"'At Your Service' - This Surreal Life"

The surreal is all around us, but sometimes it is more pronounced as

here with this 'pilot' and his 'airplane'. 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

Fantastic!

I have a taste for the bizarre and surreal aspects of everyday life that others just scurry by without paying attention.

I'm glad that we share taste in this regard.

Thank you for your comment.

john

John (Crosley)

This was a very difficult photo to convert to black and white.  It took 13 attempts, since the plane bottom was blueish and his outfit black, to get the tonal range within acceptable limits.  I had to use 'color channels' very delicately in the process.

I am continually surprised by the impact my presence sometimes has on the street; people I can barely remember in a city unofficially numbering 4 million (officially about 2 million but that's registered residents) will occasionally wave at me, and I'll hear the Russian word for photograph (or photographer, they sound similar) amid the hubbub, and acknowledge them, not remembering for many if I've talked to them, photographed them, a relative or friend or if they were bystanders, or why the attention, but it's not unwelcome. 

Better than thrown shoes!

This man AND HIS FRIENDS stop me nearly every time I pass his central downtown work location, as he changes advertising job from day to day or week to week.  Sometimes being photographed can be the high point of such a person's day, week, or even month.

And yes, the pose is entirely spontaneous. I wanted to take his photo, and he indicated 'wait', put on the goggles, and saluted. 

What more could a photographer ask?

Life's sometimes pretty good.

Thanks for the comment.

john

John (Crosley)

Good catch John. This is the sort of thing that should brighten anyone's day.

The other day I went out and took one photo.  It was not good; I wasn't in the mood.  Others I can take hundreds, even fill a 16 gig card, and a photo like this might be hiding among them, unrecognized, sometimes for years.

I am not always certain how viewers are going to digest things, and I take so many photos, many of which I like very much, but to viewers are 'ho hum', then something like this comes along and for a while it was scoring '6s', before it got hit by some low scorers and was for a while the top photo of the new day.

Go figure.

I take what pleases me, post what I think will stand the test of time, and let the raters sort out what they like; I find that in rating there is often (not always) much collective wisdom, and seldom as a result, will you find me scorning the raters.

On occasion they pass up a gem, even one or two that have been praised by some of the nation's highest critics, and will give such photos low rates, because they're more 'art-like' and may not seem to have a 'subject' which seems de rigueur for posting photos here. In fact all kinds of shenanigans and approaches are accepted, but not lacking a clear subject, even with a wonderful photo approved by world classs critics --that seems a PN 'no no'. 

Go figure again.

I just figure in the end, the ratings work out, and I get plenty of high, low and middle ratings, so I just take what I want and have my sights set higher.

I'm currently sorting my collection into various collections (Metro, Lovers, Early and Middle Periods, Incorporating the Background, Best Color Street, Best Black and White Street, All Time Best, and so forth), which is remarkably easy when one has over 2,000 photos, already rated by members of this and another service, with over 16,000 critiques, and who knows how many rates?

I've always looked at PN as a sort of 'proving ground' or test market - a place to learn which of my photos appealed to photo club aficionados, then had a goal of eventually publishing books and currently am organizing my photos to be published now.

It's simply a matter of sorting thumbnails by right clicking on them, copying into folders, and organizing each one within one or more folders on my computer, and since Photo.net will NOT upgrade its Presentation software, using finally an outside Photo presentation/Internet service with an excellent sorting engine for uploading from the folders (sometimes daily as the folders are updated) then sorting within the folders, as I rearrange the photos.

I'm making splendid progress, and finally (again since Photo.net finally announced it would NEVER help e.g., with refusal to upgrade  its Presentation software), I'm making record progress - I was all bottled up inside with so much to show and do.

Now I'm letting it all out.

The only problem is finding the worked up larger versions to match the right clicked thumbnail downloads. 

They exist and are pretty well organized, but not as well as on this and another site in thumbnail.  One major advantage of Internet club presentation is FORCED ORGANIZATION.

Thanks for the kind words; I sometimes don't know if a quirky photo like this is a winner until others critique it.  (In my mind it was a winner from the start!)

john

John (Crosley)

Very positive mood in this street person, unusual among ordinary passers-by.

You may not see such positive moods, dressed as you do and being unobtrusive when you shoot street, hat pulled down on your head (as I've seen).

I get out now and interact with my subjects many times (not always of course) because I'm using less of a telephoto assortment and more of a wide, moderate tele lens (single wide to moderate tele zoom) and it requires that I get quite close to subjects in most instances.

That also requires I not alarm them, and in many cases I often must either interact with them or at least not alarm them while continuing to photograph them; in some cases diverting their attention, or in others (as today) almost shoving the lens down their tonsils.

Yes, literally, almost down their throat so you can see the uvula hanging from the top of the rear of their mouths when they open wide as I inspect the inside past their bicuspids with my lens - pretty much dental style, showing caries (cavities, broken teeth, and all)!

And of course, sometimes huge smiles -- wonderful smiles.

Don't make a mistake and challenge me saying it isn't so, or if you  do make it a bet and put LOTS of money on your challenge that I don't do that so I can have a big payday, because I'm certain to win!

You've seen me shoot; I'm not shy, and I just keep shooting (you do too, I concede, which I respect).

I have world class 'good mood' and 'smiles' from today (really world class) to post later. 

Watch for them, they really are among my best shooting ever, absolutely no kidding.

I have people who stop me on Kreshatyk (Kyiv's park-like and most fasionable street, but open to all, a sort of boulevard, park, carnival during weekends)  just to see what I've shot that day including most of the break dancers in front of the huge McDonald's, many of the leaders of which are my unlikely fans.  I try not to disappoint them -- they crowd around when I come by, to look at whatever photo I have to show them as my best of the day, and I try desperately not to disappoint them.

Today I can guarantee you I didn't disappoint anyone, and even met my own highest standards.

Mother pin a rose on me!

john

John (Crosley)

On a more serious note:

It please me greatly that I no longer have to hide so much when I photograph (I didn't always anyway).

I also am greatly pleased that when I interact with subjects now so often the reaction when I share captures is a positive one; so often I get asked to share captures or deliver them (I always refuse saying I need a dozen secretaries but show how to find me in case the capture gets posted.)

It's really wonderful to meet so many nice people and have such good relations with strangers on an ad hoc basis, and often so suddenly - just take a photo or several, get challenged, show the photo (if it's flattering), and often instantly make new friends!

[don't show the police the photos of them stopping people, even though I never see violence or unwarranted rough handling of people - no one fools with the Ukrainian police -- too scared I think]

It's a great way to live a life doing what I do when I go out shooting.

john

John (Crosley)