'The Bus Stop (V)' (BW Ed.) PN Photo of the Week, May 28, 2011

In my small series on 'bus stops' I search for new perspectives. This

is one of them. Your ratings, critiques and remarks are invited and

most welcome. If you rate or critique harshly or very critically, or

wish to submit a remark, please submit a helpful and constructive

comment; please share your photographic knowledge to help improve my

photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

Magnificent image. I find shadows very interesting - presence in absence, real yet unreal. Congratulations!

Well Said.

I have little to add.

Shadow Theatre of the Surreal perhaps?

john

John (Crosley)

With the setting sun's strong modeling effect, I felt fortunate to find surfaces with texture for additional interest and to keep the photo from being unidimensional.

Here you can almost feel the walkway, and almost touch the texture of the rocks on the retaining wall.

john

John (Crosley)

Good composition and good use of light,Excellent! 

Thank you for telling me.

I keep trying; I'm pretty relentless.

john

John (Crosley)

Excellent capture.  Great eye. Not only do I like the shadow-play on the wall, but the stretched out shadows are a nice feature as well.  It's interesting how each person seems to be striking their own pose.  Nicely composed.  Well shot.

Excellent job of shadows on a textured wall and the activity at the bus stop, by composition & by exposure it's great work!

A superb collection of shadow puppets John! But who's the puppet master? Unique, thought provoking, creative, composition. Well seen, and expertly photographed.

All the best,
Neil

I was amazed to come across this scene, with the individuals so well and evenly spaced, each doing his/her own thing, as I also waited for the bus.

I started out taking photos of those behind me (the other direction) and then switched, and ended up with the line of the sidewalk/retaining wall joinder making a fine diagonal across my frame, almost at right angles to the shadows -- life sometimes doesn't get better than this.

I had just gone out by jitney bus to Metro stop, to take a few photo for an hour, and the best place to get the return jitney bus (marshrutka) was this second Metro stop farther away (and an additional 25 cent Metro fare).  But it is worth it, because from this stop you get a seat.  When seats are filled at this stop, unless it's really crowded, people often wait for the next jitney bus rather than stand. 

The even spacing really struck me - each person has staked out his/her own territory and obtained just a modicum of privacy and/or 'personal space' rather than crowding, which one might find of individuals from some countries.  Ukraine really can be rather civil, say compared to Russia or Germany -- German skiers, last I met them, were tramping all over my skis with theirs (some time ago) and were the rudest I ever encountered - it's a wonder the Swiss put up with them, but they brought gelt (money).

And the Swiss love money!

The Ukrainians do too, but they haven't got too much despite wonderful natural resources - and the largest country in Europe, if I have my facts straight.

Nice place to photograph - where else can you get captures like I do, when I am in Ukraine (I spend much time in the US too)?

Thanks for commenting.

john

John (Crosley)

Thank you for noticing the textures of the wall and sidewalk.

Notice how the people's shadows projected on the wall are broken up into rocks and darker places where there is cement/mortar? It's an interesting effect.  They're 'rock shadow people' perhaps?

I couldn't be more pleased with this photo (but it's in color too, as this is a desaturation.  Both are good in their own way. 

This is headed for my Black and White, Then to Now, folder, with my best work.

Thanks so much for the nice comment.

john

John (Crosley)

This isn't the only capture.

I watched (and am still watching) a Lynda.com tutorial on landscape photography with instructions on how to do lots of photoshopping, and it's memorable for the instructor's advice to 'work a scene'.

Don't just imagine you can take one photo and get to a scene's essence; each photo begets another and better insight, then another, and then another.

That's what happened to me. I took half a hundred photos or more, with passing pedestrians interfering, shadows from passing traffic (some good, some interfering) and so one.

Some worked; some didn't, but his is not necessarily the best, it's only the one I chose.  Some others also were very good.

I may find another later I like better (then what do I do?).

Best to you Neil, and thanks for the compliments.

john

John (Crosley)

Goes to my favorites!

Best regards John!

PDE

I seldom see comments from you here.  Thanks so much for stopping by and for the compliment.  You are always welcome here, Michael.

john

John (Crosley)

Absolute the highest praise; I didn't expect.  Thank you so much.

;~))

I am full of surprises -- I just take what I see, but don't stop with one when I see a scene with potential, whether it's two or two hundred more, I try to get it right.

john

John (Crosley)

This photo is lesson No. 1 in why it's good to carry a camera at all times.

This scene probably will happen one time only with such spacing and individual action, let alone the setting sun casting such a shadow without shadows from passing or parked vehicles interfering and with everybody separated so ideally, and in fact in many times there, I've never seen it such.

If one were to try to plan to take this capture, imagine how elaborate the planning would have to be, but if you have a camera, see it, and take the photo it's just another happy capture (albeit a good one).

;~))

john

John (Crosley)

Wow!!! Brilliant image, John...excellent composition...the POV of the image is one of the strong points and there are many...daigonal perspective gives the desired flowability to this shot...wonderful tonality...textured shadow on the wall adds value to the image...very impressive indeed...7...kudos

There are not so many 'street' images that other genre photographers might have taken but this one is more 'street landscape' or urban scape, with everyone just standing, giving me time to stand in line, compose and snap.

I'm so glad it pleased you so much.  Obviously it also pleased me too; it's one of my best, I know that already.

Thank you for the kind expresion.

(I don't thank for rates, because that would imply not inviting raters to be honest with lower rates).

