"The Alternate 'Hands Up' Universe"

Nice to be seen! I like this picture. Best wishes, Olaf

Scientists and science fiction buffs speculate sometimes about the

existence of 'alternate universes'. Consider that when viewing this

photo taken in Los Angeles County; is it an alternate universe, an

alternate culture, or just an odd moment? Your ratings, critiques and

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

critically or just wish to make a remark, please submit a helpful and

constructive comment; please share your photographic knowledge to help

improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John (you are invited to

speculate, theorize or even post your own stories of life in

'alternate universe(s)' ;~))

I took a few photos at the start of the summer, worked them up, put them in a different file, lost track of it, and just found it.  During just one day I filled two 16-gig storage cards with numerous photos, many equal to this, in my view, though certainly not hundreds of them.  My 'OK enough to post' capture ratio was very, very high -- I felt 'top of my game'.

Glad this one struck a cord with you.

;~))

john

John (Crosley)

Funny moment, precise timing. Excellent stuff!

(Wish you hadn't cropped the sides)

Thank you ever so much for the high compliment.

As to the cropping, here is my philosophy and practice:

'Keep all the interesting stuff inside the frame and all the uninteresting stuff outside the frame.'

Usually with a 2:3 aspect ratio, I can make a successful composition with that aspect ratio --  the digital equivalent of a 35 mm camera, e.g., a dslr, in this case a crop dslr.

If you saw the uncropped version, I think you'd change your advice.  Also, it was not really a big crop, but the extraneous, cropped out small portion detracted greatly.

I looked at this just a little while ago and smiled too, not having seen it for two months.

I'm really glad you like it; I live for the odd photo that seems to connect.

Thanks so much, again.

john

John (Crosley)

I like the colored men doing exercises. I am not interested in women. Suppose you are from US. Where Armstrong learned trumpet? (What a wonderful world is one of his songs).

Reading your comment reminds me of another name, spelled closely, but ending in 'at'.  Perhaps you've heard of him.

Of course this photo is about two people and about photography, not your personal likes and dislikes in people.

Do you have anything helpful to add about photography or that is germane to the photograph or even the theme of 'alternate universes'?

Or perhaps that she possibly is mimicking him?

Alternate caption:  'The Mimick?'

There - what about that?

This not a photo about color, race or Louis Armstrong in my mind, although I saw and met Louis A. when I was very young and was extremely impressed -- it was most memorable. 

Boy did that man leak around the mouth when he played, and he played haaaaaard and helped give soul lifetime meaning to me.  (That's why he always kept a handkerchief in hand.)

john

John (Crosley)

I like your idea and way you did it,really interesting and make me think to title,my compliments.

RC

Once, over 40 years ago, I wrote captions (titles) for a living for a worldwide wire service (as well as doing much more), but nothing like this caption was allowed.

A good caption calls attention to a photo, which then stands on its own, but a great caption can cause others to assess a photo in ways they might never have comprehended without the caption's hint.

For words and ideas I have a fertile imagination, as long as I see the photo or scene.  I am not so good at envisioning things without a camera in hand and charged with directing actors/views in front of me or nearby to fulfill an 'inner vision', so I'd probably make a lousy feature film director, though for documentary, I think no problem, plus I've had some personal experience with documentary video, not so long ago/ a great lesson.

I also am well versed in a great variety of other areas of knowledge, and although there are vast areas in which I have no or little knowledge, there are some in which I have expertise, and others in which I have broad general knowledge, and those help spark these interesting visions which I see when I spot an interesting photo or situation that needs a caption.

Sometimes in the field, I see something, and it calls to mind a philosophy, a saying, a poem, a figure or other idea from cinema, literature, media, etc., or something from my very long past experience, and what I see helps trigger that idea.  I'll take the photo, and it comes precaptioned (this one didn't come that way).

This photo comes from very vast reflexes -- I was pointing a camera/lens this guy's way, hoping for something interesting more than his doing pushups against a pole, this woman walked by, her hands were up and 'snap!' 

I timed for this for the 'V' composition -- anything else I felt would have been of limited worth.  (no motor drive or 'C' drive here, single shot only).

So, voila!

