'The Tat Guy With the Hard Eyes'

This is Ernie. I was walking down a street lamely one early evening,

and there in a tattoo parlor was Ernie shirtless. I walked near the parlor,

walked in and asked permission to photograph, was denied, but showed

my PN Internet portfolio and minds were changed. This is one of

several results. Your ratings, critiques and remarks are invited and

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

The term 'tat' now has achieved nearly universal parlance in the United States as the short word for tattoo.  Nearly anyone who is involved in the tattoo fetish or industry does not speak of tattoos, but of tats, and it is common to hear people so related say such things as this:  'Hey guy, nice tats'.

(Hello, mister, nice tattoos.)

(this for foreign or non-native English speakers who may be left wondering by this description).

john

John (Crosley)

I am always searching for good design as well as interesting subjects.

Good design elements coupled with an interesting or semi-interesting subject can push something that may be more marginal into a higher category of capture.

It's a good thing to remember.

If you look through my work, you won't find one single photo that looks anything like this one, I think; I keep moving around until it looks good in the viewfinder, then push that little shutter release button, and often the results are fresh and different.

Thanks for the comment and the compliment.

john

John (Crosley)

This correction with anytime editing unlimited which existed before meant when I noticed an error, I could then fix it, but now I must make a separate comment.

Our comments, and our mistakes, are sealed beyond a short editing period now.

My apologies for the error.

john

John (Crosley)

The angle and the tones along with his apparent demeanor come across very strong in the shot.  The wide angle shot from this perspective gives him an imposing look.  I'm glad he appreciated your work.

When I saw this guy, shirtless at the front counter of this strip mall tattoo place north of Seattle, Washington, I immediately figured the only way to take a decent photo was to directly confront him and ask him to be a subject.  He looked like he might make a very interesting subject. 

The answer after I had walked in the door and made my pleasant introduction, was an unequivocal 'NO', then he turned his back to me. 

The tattoo shop manager shrugged his shoulders as if to say 'well, that's that', but I persisted a little, though pleasantly.

'Perhaps if you looked at my photos on the Internet, (on PN) you'd find I take this real seriously -- who knows you might like my photos?' I insisted.

The manager Googled my name, linked to my photos and then spent some considerable time going through my black and white photos, then opined that they had 'pretty good composition'.

Turns out he was a student at an 'Art Institute' nearby, the famous spread-out most everywhere art university.

He said he would have taken much take bigger scenes, then would probably then have cropped them away, and I replied that 95% of the time I crop in camera.  He seemed impressed  by that, and by this time the group had gone from one to three or four on-lookers, staring approvingly at my photos (Photo.net exposition has more than one worth ;~))

Having their approval, I approached another artist inking a tattoo, while his subject had his girlfriend/wife texting while leaning on the subject's back, the subject was prone and the tattoo's being placed on his far arm/wrist or somewhere nearby.

That was pretty good, then I approached 'Ernie' here who had watched both my work and my working habits, asked him again to be a subject and this time he agreed, never once smiling, eyes almost in slits, as here - a fearsome look in his face. (but a nice enough guy - I think the look is very practiced).

He had the same 'look' throughout, but I valued that 'look' as it's partly why I was interested in taking his photo.

He assumed this position, and it was appealing, so I went with the flow and took both farther and closer-up photos, all of which were presentable, with proper interspersal of blacks and whites.  I could have wished for a more interesting background, but few things in life ever are perfect.

Still, the subject was strong and his visual strength isolated him without using traditional devices like narrow depth of field, a plain backdrop, or one that is my sub specialty -- a background that the subject seems to interact with.

I chose this view because of the shape of his body -- it formed its own geometry, and I was pleased with it just for that.   I also liked closer up photos or those in which the body's geometry was cut off, but the eye could fill in the geometry, as the eye/brain are wont.

But this one appealed to me, though it is not the sort of presentation that is designed for 'web first' thumbnail viewing.  This one should be shown large at first to garner attention, or it ordinarily would be easily passed by.

No matter; here I was in the middle of white bread country and got a decent photo, as darkness fell on a day when I had no pretense even of taking a photograph, but had my camera there 'just in case'.

It's almost always there' 'just in case', and some of my very best captures were taken from those 'just in case' moments that suddenly arose.

;~))

I always have been a good 'just in case' sort of guy.

Not that I don't ever get skunked (come up with 'nothing worthwhile' -- for foreign or non-English speakers) or into production trouble because of impromptness, but I am good at working extemporaneously -- a very good attribute.