I think you understand.  I try to be fair and honest, and not patronizing, yet hospitable.

john

John (Crosley)

fascinating concept, John! brilliant, to imagine the shadows of the bus stop people, and capture each of them doing their own thing, very clearly too, they become icons for bus stop waiting behavior... in my faves! ;-}dp

Very well seen!

I sent this to my mentor, a highly-placed critic and photo expert to the firmament of the stars of photography.  He had sent me an e-mail about recent photos I e-mailed him with (my daily stuff) and said to me, essentially that I was not sending him my best stuff, 'you can do better, I know you; I know your work', and of course, he was right.

So, smugly, when I took this photo, I sent him a copy with the photo attached, and the small words, 'I hope it's not cliched.'

His answer:  'It is'.

What a put down!

What I want to know, is that if this is a cliche, why haven't I ever seen anything like it?

Has anyone?  Can anyone direct me to a photo so well done in such a similar vein?

Inquiring mind wants to know (so I can know if I was victim of a joke).

Thanks Donna.

I work overtime to try to bring you and all my other viewers the best.

I went on a 'photo excursion' today after arising VERY LATE, but got waylaid by a friend at a park, and asked to watch my friend's children, but never mind that I never got to my far-off destination to take photos.

I had a camera and got stunning captures there in the playground, just watching my friends' kids as other kids improvised 'king of the mountain', and when my friend came back even when I was talking to my friend and simultaneously taking photos (I can also walk and chew gum at the same time . . . sometimes).

Good photos for the 'street' photographer are everywhere.  They're at the bus stop, the playground, the street, the school, or anywhere you see people or traces of people -- and you have one essential ingredient:  a camera with you capable of making the capture. I ALWAYS have at least one; to be without a camera for me is 'going combat'.  (ref.  Britney Spears)

;~))

john

John (Crosley)

Kyiv is YOUR city; this is Kyiv, and I'm only a visitor, and I have a good idea (judged on the places I identify in your photos that show you wander about some) that you have been to this place, but not at this hour with these people and these shadow.

This event may not occur again, maybe ever, as usually buses are parked there, blocking the individuals' shadows.

This time I got lucky, but then as many have said 'luck favors the well prepared', and I'm always read.

I know from viewing your captures, you are too.

Best wishes from across Kyiv as I prepare to exit for a while.

Then back, I hope. We'll see and meet anon.

john

John (Crosley)

One can tell the weather and the climate (but not the season so easily) by carefully reading this photo. It's a matter of photo interpretation.

Like cows, bulls, horses and bison, people bunch together to mutually brace against the wind, especially when its much colder than the surroundings.  Also they generally face against a strong wind in any weather.

Here people face every direction, personal and other papers are held out, and all manner of things are being held out which indicates wind is not an issue, therefore the photo suggests the day is calm.

The spacing suggests it also.

It also is a sunny day which is abundantly obvious, but it's also summer or late spring, as the people are spread out, it's well after work and the shadows are very long.

If this were in the far North in the winter where long shadows are possible even in midday, people would not be strung out waiting for a bus; there'd be  few stragglers, or a bunch, but not a long line.

Commuters have habits, and these people (if one reads this carefully) are showing respect for each other, AND maximizing their exposure to the sun.  They don't show disrespect-- they may have to ride together tomorrow, next week, next month, et cetera.

No one blocks the other from the sun, and no one stands close to the other.

This is NOT a weekend, when families travel together, as people are not bunched up.

This is obviously a week day and moreover a 'work; weekday, as in a holiday weekday families might be out and the line much thinner.

If you know the climate and see no snow or ice, then you know it's warm, and in the color version there is the green of fresh grass/weeds at joinder of the retaining wall and the sidewalk, a sure sign of Spring, but that's not clearly visible here -- green shows as black/gray here and thus is indistinct.  In the color version it's much clearer.  And it's Spring green, not Summer green.

So, it's Spring or Summer, late day after work, it's commuters (not mid-winter in middle of day in far north), no wind and people are relaxed at end of day (indicating mild weather) and they're maximizing their exposure to the sun, indicating the sun is not overly warm (they're NOT seeking shelter from the sun, so it can't be too hot a sun!)

A lot can be read into a photo if one looks carefully. 

An uncle (who only once spoke about it) was in Denver during World War II in a photo reconnaissance unit of the Air Force, examining strategic bomb damage.  He knew the value of the super secret Norden bomb sight and special bomb proximity fuses, which meant he could never be sent anywhere he could be captured.  It was his insurance against ever fighting or even being shipped overseas.  His mind was the bearer of very important national secrets that if divulged might have changed the war's final ending.

From aerial photographs he could attempt to find out if oil refineries would still work and how well, or same for valuable ball bearing factories, (but he couldn't see underground where Albert Speer, Hitler's master builder, had relocated factories that kept Germany's war machine buzzing along, killing tens of millions.)

The examination of this photo tells you that if you want to take a similar photo and intend to go somewhere to do so, you had best know the weather and climate if you want to do your quest efficiently and go on a quest to seek such a photo.

Me, I just go around with a camera, and if it looks interesting, I'll work the scene until I find something that shows very interesting, or go away 'skinned'.  which happens.

[note to non-native English speakers 'skinned' is slang for 'getting nothing' or another way for expressing 'losing', maybe badly e.g., 'in the game I got skinned' (beaten badly in context).]

;~))

john

John (Crosley)

Pardon me for misspelling your name.

Names are important, and if I am so careless as to misspell Your precious name, what about other, less important things?

Spelling your name correctly is very important to me, please accept my apologies.  I meant no disrespect; I wrote late at night then shut off my computer and didn't notice my error.

john

John (Crosley)