'Capa's Credo'

Magnum Photographer Robert Capa's famous credo was 'If your photos

aren't good enough, you're not close enough'. I got close enough

here; is this photo good enough? 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

These youths were at a concert, nearly all blue eyed, shorn closely, clean shaven.

They all looked nearly all alike, and had been allowed in a special area near the stage, possibly because of affiliation with some group (or political group?), and when I saw their happiness, a little boredom, and a twinkle in some eyes, I just felt I would try something.

I stood at the edge of the larger group, fixed my focus on one, was most obvious in focusing and framing a photo of that person, then just as obviously I started a strong advance into the crowd of youths, almost pushing them aside, but not quite, , firing directly at their faces right into their tonsils even as i advanced directly into the groups and that sole youth then beyond -- most unexpected.

But welcome.

They were astonished and I captured their astonishment as I advanced on them.

They were delighted.

So was I when I saw their looks even before I chimped (looked at the view screen).

With their encouragement on seeing my captures, I did this several times in a few minutes before moving on.

Everyone (including me) seemed overjoyed.

When they grouped up for a group photo, arm in arm, spontaneously I aimed my camera at a group, then to spice up a cliche, with my free hand, proceeded to shove the group over very slowly, and captured their astonished looks as they tried to hold their pose while falling over backwards as a group and trying to catch the fall.

Life can be fun sometimes, especially when people (like me) do unexpected thing that are definitely out of the mold for an older guy.

No one says a guy like me has to be put in a mold (or be moldy).

Sometimes I am completely unexpected when I deal with subjects, then capture their amazement.

;~))

I think Capa would have approved; he couldn't have come any closer.

john

John (Crosley)

Did you order one?

I could look at this photo for hours, blown up big and may blow it up huge just for that.

Try it, it's mesmerizing.

Really.

Thanks for the compliment.

john

John (Crosley)

Don't need one.

Capa's message is inscribed on the inside of my eyelids.

I see it when I blink or sleep!

Nice shirt.

john

John (Crosley)

Pardon me for misspelling your name.

The editing window is now closed or I'd fix it quietly.  I know your name is important to you and spelling it right is equally important.

john

John (Crosley)

Excellent image! It is that feeling of them all cramped together (in the photo) that really brings out the laughter, something which might just seem silly if it were taken with more space around the faces. Great composition, great photo and congratulations for going that extra step!

Thank you.

This may be one of my all time favorites, and taken yesterday.

Just hit the cursor twice to see it 'largest' and see why, then stare and see if you are drawn in like I am drawn into it.

I take some photos others (even I) know are pretty darn good, but this one has LIFE and character in it that to me is transcendent.

I have no photos on my wall at all, but this one blown up large might end up there.

Thanks for the kind comment.

john

John (Crosley)

Love the image, looks close enough to me.

Not sure about the b&w conversion, it looks a bit forced (shadow/highlight?) to get the maximum grey tones. I would love to see an example of this with 'normal' contrast, or with a more filmlike character.

Anyway, very nicely done.

Thanks for the critique.

The quality of the capture was the biggest disappointment as I regard this as one of my top 100 photos of all time.

The day was sometimes sunny and sometimes thunderstormy with thick, dark clouds, and these guys were also in shadow of stage equipment under those dense, dark middafternoon/early evening clouds and also shaded by their friends (and equipment.)

I had to set my camera in broad darkened daylight at ISO 800 to get the best quality capture with no blurs and just a moderate/slow shutter speed, and I paid a steep price in image quality.

Frankly, this is pretty much like what an in-camera black and white conversion looked like, except there was too much variance between the darks and lights and they had to be brought into synch, but not by much.

For instance, the guy, right, with the bulging eyes had superlight eyes, that had to be brought down somewhat, or they'd have overpowered the photo and worked against the photo as a whole.

In fact, making the photo work as a whole is what caused the tonalities to be brought to one brightness level, but frankly there's not much difference between this and any other method, and this looks far better despite what you (and I) feel is a 'forced' look.

When the time comes, this goes to a pro photoshopper, or I'll have more tries at it as it was a very difficult one to work up . . . I even went into color channels, as the hues in this were both reddish and more toward cyan in color, depending on which side of each face you were looking at, making a color exposition almost impossible without extensive selection and manipulation of hues.