Thanks Radu C.

john

John (Crosley)

It seems everyone is pushing on something.  The young man has something tangible he is pushing on, where the young woman's object is invisible.  Even the handlebar on the bicycle is raised upward :)

Now to the fun stuff!

1. Love how her bag mirrors the squares displaying the earrings as she is heading toward them as well as the few blocks showing near the pole the young man is leaning against.

2. The angles of his legs, her legs and the bicycle frame are great as they from a fragmented "W".

I really enjoy viewing this image and it's treasures.

deb

I have learned through experience not to try to 'explain' your comments, they're always so dead on.

I just recommend all to read them.

With highest regards and best wishes.

john

John (Crosley)

I just found another treasure...

The spokes on the bicycle wheel also mirror the straps of her sandals.  I love  to uncover little hidden treasures and your images always give me such pleasure in that search :)

deb

What a moment! for timing and composition it deserves 17! I've checked that BOUNCE!VENICE web site (above) and even that adds to compo - it is a fitness club. To deliver that kind of shot is like to come across on pirates treasures - congrats!

Really, Vlad, a fitness club?

I had no idea and never thought of looking for a web site.

I toyed with the idea of using 'content aware fill' to excise the name of the club to avoid giving them a free advertisement, but now I am sure that refusing to do so was the proper choice.

Much as I dislike giving free advertisements, your detective work has taught me something, so like deb cloud, above, your comment (not to denigrate any other) gets a '7' from me.

I get some of the most fabulous comments on all of Photo.net sometimes - very often it seems.

With best regards.

john

John (Crosley)

You're amazing.

You see things that I, the photographer and supposed expert on my own photos, often never would imagine are there, but they always are when you spot them.

Thanks again so much for helping me understand my own photo(s).

john

John (Crosley)

I think I love photography SO much that I absorb every detail as it relates to everything else within the image.  I like you, see an image forming that has the possiblity of being interesting on some level so I capture it.  Then - the fun begins as I'm able to view it and see all the details that I didn't see when the shutter snapped.

Below, you'll see an image of an egret that simply plunged his head into the water (from what I saw in my viewfinder).  Then when I saw it on my computer, I was able to see what actually was happening in that split second during the shutter snap.

I love to find the details after the fact.  It's like a treasure hunt :)

deb

I did not see the shad in a panic until after the image was captured.

WOW!

john

John (Crosley)

Thanks John, it's one of my favorites as it started off as a simple bird on a rock near the water image and ended up as a suprise action image.  Sometimes my arms get so fatigued as I hold the camera up - looking at the world unfolding through my viewfinder.  But truth be told, I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Mine was a find that I didn't know what was actually unfolding.  Yours, too if full of little treasures that you could not see in the split second you captured the image. 

I so enjoy your images and love to go on treasure hunts within them.

deb

You may hold your camera up for long periods; I used to sometimes, especially using huge telephotos with bird photos, but I'm really hardly capable of holding those huge, long lenses.

In any case, in 'street', I find that 200 mm with a crop sensor lens is a very long telephoto, and haven't used one of those for a good while, even for the shorter distances and have opted for max 120 mm for the time being -- lighter weight for a sore neck.

I have developed the ability to select a subject, or sometimes predict what subjects MIGHT be doing or that pose a promise of a good photo, hanging out often pretending to be looking elsewhere, even turned around a good deal (even 180 degrees away) then wheeling around.  On occasion, I've used a window or reflective doorway to let me know what likely subjects are doing, so they're not aware they're being sized up for the opportune photo, and so they don't vamp for the camera.

Then, in an instant, sometimes after having preframed, and sometimes without, and sometimes after prezooming then turning away, or sometimes not, I'll raise the camera in a second or two, zoom (if needed), frame the subject in what I hope will be an artful way (it's pretty instinctive and I internalize comments here as a 'crib'), time my subjects, or sometimes take more than one photo, but now seldom using 'C' (continuous servo) drive (descendant of film's motor drive) and take single shots, not fps (frames per second) (not always but most times now).

I do like the Nikon multi-shot cameras, but there's a certain discipline to not using frames per second, as here.

It's less opportune and more planned, but not for nature photos such as yours where fps is very important as a tool -- no shame in that at all if you used fps.

