'Geometry' (Composition in Greys)

World famous photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson carefully

composed his captures so that each element was precisely placed

for what he termed 'the geometry' by which he meant 'composition'

as the term translates to English, in most of his photos, most

regardless of subject and he strived for capturing the 'precise

moment'. This photo strives for the same things without other

comparison to the master's works. 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

Hi, actually it's termed: "The Decisive Moment"; not criticizing you, just that there is a subtle but enormous difference between the two words.  I like your image.  Though it is not your best.  Certainly in your other images on your site you have excelled, and you are talented in your ways of capturing that right moment. But this one has been done so many times I am afraid to say, that it becomes overkill.  It's a bit like seeing war pictures, viewers are subjected to a constant stream of war images that they lose their impact, so it takes someone like James Natchwey to help us to become sensitized once more. I have seen so many images of people lying down on the street, in the gutter and feet walking past, the message is clear, it isn't new.  In viewing this image against the yardstick of Henri Cartier Bresson's - The decisive Moment, it does not reach that level.  It IS a good image, It DOES tell a story, but it is not decisive.  I have looked at all the elements that you have included in this image, really I have, but unfortunately and I do admit the impossibility of knowing your thoughts at this moment, unfortunately I do not see connections, apart from the rails on the left and right of the image and the fact that the woman walking is also in between the rails as is the sleeping man, this could be interpreted as: 'They are both imprisoned' which is a very plausible concept when we look at society as a whole.  Also, does the woman look at you or the sleeping man?  Who is she really interested in?  So this is a good image that one can engage with, if people were to be told to sit down and look at it for just 5 minutes.   And that is the difference I suppose between the Decisive moment and this image, the decisive moment captured our immediate attention even though sometimes we had to figure out what it was that we were staring at.  I hope that you understand what I am trying to bring across, my critique here is more of suggestive reasoning rather than authoritative ok.

I invited no real comparison between my work and Cartier-Bresson's, other than to suggest that I STRIVE to achieve in some of my work that which he produced routinely in much of his work.

He would take whatever subject, often regardless of sympathy,  instantly analyze its formnal elements,  and make a composition (geometrie in French -- minus the accent mark not on my keyboard).  Many, or most, have NO meaning.  This photo has no meaning other than what you want to plce into it yourself.

His approach is what I followed here, or tried to.  (I do lots of other things.)

This is a photo about symmetry and broken synmetry with accent(s).

I invite you to look at it again from that perspective and forget other comparisons between the master and myself -- he set the standard, and this does not meet that standard, but it's fun to try.  I have other photos I take well I think he could not have taken ever, especially my color work.

Analyze this on a purely formal, compositional level, and you may find why you could write so much about such a 'little' photo -- aside from any 'pretense' you saw.  It has its formal elements which while not so pleasing to me for subject matter, bring some artistic satisfaction for the way I composed the elements 'on the fly'.  Consider the placement of the woman passing by and how the photo would look without her at that precise place in the photo.

See if you can understand why I took the photo and showed it here, OK?

Thanks for taking the time to try to figure this one out.  It has 'something' which I think has partly eluded you, but which may reveal itself,I hope.

Or it's just a cliche and to be disregarded.  Each viewer is entitled to his/her own opinion. 

john

John (Crosley)

Well John, I confess then that whatever has eluded me has still eluded me.  How to read a photograph, well an image has many levels of language and I read a very basic language when it comes to documentary (although I accept that this was not your intention here) and that is the problem, I do not know or cannot  hope to understand your language in this image.  I see this sort of image as a story, with symbols or cues.  But I have to confess a fault here, I did not actually even read your title properly, composition in greys/geometry, actually makes no sense to me, I mean that this is a language that I can not interpret, I see life and human experience and a basic level of interpretation, as I said, albeit with symbolic cues or artifacts. But beyond that I can go no further.  I do not understand what the purpose here is of all that geometry.  But what I did see, was a woman, a man, a conventional theme, but I did go further, the railings on opposite sides of the image, also I see no cars on this side of the dual carriageway but busy on the other side, I could force the image to mean something if I tried, but then that is what I resisted at college, I found that method of reading an image to be purely an exercise in academia.  Anyway, for whatever reasons I still think that this image is better than say one where the sleeping man occupies the complete viewfinder, you have given space, and created space to breathe in an otherwise distressing theme.

In view of what you have written, I cannot 'explain' this photo to you.

It is, in essence, a study in composition.

It has a 'distressing subject', and I do have a photo of the man alone, which is also geometrical (has good composition, in my view at least).

The woman is an 'accent' and 'echoes' the man's presence in the foreground for those who are interested.

But this is not an attempt to 'sell' this photo.  It is what it is.

It must be somewhat interesting, or you might  not have attempted in such great length to try to understand it.  Subliminally it must have some appeal that maybe is inexpliciable.

Maybe you would like to like it but cannot understand it well enough but that subliminal appeal may really be attracting you even if you reject the photo and profess not to understand it or just don't like it.

In such circumstances, there is no bad critique, and yours both are worthy for which I congratulate you and thank you for the excellent and articulate effort.

john

John (Crosley)

By me only few words: I like a lot this shot and the B/W conversion, compliments!

This shot, regardless of subject matter, has that indefineable something, I feel, that sets it apart (for me).

It seems for you too.

It just can't be explained, but may be the very reason that the commenter somehow felt so attached to trying to explain why he felt it 'didn't work', but somehow felt the need to explain himself in such detail and with such articulateness.

Something about this shot is the draw, I feel, whether it's the symmetry, which is clear throughout, or the breaks in symmetry or even the tones, for which I spent a long time (with a lousy version of Photoshop CS6, corrupted) trying to 'nail', and which I thank you for noticing.

I'm spending a great deal more time on tonalities now, and feel it's inproving my photos a great deal.  I'd do borders but then I'd have to go back and redo the other almost 2,000 photos here and do borders for them too.

In my view 'street' photos look fabulous with a simple, plain, black border around them, as I did in a book I published privately in 2009 that never has seen the light of day commercially, intended only for galleries and museums but never really distributed.

I have a few copies available, though they're expensive, even at cost -- over $150 a copy.   Contact me if you have interest (or anyone else -- I have two or three still wrapped in plastic.)

Nice, simple, from the heart analysis, Maurizio.

john

John (Crosley)