new -- color & b&w 'Leaving on the Summer Train to the Crimean Seaside'

This young child seems to express mixed feelings as he and his mom,

right, say goodbye to his grandparents as they are in their sleeping

train compartment shortly before their train leaves Kyiv Ukraine for

the long, slow overnight trip to the city of Evpatoria, gateway to the

legendary Crimean Seaside, a historic summer seaside retreat for both

Ukrainians and Russians. Your ratings, critiques and observations are

invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly, very critically, or

wish to make an observation, please submit a helpful and constructive

comment; please share your photographic knowledge to help improve my

photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

But this shows very, very well in color and it may show up somewhere in the future as a color posting, as the light is splendid, for both black and white and color.

john

John (Crosley)

good photo maybe "very good"

It was bound to happen some day.

Thanks.

John (Crosley)

As critical as I am for things you do that I disagree with or that I view as occasionally dishonest, I owe you a well-deserved thank you for the brief tutorials you gave me on tonality through sending me those photos (you know the ones). 

And as you may know I have sent a member or three to you who needed similar knowledge to ask tutelage from you rather than trying personally to pass it on and thus not 'stealing your thunder'. 

Credit where credit it due.  You had a part in the recognition and processing of this photo.

john

John (Crosley)

Mom, Lyena, right was outside the train with her mother and father  (babushka and dedushka - grandmother and grandfather to the boy)  saying goodbye to the boy through the train window and passing him a bottle of water, when I came across this scene and began photographing, even taking photos as I walked up to the scene, fearful the first scene would disappear as I might be shooed away as sometimes happens.

I showed them the capture, shook hands, and thereby made myself 'agreeable' and comfortable with them to take other, additional photos, announcing myself as a 'photo artist' who wanted to make 'serious photos'.  They approved the photos and my explanations of what I was doing.  I told them in part I was creating a photo history of their city and country, which is exactly what I am doing with Ukraine and any other place I happen to be photographing - and have an extensive collection of 'people photos' such as this.

That seems to work very well, and usually I can deliver on such an implicit promise of delivering a 'serious photo' or more, so total strangers many times will tolerate my presence more, and allow me to get up close like this.  I am always polite and that does not always mean acting like a Mormon Missionary; sometimes with youths, I can act unexpectedly (for my age) in ways that are more like their friends would act and I can be instantly accepted - even remembered and recalled for the 'next time'. 

Occasionally such people will even repeat to me a phrase on the street I used when I first met them -- this happens in certain bazaars - something funny I said or a word I said in a funny way will be used to announce my presence to fellow bazaar vendors where I'm known and when I return -- much to my delight.  It means acceptance.

Here it appears an older daughter already was in the train compartment, mostly unseen, while Sasha (Alexander) the young boy, was happy to be the center of attention.  With time and closeness to departure, mom moved inside the train coach, and that's when this photo was taken.

Everyone seemed very pleased to have me immortalize this departure -- no conflict, dirty stares, or expressed impatience at all, and friendly goodbyes when I left just before the train departed.

Sometimes the best candid street subjects hide their heads behind their hands - all too frequently -- even when I do not want their photos, and they see me with a camera prowling around or just walking down the street.  

Often that happens when they do not even know who I am or recognize me at all.  Many people can be very camera shy' in Ukraine, especially older people who are convinced they are not photogenic because they're older and no longer have the bloom of youth. 

Part of my skill set is being able to talk such people I target into 'just one' photo (which with burst shooting often turns into more than one), and then when they see how good the photo is or their friends see it, they can often be talked into a 'photosessia' as they call it.  Right now I'm not using a long telephoto, so getting in close is pretty important, and it helps hone these skills; this is not expected to be very productive for the newcomer to photography.

Other times when chemistry is right, I am welcomed into the fold without question and treated as a friend, as here.

Life's like that on the street.

john

John (Crosley)

Very nice shot!

There are little things that are very telling.

An exclamation point (!) at the end of your comment tells me as much as your comment, I think, and for that I am very much pleased.

Thank you so much for the recognition.

