new -- color & b&w 'The First Signs of Aging'

Eyes age on a schedule as inexorable as the calendar and age

progresses, and at a certain time in life the ability to focus closely

begins to disappear and the need for closeup glasses becomes a

necessity. Here a shopper in a chain drug/variety store tries on a pair of

over-the-counter magnification lenses for closeup use such as reading.

Your ratings, critiques and observations are invited and most welcome;

please share your photographic knowledge to help improve my

photography. Thanks! Enjoy! john

No matter how fit or unfit a person is, at a certain time in the mid-late '50s and sometimes the early '60s, vision for close focus and reading deteriorates, and the ability to read and do close-up work suffers.

This slightly surreal scene chronicles that important and little chronicled step in life's passages.

One day you're reading just fine and the next day or several weeks later, you find yourself squinting and eventually unable to read reports or even the newspaper (except headlines) without holding the newspaper far away, and so finally, and often reluctantly a trip to the local variety/chain store for a pair of reading glasses -- even for those with no other eye problems in their lives.

(A few, such as me, benefit from this aging effect on the eyeball's and cornea's elasticity, and now I can easily pass without glasses a driver's license eye exam and have discarded my prescription glasses after a lifetime of use, something I apparently could have done some time before.) 

john

John (Crosley)

It's like a look in the mirror for a lot of us I am sure;I know it is for me and I don't rightly know why the instinct directs us(me) to the mirror for a look when the first thing should be to check if these do the job on some fine print.Good player this man to let you shoot this and,true to yourself, fine image you have produced.I am sending this one to my Favorites folder.

Meilleures salutations-Laurent

I unerstand your 'take' on this photo and understand that for the more elderly of us it has a certain universality, and in fact it is universal in a sense, even if the younger do not recognize it.

That's what I seek in many of my capture -- to encapsulate in a photo some of life's truths or universalities

I accept your compliments.

This was a deceptively simply photo to take.

I walked past this guy on the way to the prescription counter, paused, nodded down at my camera to adjust set,tings, head up, I asked him if I could take his photo as we were very close (big smile on my face) noting that he looked humorous to me (not noting that it was also a bit surreal as that would have taken too much time and been hard to explain) and when he said yes, set my wide lens to a wide setting in one motion, stuck my camera in his face, and in one moment, framed, let the camera autofocus making sure his eyes would be in focus and his glasses too, and clicked, all in less than a second.

Correct, all in less than a second.

I showed him the product, and later, after picking up my product, I thanked him profusely.

I knew what I had captured (at least for my own sensibility).

This works for me in black and white very well, but I posted in color because of the tripartite appearance of chartreuse green - a rare occurrence -- and together the color presentation seems to me to work very well.

Thanks for commenting.

john

John (Crosley)

I hope you understand that this is NOT just a photo about aging and the elasticity of the lens and cornea.

It's also a photo about life's daily absurdities.

Imagine that daily we catch glimpses of such things -- people caught in mined or or impromptu settings in which they do not appear primped and preened for their photograph, yet some are good humored enough to allow a guy like me to take their 'portrait' which is what I asked to take.

I never ask to take 'your photo' but 'your portrait' of my subjects.  In this case I think I asked for your (slightly absurd) portrait.  The guy was game for which I give him thanks.  (all in a second or two)

Somehow that seems to elevate the choice of the word 'portrait' which seems to yield better results than 'photo?' when making a request.

It's all Madison Avenue in daily life.

As an attorney long ago, in signing retainer agreements, after reading EVERY WORD with my clients, I never asked them to 'sign the CONTRACT' I asked them to 'put your name to our understanding' as I handed them a pen.

If I said please sign this contract, they often balked and started talking about finding another lawyer to talk to, because poppa always said 'talk to a lawyer before signing a contract', but if it was 'just put your name to our understanding' [a contract anyway but said more pleasantly, and what they expected to do] that didn't trigger alarms and the process was ended happily in a few moments.

It's often all in the presentation.

;~)))

john

John (Crosley)