Any photographer would be well served by working at polishing skills at working impromptu,  because it is well known on this service --particularly the wedding forum -- even for the best photographers, when on deadline, photographic equipment and/or accoutrement's have a way of dying quick deaths, leaving the photographers in the lurch at irreplaceable moments, light can suddenly turn bad, and myriad other things that were planned can quickly turn against the best planned photographers with the highest skills.

Then one's true skill is measured by how good one is at transforming disaster into a skillful capture or series of captures, and even making something unique and different from what for others would just have been failure.

Best to carry backup equipment and to learn how to improvise in case your backup lens/body/lights does/do not have the same features and/or focal length/shutter speed combination as the ones you sought to rely on.

S** happens. 

Best to be a Boy Scout. 

'Be Prepared' for the worst, and add some sugar to maybe make some lemonade from some sour photographic lemons that metaphorically inevitably will come your way.

john

John (Crosley)

Outstanding image…composition, angle, subject, attitude and element of danger .. from me… 7/7

Thank you for letting me know your high opinion AND the reasons.

The reasons are more important for me to know than the actual score, though it's heartening to know both, for obvious reasons.

I'm very glad this pleased you -- I shoot to please my viewers, or at least stimulate them.

To that end, I try to keep the photos different, and with over 1,700 of them, many seem to be quite different, even if they bear my 'signature' to those who know my work.

Best to you.

john

John (Crosley)

Interesting personage!

Svetlana, it has been enlightening for me to discover from an analysis of your comment, just how many amazingly different 'personages' have appeared in front of my lenses and made it into the postings here on Photo.net.

All ages, all walks of life, many, many countries, and a virtual cross-section of Western and some Eastern humanity (with Africa and the Near East and all of India missing (no Visa at vital times for India, and Africa yet to be, I hope, though I may need a bodyguard in certain places -- not Ethiopia -- but in the Near East Islamist countries, religious prohibitions by the very religious against making 'graven images' of mankind that may 'offend God' may cause sever problems with personal safety.

I find from just yesterday I spoke/conversed equally well and intimately with people I knew were millionaires as I flew, and on the street in Los Angeles before dawn, with two or more 'street people' (homeless) who recognized me, we engaged in similar, and deep conversation (and I found two of my former subjects had died, victims of living on the streets).

I also found that I make quite an impression when I take a few moments to take a photo from someone who thinks life has passed them by - they may remember me and that moment of photography (even the picture, where they stood, the events that led to the photo, my appearance, what I said and what they said, perfectly, and in fact, SO DO I, when reminded.  The photos, which I recall all almost perfectly, I just have to conjure up in my mind, and with that conjuring, comes the events that surrounded them -- little memory pinpricks that jog my memory into sometimes almost perfect recall.

Someone spoke to me on the street, I did not take his photo and later another asked me what he looked like and was wearing.   From memory I had no idea -- no visual memory, but if I'd taken his photo, and glanced at it briefly, I would remember all.

What wonderful memory jogs!

And to find that I'm equally at ease with life's poor, downtrodden and homeless as those who are accomplished and often times leaders in their field(s) and often those who are very wealthy, I find very interesting.

Professors and publishers advise prospective authors 'write about what you know' not about medieval queens, kings, knights and ladies or tsars and tsaritsas' because most know nothing about them.  Write about your field of knowledge and make it interesting, even if you have to put that knowledge in the form of a novel (roman), but don't try to learn a whole new field then to write about for your progress may be stalled for decades.

I take photos of those around me, and look at the diversity of those around me.

I have almost untold and unbounded curiosity about the human experience, and because I once practiced law and frequently saw humans under stress, I have developed good instincts for how people may behave, especially those under stress.

On the street with a camera and lens, I sometimes can predict generally how individuals will behave based on precious few clues, compared to what others require before they can even attempt to make predictions, then I move into position to capture that predicted behavior within the four lines of the photo frame and wait for the magic moment(s) to happen (if they will happen).

I often am rewarded, but sometimes not.  Sometimes I am rewarded with a cascade of 'magic moments' so that choosing only one becomes quite  a task in itself.  I may take, as I did yesterday (the day before now), 100 photos only to choose one, but any one of them is postable here, and might receive good scores and I took that many in search of close to perfection. (mankind cannot achieve perfection -- that's Godlike behavior, and Lord knows, I'm no God, just a guy who tries hard.)

Thanks ever so much for a very thought provoking comment, however much my response may have surprised you.

john

John (Crosley) 

I do agree with all the comments that have been penned already. This is a story of interactions at the very basic level; man to man. It also emphasises that a street shooter should be able to step up and ask others if they are happy to be photographed. This is basic courtesy, but often some (me included) take the "voyeur" mode rather than approach upfront. I suppose the debate can continue till the end of time, but I also think it depends on the situation. Permission makes the subject more aware and lose spontaneity.

