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johncrosley

Artist: © 2011 John Crosley/Crosley Trust;Copyright: © 2011 John Crosley/Crosley Trust, All Rights Reserved, No Reproduction or Other Use Without Prior Express Written Permission From Copyright Holder; Software: Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows;

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Street

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This older gentleman is a piper -- Perhaps he's on his way to Hamlin

to pipe away that hamlet's children or perhaps he's up to something

else? Your ratings, critiques and observations are invited and most

welcome. If you rate harshly, very critically, or 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

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Mr. Piper asked when he approached me on a day and time when I was certain I would get NO good captures:

'Excuse me, what kind of camera?'

'How much for that camera, and is that with the objectif' (lens)? 

(I never tell camera costs; no telling who owes money to a loan shark who consorts with their favorite drug dealer who has criminals who he'll brag to 'Guess who has XXXX thousand dollars worth of cameras that I see every day at YYYYY place? Never say the value of your cameras to anyone, even if it's obvious and say 'it's a matter of practice and policy; if I don't say it, you can't repeat it . . . 'You're honest, but you've got a friend who's got a friend who's a crook, and I don't want him hearing about me if you have one too many . . . .'

'And I'm afraid of that guy.'

So, this guy, the piper, strikes up a conversation with me, ostensibly about my Nikon.

I ask him the inevitable question . . . can I take his photo to show him how my camera works, since he's interested (people who ask about cameras almost always want their photo taken, and who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth?)

He then walks away, faces a window to use as a mirror, takes out his small beard comb and brush, combs his beard, and finally returns and smiles for my camera.

I take a few, then ask him to do some things and as he loosens up, take other photos when he's not expecting them. 

This is one.

Never look a gift horse in the mouth.

He's often asking you about your camera or making a remark about 'Are you a photographer?" when what he means is 'if I make myself known, will you take my photograph, or that of me and my girlfriend or just my girlfriend?' 

You gotta understand how people talk.

They often speak in roundabout fashion.

Listen for the true question.

'Will you take my photo?'  is spoken as 'How much is that camera worth'?

You just have to have an R2D2 in your mind for understanding real intent.

john

John (Crosley)

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This capture is just as good -- possibly better -- in color.

Some captures are entirely black and white.

Others are solely color.

Some can show almost identically as black and white or color as this one does, except this one's color version is more 'vivid' than the other and is 'warmer' - the color one of course, and the color version also is 'color coordinated' as this gent had a good sense of color coordination . . . . blues predominate.

Other captures can be shown one way in black and white and they have a particular look but shown in color they take on entirely other look -- more than just being more 'warm' or 'cold, but an entirely other look because of the presence of color.  Sometimes color's presence entirely changes a capture, where that capture can be shown as black and white or color.

Some captures cannot be shown except in black and white #because of bad color problems, say with 'mixed lighting' from sources with mixed and/or odd Kelvin temperatures, flourescent lighting that cannot be fixed or a garment, sign, or something, even in the background, that is of such a distracting color that it draws attention away from the color version of the photo.

Other times color is the essence of the photo, and a photo is all hues, shadings and even complementary colors played off each other that will never show in black and white.

It's fun to desaturate color photos; I do that with almost every likely photo when I am shooting with a camera that has a 'convert to black and white' option, and I do it during 'down time' when I've been shooting, maybe when I'm having a short meal or a beverage . . . . I'll start converting my captures, which always start as color, into black and white, just to see.

Sometimes it's a revelation.

A wonderful revelation . . . .

john

John #Crosley#

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He's quite a 'find' isn't he?

And he came up to me, not the opposite.

See above.  (also looks great in color!)

john

John (Crosley)

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Since you bring it up, is your equipment always a trade secret?  I inform you that there is a link in your workspace to manage equipment. There is also a link under the "details" tab to explain technical details, i.e. shutter speed, fstop, lens etc. which are all provided with the Raw file upload. And there is link to include tags.  Often these data are more interesting and informative than the photograph. Why don't you and hundreds of others use these links?? I assure you that none of us owe money to loan sharks and are therefore out to steal your camera.

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I judge that the capture is either 'obvious' or if someone really wants to know they can e-mail me.  For my purposes when I look at Cartier-Bresson's captures I generally can tell whether he used a 5 cm (50 millimeter lens) or another.  FYI, he did not always use a 50 mm lens, nor for that matter did he refrain from cropping; many of his favorite captures are shown from 1:1 (almost) to 2:1 ratio as well as the familiar 2:3 ratio. 

Just go looking, use you head instead of listening to his and his 'cult's' nonsense about only using a 5 cm (50 mm) lens and only printiong full frame.

He did have big arguments with Harper's Bazaar about cropping,  in the later '40s, and he was averse to just cropping for an editor's whim, but he did crop, and he allowed his printer with his consent to do some rather major crops.

(anyone want examples, just e-mail me; my e-mail's on my biography page, and I'll give you some solid examples of crops he endorsed and promoted, and maybe show some photos he did NOT take with his famous 5 cm (50 millimeter) lens. 

Leica then did not call its lenses 50 mm. That 50 millimeter canard came later, maybe in the 60s or so when Nikon, etc., began calling their lenses in millimeters instead of cm, I think, which helps date that so-called 'institutional history'.)

As to giving credit to one or more manufacturers, I do from time to time as I discuss their equipment.

If they want more credit, they can start giving me equipment, and I'll start giving them more credit.

For instance, if Canon starts giving me their highest-level camera models and lenses, then I'll be sure to show that I'm shooting Canon and same with Nikon, Pentax, Leica, even Sony, if I'm so inclined and things 'work out'.

I am one of the biggest sharers on Photo.net, so if the f-stop and everything cannot readily be discerned by you then it is available; you just haven't tried hard enough. 

I generally can look at a photo and tell the mm setting at which it was taken and the f-stop, for the classics, though not always and certainly not always 'right on'.  But it's a skill, like being able to meter light without having a meter available or a built-in light meter.

As to your post script.

Are you suggesting you have a brain aberration?  If so, I am sorry.

;~))

john

John (Crosley)

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I didn't 'bring up' the subject of keeping camera equipment a secret. It's quite visible to my subjects - at least those who see me.

I did make it quite apparent I NEVER discuss the COST of that equipment.

In that regard you appear to have misunderstood me (once again).  My equipment around my neck is no secret to anyone who sees me, and I often write about it, even if it's not always noted in the 'details'. 

(I've been a target of thievery, and such mentions may have been one 'lead' the thieves had.)

john

John (Crosley)

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Hi Bela,

 

Thanks for the helpful and nice comment.  He IS a character, isn't he.  He WANTED his photo taken and here is primping.  I don't wait for the posing part which is part of my secret.

 

Thanks for cruising my photos.

 

john

 

John (Crosley)

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