'The Casual Summer Art Gallery Walk'

Art patrons and lookers walk in and out of galleries grouped in

the 'art sector' of a major West Coast city, the gallery owner hangs

onto the branches that comprise the nose of a horse made of wood,

a poodle mirrors the horse, and look at the feet, lines and

shadows. . . . . Your ratings, critiques, and remarks are invited and

most welcome. If you rate harshly, 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

very nice photo.. beautiful light, mood and moment.. personally i would favor lowering the contrast a little.. very good work.. best regards

tarek

I am glad this pleased you; this for me is one of my more 'different' works, and one I'm very happy with.

Notice that the 'horse' made of branches is 'mirrored' in the poodle, left. 

Both have the same direction and the same orientation, just different sizes (and placement in the photo).  One is being held by the gallery owner; the other (dog) is being held by leash by a gallery patron.

It's little things like that which make me enjoy photography so much.

About the contrast: the scene naturally has extremely high contrast - I'm not sure the photo would work if it were lower.

But, it also works wonderfully in color; I have worked up the color version, and it's just as good, perhaps better.

I just chose this one for posting.

Thanks for sharing your views; welcome.

john

John (Crosley)

Excellent and creative work! 

I agree with you; when I took it among several hundred photos, this is one of two I showed other people that day -- to unanimous acclaim.

I frequently show my work on my camera to interested strangers. Iit usually seems there are plenty, and I try not to disappoint them.  People who saw this uniformly praised it as a 'work of art' and I feel the same way.  I'm proud of this one; others I post I sometimes am sometimes not vastly proud of, even if I happen to like them (or parts) for various reasons.

Although not a viewer magnet, this was scoring about 5.5 on the averages until just one rater rated it and the rating plummeted to 4.2, so it must have been a 1 or a 2 rating -- punitive to say the least, but it gradually is climbing back in the ratings.

I regard it as one of my finest works since my recent Photo of the Week, but still not a 'view magnet'.

But if you take time to study the devices used -- the mirroring of the horse with the dog, and the mirroring of the feet and legs with their shadows and then the repetition of the feet, center, (the gallerist's feet going one way and the entrant's two feet going another), then the photo becomes very interesting.

The light coming in the door seems to come in 'rays'.  I found that pleasing and it helped make a broad range of tones.

Finally, the gallerist is hanging onto the branches which comprise the horse's snout, ever so casually, his legs in a casual position as though that's the way you treat familiar art - like one of the family.

I found that particularly endearing, and truth be told, that's what drew me to the scene in the first place -- just to photograph him hanging there like that, with a telephoto and his interesting hand gestures with his other hand (not shown here).

All in all, as I backed up and went wide, this scene revealed herself to me; another testament to 'working the scene'.

Thanks for an intelligent comment, Maurizio G.

john

John (Crosley)

How to analyze this photo technically?  Here are some suggestions, partially taken from comments above -- and it is not an ordinary photo which can be picked apart in such a way.

1.  Look at the lightness (brightness) to darkness.  This photo has a full range of tones with good contrast.

2. Look at the lines.  The sun coming in through the door and overhead windows seems to come in with 'rays'.  Moreover, it silhouettes the legs of the actors, especially the gallerist and the late-entering patron (upper right), so that they cast mirroring but upside down shadows with the lines of their legs - more rays?

3.  Look at the mirroring. 

     a.  Horse figure, upright, mostly silhouetted and facing left (large and to the left)

     b.  Dog, upright, silhouetted, facing left, and small, facing also leftward.

4.  The scene as a story-telling scene.  Here we see the gallerist, the tall man with the long legs hanging from the horse's snout, talking to patrons.  He obviously is familiar with the art he is selling it, as he can almost hang from it.  The patrons are obviously arriving not from work but from someplace more casual;they have their dog with them, and for dogs, it's a dog of wealthy people,  well-trimmed poodle.

5.  The scene develops, thus on several levels as one follows one's eye around the frame, and an eye traversing the frame is a good sign of a good photograph.

That's how I view it but I'm open to suggestions.

john

John (Crosley)

Excelente escena, me permite percibir el ambiente del sitio. Quizá un poco empastados los negros, pero me gusta.

here is the comment of Antonio de Villas translated by Google Translate:

'Excellent scene.  I can feel the atmosphere of the site.  Maybe a little slurred blacks, but I like it.

john

John (Crosley)

Thank you for such a kind evaluation; for me this is one of my best works; unfortunately the majority of raters seem to feel otherwise -- tant pis (so much the worse in French).  Or if they like it, they're not very enthusiastic, although one rater definitely gave it such a low rating (based on watching ratings) that it was bound to be rated low.

In any case, I like it very much and feel it is one of my best . . . . not something that attracts immediate attention and 'wows' the audience of viewers, but good solid work and without problems - also very good use of light and dark and composition that (for me) is to die for.

I see not everyone agrees, however, so what am I to say, but I put it up for rating and I accept the consensus.

;~))

That's the way the cookie crumbles.

One again, your kind comment has helped make my day better.

john

John (Crosley)

An interesting combination of motion and static!

There really is very little motion here, but one might imfer the motion from very dynamic lines - they suggest motion because they are strong diagonals and they make the frame replete with implied triangles --  each a very vibrant figure.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

john

John (Crosley)

I like much of the critique, but mostly that you the photographer articulately reflect, and critique, your own work.  I am moved by the crisp lighting and dynamic lines drawing the viewer in, centrally. On the side, and really of no importance to the photo, is that the horse is most likely a bronze by Deborah Butterfield of Bozeman, Montana. She has made it to the "bigtime" by no other reasons than hard work and persistance.

Your superb and well informed critique is one of the major reasons for the success of these comments, now numbering just shy of 16,000 by one.  You have added immeasurably to the analysis of this photo just by naming who you think is the artist as well as by your excellent analysis.

Thank you so much.

Scene:  Seattle, 2011.

john

John (Crosley)