'The Library'

Books, books, books and more books engross this reader in an

American library one day. Your ratings, critiques and comments 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

lots of 'good things' about this photograph. wonderful, striking image.

Imagine coming across a guy like this with so many books, sprawled thusly in such a large main library room seemingly alone.

I saw him, turned away to ensure my camera settings, was out in the open so took only one horizontal and one vertical shot, all in three seconds, then went on my way.

I like it very much, and am glad you do too.  It's an unusual capture, and an unusual circumstance, true to life, taken from real life - a once in a lifetime event.

Thanks for a helpful and constructive comment.

john

John (Crosley)

This capture works well also in B&W but I posted in color.  

Why?

The colors in this capture coordinate rather well from the brownish carpet to the bench on which this man rests, also rather brown/white and even his skin tones, a little brown/white.  Even the books (especially the top one is brown/white).

Even the stained brown woodwork 'works'.

The trash containers (upper center and upper left for recycling) and his shirt (all blue) are near complementary to the yellowishness which predominates in the brown that dominates in the photo -- a helpful circumstance.  There's a lot of yellow in brown, I think if you analyze the spectrum.

In other words, this capture works well in color/ the colors don't 'fight' and complement each other, so why not present it in color.

Black and white 'works' but not so well . . . . it's effective, but just not as good.

That's why.

john

John (Crosley)

perhaps it's because i'm a book lover, but i immediately marked that the richest hues are to be found in the books... and that particularly pleases me about this fine image... whilst the furniture bric-a-brac in the background suggests in some sense that it's a library, i wonder if the photograph could have been even more interesting from a viewpoint that showed us none of it, just the intriguingly patterened flooring, the padded bench with the books, and the reader perched upon it... i like the view i have of just his upper torso as he stays immersed in a book

Every street photographer dreads the official 'do not photograph here' command from management, because then forevermore there's no excuse, so it's best just to take the shot and trust to being a little clandestine or at least inconspicuous when shooting in buildings in the USA because people in the USA are so damn picky about photographs even  though EVERYONE has a bigger camera - e.g., more megapixels than my SLR on their Notebook, their cameraphone, their I-Pad, etc.. 

It's just that they see a traditional camera and they go apesh*t, and they think that somehow it's an invasion of their sacred work domain whereas if friends are taking photos of friends, they think nothing of it.

It's better just to be quiet and do the job and later, someday they're suprised pleasantly to see such a wonderful photo and say 'well I never would have allowded that, but that's really nice'.

That's the point.  They wouldn't allow what's nice.

It's one of the bigger double standards in the world and especially applies to officious Americans and their stupendous penchant for rules for everything and no exceptions lest they 'lose their jobs' or lose their power in their work domains if they're bosses and overly officious.  It's often a sign of their being insecure in their own authority, so they tighten their sphincters if they fear their domain (however pleasant and well portrayed here) will be exposed.

I choose to be unaware of such rules by avoiding having attention called to the possibility of such rules, and to accomplish that I assume they do not exist (and for some places they do not), and then I just do not draw attention to myself whenever I can when shooting in the USA 'in a place I hope to return to'.  I can be much more bold when traveling or going into a place one time only, which is why I like traveling or moving about so much . . . . if someone gets mad or territorial, so what?  Just move on and bye bye.

This is a glorious photo in my estimation, but setting it up, in the middle of a vast room would have brought attention to me even from afar and maybe that dreaded prohibition -- quite often 'made up' or 'invented' on the spot or sometimes dredged up from a time when commercial photography with tripods and flash were required and therefore photography at that time really WAS a genuine nuisance and had to be controlled because it sucked all the oxygen out of a room.

Nowadays EVERYONE takes photos of everything and everyone is surveilled no matter where they go.

Just try buying some gasoline in a filling sation with a stolen credit card, or worse, pull out a gun and see if your photo doesn't turn up on the evening news.  Look overhead in a Target store or some banks on the walls to see how many video cameras record your every eyelid blink and each time your scratcgh your nose.   That height scale at the front entrance of many establishements is so the camera can measure your height (as a criminal) against the scale to PROVE in court it was YOU, and not a lookalike but smaller who walked off with that carton of cigarettes or that six pack of brewski.

