman, a street seller,

who I think is 'The Real Thing', a pure unadulterated and original

character from real life. Your ratings, critiques and observations are

invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly, very harshly, or with to

make an observation, please submit a helpful and constructive

comment; thank you in advance for sharing your photographic

knowledge. Enjoy! John

is a really good shot of street. ;) congratulations

Saludos 

I think of it as a little prize.

An unexpected one.  We were talking, and she made this as part of a gesture as I snapped.

It's immortalized.

Thank you for kind words.

john

John (Crosley)

When did you ever see such an interesting face and with such an interesting gesture?

Will you ever see such a gesture in your life, let alone a photo of same?

This alone is reward enough for approaching people up close sometimes with a wide angle lens, trying to talk with them and taking a photo like this.

This woman was nice and very flattered for the attention.  Not every photo that is 'in your face' need be aggressively 'in your face'.

Here's the proof.

john

John (Crosley)

I've dealt with enough corpses in their rigor mortis state. You only have to go to the morgue to see this....Look again.

This woman is 'aged' because she probably works on a farm, judging from dress and looks, and comes to the city to sell her produce/other farm products.

Her look is because of 'no teeth'.

It causes that 'look' where the mouth collapses, and unlike your Israel, many older folks (and younger ones too) no longer can get quality dental care for their teeth when they fall out, often from gum disease.

She may be quite a bit younger then you and I have a good idea she's younger than I, but I won't bet on it.

In any case, look at her hand -- it's the hand of a worker.

You may have experience with 'rigor' but this woman was quite active and had good color - I learned as a youth whenever I remarked that a neighbor looked 'real white' or 'pale', 'really pale' suddenly soon they had a heart attack or other medical issue and died. 

Her color is fine; she may live to be 100, though with no teeth.   Unlike Ukrainian men who die at 55-57 on average from premature drownings, (while drunk) auto accidents (from drinking too) and eating the fatty foods their wives stuff down their throats to keep them happy, while the wife does all the work, the Ukrainian women live a very long time.

Old crones are a dime a dozen, but old men are a rarity.

Meir, if you went to Ukraine, as many from your country do looking for 'blue-eyed Jewish' wives, (I've talked to them and it's true, no figment), you'd probably be inundated by women if you're nice enough to them - they often judge a man by the way he treats them and not by so many other factors. 

Treat 'em nice and many will be very nice to any man who is good at heart.  If you're that, (and I now have no reason to doubt it), then you might have a good time in Ukraine.

Rigor - is the pursuit of strenuous activities, and not just a precursor to death.  I see this woman living a long time, which would be your consternation, but not mine.

Then again, what do i

I won't ask how come you see so many dead people . . . . .

Best wishes.

john

John (Crosley)

The time for that will be soon enough I'm sure.  Too soon for my present wishes, but if I get more pain, then we'll see.

;~)

john

John (Crosley)

Wow portraits face and shoulder with a wide angle. You have to get really closed. Greta picture

Carlos from Venezuala,

Notice that I timed and framed this photo/portrait to include the woman beggar the steps to the street underpass below.

In answer to your obvious questions (raised in your post), I don't recall in this instance, whether I asked in advance whether I could take this woman's photo or I just 'sprung' it on her by lifting my camera -- something I have been known to do.

It is little known but with a very wide angle lens in a DX format, such as a 10-24 or a 12-24 mm lens, if you point the lens forward, people at the edge of the frame often don't realize they also are being photographed.

One advantage is that if you aim a little to the subject's left or right -- so they aren't aware they're in the frame, you can move the frame a little more to frame them better at the last minute while still keeping them at frame's side and still not alerting them.

Obviously this woman was aware she was being photographed.  Many times, also, people object to being photographed, but when you show them the capture, they're enchanted --- so if you hesitate for feeling intrusive, remember, that's not always the final word.  You may be feted for creating the greatest capture ever and shown and heralded among their friends, if the capture is good enough - and closeups generally score pretty well as people are used to knee to upper body portraits as in family snapshots, so upper body or facial shots are seen generally as better, especially IF they show a good expression.

In fact, great expressions often are the most worthy of showing the subject, so it's best to review anything you show a subject, or just pass on showing the photo, and or beg to take others until you get something better (a great excuse for taking more photos if the subject has good enough potential, and there's nothing good taken YET).

(You told me by e-mail post what you are interested in, so I am responding to what I know your interests are.)

john

John (Crosley)

Thanks again for your explanation John! You are an encyclopedia

As I advised in my return e-mail, read those 16,000+ comments plus the 100+ pages of comments under my portfolio photos for my replies and there are the elements of one to three books on 'street' and other photo techniques -- especially for dealing with strangers and taking 'candid' photos, as well as certain special photo techniques that have not been written about.

If I had a publisher, I could rewrite those comments and make them into a book, and am exploring that idea right now; your questions and my answers are spurring me on in that quest, as it was near the top of my list or was about to hit the top of my many-faceted task list soon.

I hope I am not being too pedantic -- the idea is to create a friendly way to SHARE this knowledge that I have worked so hard to get knowing that YOU and anyone else cannot take the photos I take, but can apply the lessons I've learned to take your OWN SPECIAL kind of photos (or pass them by without making my mistakes).

Photo.net is a great resource, just for that, if nothing else; and all you did was ask, but you have to DIG through those comments for the real meat because it's almost all there -- the complete primer on 'how to do it' -- at least all I could put to words so far.

Happy reading. 

Don't be afraid to ask more questions or make more comments, though - dialogue is fine with me.

john

John (Crosley)