So, for a tremendous photo, reproduction is a huge problem, but that highlights the tremendous strength of the capture I think.

There has to be a far better way to do this, and I'm committed to do that, or have someone else do that, but I can't post others' work here.

This is a great photo for me -- one of my all-time great ones -- I think.

I must start from the basis of a 'good photo', and the workup to me is secondary (very, very important, but secondary).

You start with a silk purse and even if you try to disguise it as a sow's ear (here) it still shows up as a 'Sow's Ear' brand silk purse, I think, if you get my drift.

Thanks again, Theo. very helpful and quite an astute observation.

john

John (Crosley)

Theo, here is a almost unmanipulated JPEG from raw of a desaturated copy of this photo from raw, with just a little burning but only just a little bit.

Please compare.

Just for your criticism.

(Silver Effex Pro for desaturation but not pushing anything, neutral for all.)

(see attachment)

john

John (Crosley)

As you can see it's a very difficult photo to lighten and increase contrast but necessary, I think.  You are free to work on it.

john

John (Crosley)

I am not sure if that "getting close" thing is always correct but it certainly worked here.  If you were further away by even a little bit (say, 1-2 meters) you would not have captured the intensity of the excitement emotions as in this one.  I also like the composition a lot - especially the fact that you don't see the entire faces of the four guys.  This makes the image more interesting and well balanced (not sure if it is technically correct to explain it this way...but I just like it)

The post-processing looks good to me (much better than the original B&W you posted).  

Again this is one of the best photos I have seen for a long time.  Thank you for sharing!

When I saw this photo -- after recently distilling my photos to find the best of my lifetime -- I knew it easily fit within the top 100 (plus another taken just after -- the other to be posted some day, not soon), as my 'best of the best'.

Your explanatory skills are excellent, don't be meek about them.

You know X.L., I take these photos for my pleasure and the pleasure of my many critics worldwide, who pick them apart, and eventually we settle on a few being top notch, occasionally one or another being world class.

I'm glad you agree that I finally it with one for you-- this one meets your test.  I think you have high standards, or at least they agree with mine.

I keep trying and trying, and I realize now that sometimes if I hit the shutter button enough I will make it; so the more I do so, the more I am sure to know I'll get some wonderful captures now that I have serious experience, and the photos eventually are all different.

Some of my winter stuff started to look alike; the winter kept my peregrinations within certain bounds, Metros and markets, where I could find warmth and interesting people (I'm not in the country club set, or the vacation on South America's beaches set).

But now that it's warmed up, you're likely to find me anywhere, and people are everywhere, with activity all over, which means good captures are possible anytime -- just watch for them with a good, careful, and practiced eye and be quick with the shutter release and to frame on the fly sometimes or to patiently stake out  situation that appears ripe for a capture.

And by now, my eye is very practiced bit it's the same eye that I had at 21 that took wonderful captures then, I just was most unsure of myself and had no idea that the photos I took were so good as I now know they are.  I felt they were good, but showed them to no one, except Associated Press when I went for a job, and they hired me, but it took months for me to be informed and months for them to track me down while I worked elsewhere, trading stocks.

So, when I was 21-22, I had the same eye, just not so practiced; my style was fully developed (mostly) back then.

Go figure. 

But I had to work much harder to get even any captures then and now after decades of disuse I've finally worked back to my old style, PLUS MORE.

Thank you for the highest compliment.

Despite what's written above, I really am humbled beyond reason by your comment.  Thanks so much.

Your photo servant,

john

John (Crosley)

This is the reward, shirt sleeve weather, warm but not too warm, intermittent rain, but not too rainy, with drops that melt on your skin that day (some days they'd carry away Noah's Ark), for those days two months earlier when the weather was minus 23 C and the wind was blowing 30 knots, and I was out there, wearing my pants and a second pair of pants (track warmup fleece pants) under my pants warmer than long Johns) to keep my cajones from clanging to the ground.