The 'nuisance reason' has gone by the by but such rules fostered by photography's large and burdensome equipment and sudden flashes don't to away nor does the tendency for Americans -- so rule conscious -- to 'make up such supposed rules' just for the sake of exerting their domain, to prevent insurance adjusters maybe from taking a photo of the ripped carpet where the acccident victim fell (or plaintiff's attorney investigators.)

Of course such people use point and shoots and are invariably FAR more clandestine than I.   Moreover all such people have to do is get a photo of something and not a composition, which is what I do, so if they need to get a photo of a stray carpet edge sticking up, all they need to do is walk by, hold their camera low, take a shot while standing talking to someone, and walk on, with no one's the wiser, since composition is not a factor, and no reason to bring camera to face.  All that's necessary is that the photo shows the offending carpet to show why the plaintiff tripped over it.

My photos are different.

To get a good capture, it takes speediness to frame a photo like this in one second after first approaching from far away and on recognizing the scene from far away adjusting the camera then, so when approaching the subject the camera is all adjusted. 

Alas, vibration reduction was 'off' and this is a slow-speed' and high ISO capture, so it lacks certain detail.

I usually would take two or three such shots to avoid later upset, as one or two will always be good, but this time I took  one horizontal and one vertical.

The vertical may be more to your liking or at least to your suggestion, but trust me, it's far too abstract.  And this horizontal (landscape) cannot effectively have the distant trash receptacles cropped out without severely limiting the suggestion of the 'largeness' of the room.  One would have to clone them out, which I just would not do.

This is the photo; it's the scene I saw, and it's the scene I wanted.  It's exactly as I envisioned it in the fraction of a second when the camera went to my eye and I zoomed (a little) and pressed the shutter.

Then I rotated camera and with more steady hand took a portrait orientation, but it just was not as good as a 'street' photo, though for displaying a man reading books, it was just fine.  Maybe you'd like that one, as it is what you describe.

There are many considerations in taking 'street', especially in familiar places where one wants to be welcome and one is not sure that one person or supervisors will welcome what one does and with employess sometimes the next person will be totally upset, including maybe the boss.  Ultimately the boss has the final say, and once that's said, that's it forever, as a permitted or not forbidden activity.

Some things are best left alone.  Taking sweet timt to frame can be one of them.

Thanks for letting me vent, tell about important things (to me at least), letting me teach more neophytes a little bit, and for raising a very good topic in your critique, even if unwittingly.

john

John (Crosley)

I've had some problems myself in the US of A... once questioned by the law as I walked by unknowingly past a federal building (merely because I had a camera in my hand). I had to show them the pics on my sd card to prove I had Not taken a snap of the Fed bldg. Been hounded in several shops - though in some I clicked away merrily without hindrance. I did discover that if I stood outside the shop and shot inside scenes they frowned and grimaced but weren't able to object.

Here I was just wondering of an alternative image, in no way depreciating your composition. I just imagined the scene without the furniture and stuff at the back (3:2 ratio, not 2:3). It would certainly appear an 'abstract' image but a 'street' photograph in actuality. Check out the works of Mario Azevedo on PN. He's a master at it.

Can you give me a link to what you are referring to.

I did understand that yours was praise and not deprecation.

In only two cases in eight years have I shown my captures to anyone.

I had a right to stand my ground, but decided to be expedient, since both were in the USA and no one has any right to inspect captures (per US Attorney General, I think . . . but I'd have to look for supporting documentation so don't quote me).

john

John (Crosley)

http://photo.net/photodb/member-photos?user_id=4941919

I reviewed Mario A's portfolio thoroughly, but on reflection, I'd still keep this as it is.

It was a fun trip and an interesting side route, but 'street' is where I think this photo belongs.

I can do abstractsions and my files are full of them; I seldom post them, however, unless they're pretty terrific (in my opinion).

Thanks for your attentiveness to the discussion and for your critique and comments; they are much enjoyed here.

john

John (Crosley)