'Ilya and Shoppers at Minus 23 Degrees C.'

This is passerby Ilya near a bazaar with morning shoppers in

background as the temperature skidded to minus 23 degrees Celsius

recently. Notice snow in his beard and on his hat, but frankly it

mostly was too cold to snow much; snow comes mostly at higher

temperatures. 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

In Fahrenheit, it's just shy of minus 10 degrees.

john

John (Crosley)

Cold weather is shown very well in this portrait!

Yes, winter came in like a lion late this year, in mid January, but it had temperatures that rivaled those of Russia's Siberia.

Wow, what cold!

Thanks for the comment.

john

John (Crosley)

No sense fighting the cold.

Back home in the USA, perhaps until the cold's over, like in January, too.

Back and forth.

john

John (Crosley)

It takes fortitude to street shoot in these temperatures! Then again, you may have been sitting in a warm coffee shop at a window table. Nice capture. GJ

Europe has had one of its worst cold snaps in some time, not so much because of lots of snow (though there now is plenty) but because of sub-zero Fahrenheit temperatures every night for a long time and forecast into the future, so I'm home in the U.S. for a while to warm up, I think - I was offered a free ticket, and home awaited me.

This was taken with an 18+ mm zoom at about 18 to 20 mm, so any thought I was sitting in a warm coffee shop taking this is pure malarkey.

I could literally reach out and brush the snow out of his beard, and on more than one occasion, to get his eyes to turn (he had trouble looking at me), actually did thump lightly on his coat and chest. 

This was the farthest away I was of all the photos I took; many were from closer up where I practically was climbing up his beard and nostrils with steam from them fogging my lens (well not quite, but you get the idea!).

Actually, it was too cold for anybody's breath to make steam, I think; it just fell to the ground in clunks of ice.

I''m a West Coast boy, though I've lived in the East Coast and also Moscow and regional Russia in the mid-Winter (off and on for over a year or so), and also spent lots of time in Ukraine as a tourist (always as a tourist, never as a resident though it may seem so; I've never had anything but a tourist visa in recent times since they started offering them, and never overstayed.)

I just like returning; life in Ukraine is lived mostly on the street; and that's great for photographing 'street' style.

Streets are mostly broad after the Soviet fashion in city centers, but most side streets are choked with autos, and traffic can get horribly clogged, since anybody who can afford a car has one and tries to drive it everywhere -- the result is CHAOS in the streets. 

That has subsided since the economic crisis, and also the chaos has subsided since the maximum traffic fine went from $10 equivalent to $100, collected usually 'on the spot' by you know who.

Drivers now are extraordinarily careful and cautious - accidents in cities are exceedingly rare, as few have insurance, and it is rumored that insurance rarely will pay even the best claims anyway . . . .so what's the use? 

I think I got out before part of my anatomy went

'CLUNK!'

Right on the ground or ice.

One thing about horrible cold is that it generally is safer to walk in snow and ice when it's very, very, very cold, as the snow is less slick and offers more traction for the pedestrian and also for the driver.

An odd thing was seeing people that morning in minus 7 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures driving their cars so cautiously as though somehow it was even more dangerous, when in fact it was far more safe to drive then than at higher temperatures. 

At about 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius)  it's the the worst, or just under that, as the weight of a car melts snow and ice under it't tires, even when the temperature's in the mid 20s, and turns the snow underneath them into slick ice/water combination.

But at -7 or -10 degrees Fahrenheit (down to almost -22 C.), the traction is really pretty good, so  seeing all those early morning cars inching along looked to my practiced eye pretty stupid; the Ukrainian drivers of all people should have known better.

As it warmed up, and things got slicker, they all speeded up later in the day. 

Go figure!

Ilya here is old enough he possibly never had dreams of owning a car, and as a resident of Kyiv or suburbs, never needed one. 

The Metro is a warm enough place, inexpensive,  and faster getting around than any car can get you there, IF it goes your direction. 

It's pretty wonderful getting you those places where it goes.

Best to you, GJ.

All the snow that didn't fall on the US and all the Banana Belt temperatures experienced in the US got evened out by harsh temperatures in Europe, especially Eastern Europe this winter (so off I went, to rainy climes).

john

John (Crosley)

I'm glad this one pleases you.

My fingers just about thawed out yesterday from taking this!

Wow, it was cold and no gloves.  Too hard to take photos with gloves, but hands hurt, then get numb, the hurt some more.

Best.

john

John (Crosley)