Here, the man looks with you with some suspicion still...or so it appears. It gives him a forbidding look, as in "don't mess with me". There is humour in this, for he has already been messed with when you got him to agree to be photographed.

This man's mien (facial look) was unchanged from the start.

I note your analysis and find it absolutely complete.

Basic courtesy is nice but if interferes with a world class photo, well . . . . then sometimes it isn't 'basic courtesy' and means 'ruination of a world class photo'.

It's kind of like 'common sense' this 'basic courtesy' thing.  'Common sense' is believe to exist everywhere in everybody, and everybody is purported to possess 'common sense', yet the phrase 'common sense' really describes what I prefer to call  'uncommon good sense' because my feeling that such sense to often is lacking in so many people that indeed in many cases it is lacking.

The same goes for 'basic courtesy'.

When I take a clandestine photo, then show it to someone who surely would have objected, and may previously have objected, it is very often that they see the photo, are impressed by the way they are depicted, and start calling over their friends and nearby colleagues, especially in bazaars, and telling them basically 'hey, Sveta, look how wonderfully this guy captured me even though I told him not too, and Sveta, then her friends and everyone else gathers around and almost inevitably everyone approves . . . . it is a scene that repeats again and again.

There are those who object and whose objections can't be ignored:  those apparently on parole or probation, hardened criminals who might be breaking terms of their release, men with short fuses, who regard that photo as threatening their release terms and glare with intimidation 'no photos' and those glares are not to be ignored, and I never do.

I know the difference between playing games with a Galina or a Sveta on the street, capturing her (or an Igor) when she/he is not looking even though I have been warned, only to have them tout my photo of them as the best thing since sliced bread.

One has to look at the whole picture, and my whole experience together with my skill in order to judge what is the effect of 'basic courtesy'.  Is basic courtesy taking orders from people on the street, who are ignorant of your skills, or is it taking that shot, then showing it to them and having them be really, really proud of the capture so they want to show their friends.

Of course there is a huge middle ground, and therein lies the moral/ethical dilemmas that one confronts (not always successfully) every day.  Some times people really 'mean' what they say; other times they say it but don't really mean it at all.

Confusing . . . . it can be until you have much experience in dealing with people and good enough skills to take a good photo successfully almost on command, and be skillful enough to approach people who said 'don't do it' with something that shows them in a good light, make a light joke, joke with their friends, and win them over.

The photo will win them over if you don't gloat, but you gotta give them a chance to brag for you and the photo, if they will. Sometimes they don't and you just melt away or go away.  'Street' has some disappointments as well as successes and not every tune is played on key.

But you gotta take some chances to get good to great shots on a routine or periodic basis, or you'll end up skunked (returning with nothing worth while).

You hit the nail on the head with your analysis of this man and his foreboding mien, and how we had played a little game and in the start I had made a move, he had parried and at the end, I prevailed, but he also prevailed, as he liked this photo and so did his friends.

Win-win.

That's the sought goal.

The other sought goal is a great capture.

Sometimes the two are compatible.

Other times, despite best efforts, they're not.

Sometimes subjects are too far away, or too engaged in their business of fighting, kissing, arguing, yelling, running, etc., to chase them down to show them anything and to do so would be rude to the extreme.

There really are no right answers, and to claim perfection would be to try to be God-like. Only God can be perfect, the rest of us are humans and imperfect.

I try, and use my best judgment; sometimes it is wanting and other times it's right on . . . . and more and more it's 'right on', but just not always and it never will be.

I recall a story, perhaps apocryphal  of Henri Cartier-Bresson taking a photo of a man with a spade( shovel) and then suddenly the man turned on him and started chasing that famed photographer across a field.

Apocryphy?

I don't know, but it's certainly apt and there's truth in it, even if it never happened.

Great comment.

john

John (Crosley)

i love this picture and more,respect your work

as much as your picture i repect and have learned from your following discussions

i usually ask to take street pics and usually get a yes

maybe one day,althought at 73 years,i might gain some skill to take produce something as effective as your work

thanks

I'm delighted to know that the discussion as well as the photos has been influential on development of your photography.

Some have denigrated that as being surplusage, and my answer for those is to just dismiss or ignore it.  No need to read if it's not for you, as many write me that they like the colloquy between me and my critics.

Thank you for letting me know how my photos and writings have influenced your work. 

john

John (Crosley)