On those days, I would go out and try to get something good, and often I did, because Kyiv is made for pedestrians in all but the most EXTREME cold weather, and people don't drive from here to there like in America or wealthy parts of Europe, they take the Metro and/or jitney buses and to wait stand out in the snow and wind.  Fortunately if it gets really cold, often the wind does not blow, but sometimes both happen at once, not often.

The reward is that when Spring comes the city comes alive, in fact, all Ukraine comes alive with people who hunkered down the four winter months, and celebrate the good weather and get their business done, and are out on the street, where a street photographer (like me) has a hey day.

Captures now are easy; two months ago they were hard.

This is the reward for toughing it out (when I couldn't afford to go to some warm resort area for the winter . . . .  and intermittently home to the US.):

More and easier captures and so much less physical discomfort.

And smiling people, happy to be alive to experience the good weather and good friendships (most in Ukraine and Russia next door have good friends, which in the US is rare).

That's when the country becomes street shooter's paradise and worth many of its privations. (I live in the USA, and visit Ukraine only).

john

John (Crosley)

No, luminescence of a cardboard box. Expect color would be better.

You sweet talker you . . . .

john

John (Crosley)

GOOD,, not enough contrast though.

Thanks.

I agree, but don't know how to fix to your specification.

john

John (Crosley)

Great job man way to get right in the thick of it.

I think if you had witnessed it, as did these guys, you still would have said the same thing and you would have smiled at the spectacle (as these guys are).

;~))

john

John (Crosley)

A world famous critic accused me of being 'unoriginal' recently, and I dismissed his criticism and asked him what he was smoking or if he really had recently looked at any of my photos.

I repeat my criticism of his criticism.

This is sui generis (one of a kind) I think, and there are others, too numerous to post in other genres, the only limitation being the lens used, though most is street, but some being portrait, fine art, landscape, nude, etc.

john

John (Crosley)

Contemporary photographers with original ideas: Cindy Sherman's "Movie Stills".. Jock Sturgis "Last Days of Summer". "50 Great Photographers (contemporary) You Should Know" http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/50-great-photographers-you-should-know/  How about doing "Maria Shaparova On and Off Court"? There are still niches out there to be filled. Discovering them, and then having the access and the resources and the 'drive' and the courage are other matters altogether. That's why we aint' famous.

Meir,

Thanks so much for posting the links, especially valuable since I know you made  genuine attempt at becoming famous with your works by exhibiting them seriously.

You have said in the past you ultimately were unsuccessful, but I cannot know that, for you have never revealed the name under which you exhibited.

I know one Photo.net contributor, a photographer, who at one time was a famous modern artist, who blew up his career; after he was asked by his gallerist to limit his production to, say,12 large paintings a year, which ran counter to his inner needs. 

He now works as a graphic artist with his own studio and also photographs. 

He wrote me a describing his impression of my works (as he hears them, because he 'hears' visual things, a rare medical thing (not affliction, a word I was tempted to write, but NOT an affliction, a 'condition' I suppose and very rare").

You are older, very afflicted with grave disease, but you carry on, and for all I know your work could now or in the future be very famous -- I don't know.

I do know this:  I have not given up; I am just pulling out of the Photo.net stage where I have learned that no matter where and how I go out, I'll be able to produce new and different things that are interesting.

And people find them interesting.

Whether they're salable is a different matter, but I'm also a writer, who has not tried to integrate the photos and writing to date, but right this minute I'm trying as I long planned.  (see my Presentation, for example for a rough idea of just one approach).

Wish me luck.

I have the photos now, and having lost my mentor am at a handicap, but he taught me lots about the fine art/museum/gallery world, and this way if I make it, I'll make it on my own.

I'm not stupid and not without talent or energy, so we'll see.

The fine art jury never yet has had a chance as I have never exposed my work to those whose opinions matter in that field, save a few and they have lauded what they've seen.  I know for a certain level I can hold my own even if my work does not soar above all.

We'll see if that prior praise I've received can be revived.

I do what I do, and if it is interesting to others, fine, and if not, that's just life,

I'm fulfilled doing this.

I don't need commercial success to let me know this venture has been successful, but it would be nice to have that recognition AND the money and some notoriety.

Thanks for a helpful, thoughtful comment.

john

John (Crosley)