It's all sometimes over in an instant, then camera down, and if I need to be clandestine, I may end up staring far, far away -- what soldiers call the 1,000 yard stare --- apparently at something very distant, far far away, and if subjects move, my eyes often don't follow them (I view them peripherally or just don't follow them, at least at first if I wish their naturalness to continue.

I may even approach them, camera raised, and walk right past them, camera apparently aimed at something more distant, even pause and frame a photo or two after passing them.  Sometimes those subsequent photos are good too.

Or I just simply may turn or my head may turn, if I've got that capture.

Or pull some dozens other moves out of my grab bag.

Many times, I may just walk up to my subject(s) and show them my capture if I sense no difficulty and it's a good one; subject reactions are sometimes the best.

There's no end to variety in 'street' -- I thrive on that variety -- no sleeping 'on the job' (so to speak).

Sometimes, however, I'm quite straightforward; I'll approach a subject and just ask, then request they go about  business as usual, especially necessary when doing really close up work with a wide angle.

Variety, spice of life!

;~))

john

John (Crosley)

The more I look at this photo and reflect on your comment and the Internet sign above them and its name 'bounceVenice.com' with the idea that somehow I imagine it's dedicated to bouncing, and seeing them with their hands upraised, I get the idea that this is not a photo of two things but of a trio -- two potential bouncers enacting their 'bounce' -- perhaps with imaginary balls or some such, and the shop, background, dedicated to the 'bounce' art/science.

In any case, I'm extremely glad I didn't clone out the sign - I almost never do such things.  To the journalist in me (long ago former journalist) to do something like that would be sacrilege, as an 'artist' I know I have more leeway but almost always just don't use it.  If a photo is to have imperfections, let it wear them grandly.

My last Photo of the Week showed people lined up as though in an abstract, then in the middle right was a huge black, windblown trash bag.

It was suggested I might have cloned it out, and if I were doing advertising layouts, I might have, but that's not ME.

I just don't have time or patience to try to 'improve' my photos by fiddling with the content -- I'd rather just go out and take two dozen new photos in the time it would take to do a good clone job or any other Photoshop work.  My heart just is not into image manipulation, only in image enhancement of the entire, truthful image, although some cropping is allowed both for aspect ratio and for 'keeping all the interesting stuff inside the frame and all the uninteresting or detracting stuff out.'

I am very thankful for your enterprise in following that web site to its source.

john

John (Crosley)

Good capture, John-Crosleyish.

It looks cropped.

The scene is very interesting and well spotted and captures, as I said. I wonder a bit about its narrative strength. There are some detracting details which abound a bit: the bin, the bicycle.

L.

Thank you for the compliment. . . . yes,  I agree that this photo is particular (or peculiar) to the way I see things -- sometimes outrageous or just particular or even peculiar.  Maybe a bit surrealistic?

This is cropped -- you can tell of course by the aspect ratio - not 2:3 exactly.

You note that there are distracting elements, and I agree -- we don't live in a perfect world and unhappily not everything in a capture like this always 'fits'.

Someone I think noted that the lines of the bicycle frame, which you note as 'distracting' do fit, but I wish the lines were closer, so they fit with her legs and her hands as well as the man's arms to create more up and down diagonal lines closer together.

Some of the verbiage above BounceVenice.com might have been excised if I were a photoshopper and an 'artist' producing 'art' -- and if i were paid for the printing as 'art' it might be but for expositing first time, I don't do such things . . . . there's no point in trying to 'improve' reality when in this mode.

I note that I might have tried to clone out or 'take out' BounceVenice.com with content aware fill, but it seemed important to one member, so better to have kept it in I think and better for my reputation of not photoshopping my work to death and doing just minimal photoshopping primarily for contrast, brightness and clarity.

The photo was cropped left and right -- primarily left as the cropped out areas were primarily distracting and broke my rule - 'keep all the interesting and important things relating to the photo inside the frame lines and all the unimportant and distracting things outside the frame lines.'

In this case, the things mostly leftward were distracting and unimportant, so out they went.  This is a case where a Sony 4:5 camera might have done a better job with its different aspect ratio; a 2:3 aspect ratio is my preference but not perfect for everything.

Nice job of analysis; spot on.

Best regards.

john

John (Crosley)