(you do some spectacular shooting yourself; between the two of us, we keep Kyiv and Ukraine pretty well covered in various genres, don't we? . . . and I'll be glad to cede that you're far better than I.)

john

John (Crosley)

This photograph is about feelings. The boy's gaze is deep, it almost takes us to his mind. I like the way his cheeks are blown up; makes me think that may just be an involuntary action as his mind is already exploring the things he would be doing by the seaside. People sometimes do these things without realising what they are doing, like many who bite their lip while concentrating very hard. The mother's presence is almost supportive, more rooted to reality and the practicalities of what lies in front (the journey) and her expression, though a joyous gaze, contrasts well with the dream-like gaze of her son.

And yes, wonderful tone throughout.

Was this a one-shot or one among a burst?

You always have been able to see things that others cannot always at least articulate so easily when viewing my photos; almost invariably you are dead on.

You are right about biting one's lip and involuntariness of expression -- that's exactly what this little boy is doing when he works his cheeks/lips like that.

Mom had been outside the train coach, the departure had been scheduled some time in the further future, son was inside the compartment with sister, and mom was spending time on the platform with her mother and father and then handing her son a bottle of water through the open train window well before departure time.

As departure time neared, she suddenly disappeared and appeared inside, here.

Boy, Sasha (Alexander) is looking in the general direction of grandmother and grandfather (babushka and dedushka), but it's clear he is lost in thought; whether he knows enough about the seaside at maybe 3 or so years old to know its joys is beyond my ken, but it's clear he has thoughts, and he's a smart and able little kid with good personality and good parenting.

(I try always make a point of telling parents when I see their kids are well parented; it's gratuitous I know, but I have experience in knowing such things and almost all parents have some doubts, which a stranger's offhand remark but obviously knowing remark can help put to rest.  Some children just exude that they are well parented . . . . and little Sasha showed that.)

This is the start of the Big Adventure I think, and I took three photos in rapid succession, knowing the first cut off part of his hand/fingers so I pulled back.

The tonalities were wonderful, and it's the same wonderfulness in color -- perhaps even more so, but I like black and white so much.

The magic of the tonalities is side lighting - my most preferred lighting for bringing out tonalities.  Here the initial capture was stunning right out of the camera and with work it came alive.

You once remarked I think that you see in black and white, but you now take wonderful color photos; I see in color but know composition well enough that my color photos often are merely black and white with color. 

I see in color very well at first, but I also see see form, tones, structure, and composition well enough to understand mostly what will work out in black and white so that I can compose in my mind's eye a good black and white photo.

At the same time many black and white photos these days I also process simultaneously as color, unless the colors simply are 'off', 'bad', there's a mismatch or miscoordination of colors or some such, so that what might be a decent color AND black and white capture simultaneously can only be used in black and white/monochrome.

This happens particularly with photos taken in poor light or under 'mixed' lighting where there are various color temperatures that do not go well together creating the composition, e.g., a warm light illuminates one part and a cold light illuminates another, and maybe a third color temperature light illuminates another key portion of the photo and it's impossible to get the color  temperatures corrected OR to work together.

But when desaturated, the 'light' is just 'light' in various tones -- nothing more -- without regard to 'color temperature'. 

Light is light through the tones all the way to black is black - so for some photos, desaturation or conversion to monochrome can be the great saviour -- color temperature of whites be damned.

This one works well both ways.  

As stated above there were three separate shots -- not a burst, but three closely-related shots -- each seen together and framed alike, but each from a different distance, with each trying to keep the same frame and focus but expanding the distance from window so it frames the boy and mom more.

This capture is the window acting most as a frame - e.g., the last of a series.

I guess that stands for one point:  keep shooting until you get it right, or in other words, John didn't get it right the first time (boy's fingers were cut off and so was bottom of window frame in initial photo).

[i write not only for you but for those aficionados who read such things who are interested in the things that pass through the mind of other photographers as they approach a shot that must be taken in an instant; maybe these words have some worth, and if not, no one is required to wade through this prose - no 'pop quiz' from some overeager teacher and of course no syllabus.

It's all for the love of photography and maybe helping someone, somewhere take their next photo a little better.

Thanks again for another very insightful comment.

john

John (Crosley)

I took this photo to celebrate my renewed 9th year of membership in Photo.net.  It was NOT in inventory, but just taken.

john

John (Crosley)