'Preparing for the Bank Teller'

The outside doors to the bank opened, I saw harmony, including

color harmony and from there I shot, as this customer prepared slips

for the bank teller, background. 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

I'm a BIG guy, so please make no assumptions; there's nothing particularly critical in the taking and exposition of this photograph unless you chose to make it so; I saw harmony and an interesting subject; that's all.  Particularly color harmony, and if I had not seen that, I never would have taken the photo; it shows OK in B&W, but in color it's far stronger because of that.

This photo is taken for aesthetics and 'slice of life' and not for critical purposes-- to make myself clear.

john

John (Crosley)

Thanks for the smiles John!  I'm thankful for the suspenders, though I'm sure I would look either way  ;-)

I might be a little myopic, but I hadn't seen this as humorous, but don't deny your point of view and in fact now see it.

Part of 'aesthetics' is 'impact' and surely this is a photo that has 'impact' judging from the number of clicks it has generated just in the first day, regardless of rate.

Thanks for an enlightening critique.

john

JOhn (Crosley)

If she were a sharp chick with a wedgie I'd smile and snap a picture. But Obesity is a handicap -perhaps here an overactive thyroid. What's to smile about?

I see "CHASE PICKS UP THE TAB"; A cap with "SEAHAWKS" and it is xmas time. Suggests that the Seahawks are going to the Superbowl.

I took this photo for several reasons.

1.  She is obese, but then so am I.  Maybe I'm even morbidly obese. 

So if there's a social comment, it's also turning the mirror at me, yet I'm not self-hating. 

Many photographers have taken photos of people who are outliers in their personal appearance, (I think you can name one or two female photographers who are noteworthy in that regard) because humans crave conformity and are astonished at those who do not conform.  

In Ukraine, people of dark skin (as an Ethiopian woman confided to me the other day as we ate together, she often is called horrible epithets, such as 'monkey' because of her dark skin) -- though she is quite pretty and works at an African embassy, though not the Ethiopian embassy). 

Different looks equals often photographic impact.

2.  There is some geometrical symmetry in this photo. The table she(he?) is writing at has one stand holding up the right end, the other end shows this persons' two enormous legs and no corollary stand. The person is a 'stand-in'.

3.  The color harmony is part of another symmetry that could not be overlooked by me. I showed this photo at a swank airport lounge to a traveler who told me the blue/orangish color combination is a famous combination used by such and so designer and is practically a designer trademark.  (I forgot the designer's name.)

That color blue appears on the chair/couch, foreground, her/his jeans/top (with a touch of purple) and in the background, for a 'mirroring' of color that would be absent in a black and white version, which is why (though I like to post black and white because it's classic) I posted this in color.)

The blue (with a touch of purple) leads the eye from the front to the back of the photo, engaging the eye.  We know the longer the eye lingers on a photo, generally the more successful we count that photo; and that's even beyond the impact of the original view. 

So, this is far more than a photo of a big person; and as your own critique suggests, there is enough minutiae here to tell a story . . . . . this is at Christmas there are a team known as the Seahawks, and they may be going to the Superbowl.

This photo even engaged you, it appears.

I didn't post it for smiles, but for its richness . . . not for some smarmy 'fat joke'.  After all, I'm a little sensitive about my weight too.

I hope you see my reasoning.

Thanks for the critique.

john

John (Crosley)

The subject's crossed suspenders are somewhat mirrored by the spread legs.

How?  The angle of intersection of the suspenders is approximately the same of the angle of the legs joining -- for repetition.  It's those small things that 'make' a photo, in my mind, plus this.

The webbing of the suspenders (not braces) is repeated in the webbing of the lane guide, left.

I've already mention about the repetition of the color blue (with some purple in the top).

This is a richer photo than one may give credit for at first glance thinking it's all about the subject's obesity --- it's not exactly.  It's posted because it has composition and compositional devices that meet my approval.

john

John (Crosley)

Dominick smiled.  what's to smile at?

I didn't post this for smiles. . . . but sometimes smiles mask a little shock that may arise from seeing something unexpected . . . such as a photo that has great 'impact', which is one major reason I posted this photo, reinforced by the compositional reasons explained above.

I don't just go around taking photos of obese people, even morbidly obese people, otherwise a trip to a Wal-Mart Superstore would have my 32 GB chip full before I ever got to the checkout.  It requires a great deal for me to take such a photo when an obese person is involved, and I think I have explained myself well in commentary above.

This photo is rich for me in compositional and compositional devices and is one I couldn't resist taking given those devices along with the 'impact' of the subject.  But I have to admit, I wasn't laughing at all and certainly not holding this individual up to any sort of denigration . . . . or I'd just be pointing the finger at myself . . . . for obese persons are almost the last persons to be free (in the USA at least) to be insulted on account of their disability without much fear of being ostracized . . . . though that era now may be coming to an end as well.

The prettiest woman I ever met was a secretary I once had who was several times her 'ideal weight', a Jehovah's Witness' who did not proselytize to my law clients, who was a thrush over the telephone, whether talking to clients, court clerks, judges, or whomever,  did not make mistakes, was absolutely loyal and an angel. 

She was an ideal employee and a wonderful person -- which is why to me she was sooo beautiful.  (I told her so, too, and I hope some day Roxanne reads this as we're out of touch for a long time).

john

John (Crosley)