'Ah Shucks!'

Words of exclamation have changed over the years; from long ago, 'Aw

Shucks!' long ago was commonly considered a strong statement, now

this young man wears a much, much stronger expression with apparent

joy on the underside of his cap's brim. Your ratings, critiques and

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

critically, or just 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

good portrait, technically (range, tonality, sharpnes, dof) and emotionally - close enough, with honest emotion.

special plus for angle - you were lower (camera was), then usually.

BB

I had to get lower to capture the script (bad knee/hips make that risky for me).

But anything for a proper photo; without a good, readable photo of the script, there is no real photo at all.

So *uck the pain and voila the photo.

(and I'm in the USA, not Ukraine -- as I noted in another comment.)

john

John (Crosley)

This is an excellent street portrait. The young man is animated and dominates the picture and you have included enough background to give us a sense of place without distracting in the least from the main subject. I won't comment on the hat :-))

So, Jack, no comment on the hat?  That is the 'subject' and the raison d'etre for the whole photo -- specifically 'THAT WORD' which polite people once did not utter except in war and calamity or possibly only among 'real men' maybe while hunting deer and then only when a stray bullet pierced their thigh or winged them. 

I only uttered it once in front of my own father; when a Dungeness crab nearly severed my thumb with its pinchher and his response was 'WHAT DID YOU SAY?'

'Oh shaw!' is not that they said, or even 'aw shucks!

Now 'that word' is common parlance and there's really no replacement - to say it among many, especially youth -- has become a joke -- a common slang word, not a swear word.

Time passes on, and this young man's joke is on an entire older generation which is to be stunned, annoyed, or upset by having to read 'that word'.

But you are right, his expression tells the story, it is animated, exposure is correct for his skin and darker clothes and not the carny ride behind him which is overexposed and NOT burned in on purpose.

To me his smile is worth the whole photo, and the reason for his smile -- THAT WORD which he displays as he rolls up the bill of his cap -- is a whole story in generational differences and worth its weight (for me) in photographic gold.

But then I'm a pushover for certain of my own photos; it's well known.

Thanks for the very, very kind words.

john

John (Crosley)

Hope all's well with you, John. Back again after a hiatus, though I do not know for how long...

This is a "fun photo". No inert meaning, just capturing a slice of life as it is. The expression of enjoyment on the face of the boy is the subject and it is quite clear what he's enjoying. To him, it is an achievement; something to show off to his friends...as in "hey guys, have a look at what I've got here!!". There's a sense of mischief in this as well. He knows what he has done and has done it purposely with an intent to show it off with some pride.

That, to me, is what this photo is all about...pure, simple, innocent pleasure of a young boy at something he has 'achieved'. To you and me, the photo may also be a comment on change from one generation to another, but it is more an extrapolation. Regards.

 

And your astute comments and questions.

Yes, this is just about simple joy -- the face and the reason for his mischievous smile and expressed pleasure.

And, yes, you and I read into it the subtext which is there all along -- the motivating part which he, you and I all know is there, but which is often not spoken of - the need of the younger generation always to 'differentiate' from their elders.

In this case that differentiation takes a familiar form -- the need to 'shock' the elders much as in my elder sister's generation Elvis's Pelvis shocked the elders, in mine, the Beatles with their mop tops shocked others as 'longhairs' and spawned or helped spawn a whole generation or longer of longhairs, and even the current and former generation of teeny boppers who dish out oral sex on dates before they'll have sex or maybe even kiss sincerely or well.

the whole idea is to differentiate and/or shock the elders and thus differentiate.

Youths always turn talk into their own with special slang; in Moscow six years ago, bad meant good, long meant short, heavy, light; fast, slow, and so on -- everything was spoken in opposites (I am told) to confound the elders and differentiate, differentiate, differentiate MY WORLD from YOUR OLD WORLD which you've *ucked up!  Now it's my turn and we wont' *uck  it up, is the message, but of course, they do.

With my photography, I've found something that if I *uck up one photo, or even all of them, it hurts no one and sometimes gives great pleasure to others, and allows me to express myself in ways I never thought possible.

I'm very happy to see you back.  I hope everything is OK.

john

John (Crosley)

Yeah, you are all over this one John, very classic b/w and here the dof is right to make him pop and minimize the distracting background, yet, still identifiable enough to create a context.  Like it!

This was in extremely low light explaining the very low depth of field in a pretty wide angle shot. 

Like all my digital work, this began as a color capture and was desaturated, and not long ago. I think I could do an even better job today as I improve and use filters.  The key of course was to make his engaging (I snuck something over on everyone smile) and the 'F' word on his cap be properly exposed -- all the rest is surplusage, I think -- although a frame-filling background does help.

Thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment and analysis. It's very much appreciated. 

I hope you have a fun time if you're reviewing more of my work!

john

John (Crosley)