'Hooligans'

It is apparent from this photo that these two boys clearly define themselves as

outlaws and what the former Soviet regime defined as 'hooligans'. 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! (if you can) john

 The framing is remarkable despite the short time I guess you have had to point and press the shutter.

It is a very good photo, the depth of field, the general context and subjects captured by your lens, the faces on the background, the BW rendering, all those details constructs a relevant final result. You're really good with a camera in your hands.

I like the spontaneity and expressions of the two young boys at the foreground, their sincere attitude without a trace of posing, they are what you see, or what one think they are. 

I mean, I imagine (forgive me if I'm wrong) that you were something like an intruder with a camera, then he gave you a message that erase the doubts.

On the other hand, perhaps your statement "...these two boys clearly define themselves as outlaws and..." is a bit biased, judging about what you can't see behind or to know beyond.

On the opposite, I think that their lives couldn't be easy, perhaps they only perceive a dark future for themselves, or an inexistent future at all. Perhaps. Who knows.

I only can assure one thing, they are young, they are rebellious, just like I was.

I took this long ago, passed it over because I think of the 'rude' gesture, my inexperience on Photo.net at the time. and trepidation on how the obscenity  would be received.

I reviewed past captures for a day recently and of tens of thousands of captures this was a long-forgotten standout, for reasons you have stated.

Note please that these two youngsters are quite well dressed with the latest in high quality outerwear; they are not poor.  

Also, note the composition.  The face and the hands of the main boy create a triangle with the boy right (to my mind more than somewhat malevolent looking) adding a little unbalance to keep this photo from being too 'static' and to let it be seen on more than one dimension. 

The main boy is actively malevolent; the  right boy is casually malevolent, and thus to my mind is almost entirely essential to this photo's hoped for success.

I commend your comment to be read by others.  Obviously the photo affected you, and I regard your reaction as one of the highest compliments a photo can receive -- a viewer takes time to ponder a photograph, is set to thinking about it, wonders about it, ponders it, then lets me know his thoughts, and in the end compares the subjects to his own life.

That's a lot of effort and reflection and bespeaks some substantial viewer impact.

I'm most grateful for your very interesting feedback (and to think long ago I passed this one over, but this time it 'jumped off the screen at me!')

Best wishes and thanks for writing a superior comment.

(They're about grown up now and maybe they're scholars, or maybe they're criminals -- who can know?)

john

John (Crosley)

Awesome!!

It was almost a decade since I took this, and I said the same thing to myself.

Why ever did I pass it over in favor of something entirely innocuous?

Ah, well, all's well, that  . . . well, you know.

Thanks.

john

John (Crosley)

very interesting and engaging work John...regards....David

I spent so many hours going over old captures, and given how much I shoot and the odds of getting anything good on the street plus my then relative renewal to the street after decades of relative inactivity, I was very discouraged, then I came across this . . . out of the blue as well as some of my more 'classic' captures.

Sometimes I think I'm a horrible photographer when I view my older work, photo by photo, wondering how I passed myself off as a photographer, but then I come across some pretty good -- even classic -- stuff and wonder how I got it, but I did. 

The US Marines have a saying 'shoot them now and let God sort 'em out'.

My motto, I guess, should be 'press the shutter, keep pressing it and sooner or later something good will inevitably happen.'

Nowadays my ratio of good, and  pretty good to awful is greatly increased, but the number of wonderful captures remains steady -- I guess it's just about getting around and 'being there' to use a phrase that was the title of a movie starring Peter Sellers playing a gardener named Chauncey who had a knack of 'being there'.

I guess I've just 'been there' and not been afraid to press the shutter.

Thanks for the encouragement; I sometimes have discouraging days about my photography, then I run across one like this and a number of others I found the other day on review that I previously passed over that were as good as anything I can shoot today, and the response has been heartening, but then the question -- am I getting worse?

In high school, on the first day of physics, I took with my class a standardized test to measure achievement designed for the last day of the class a year hence, and got 99+%.

A year later, at class's end, I gook the same test and got 98%.  The teacher said to the class 'we've had wonderful progress . . . . except for one one student . . .'  as he winked at me.

I'm just a natural at some things, and although I can learn, I'm also blessed with a gift for seeing and unafraid to push the shutter and interact with people.

Those are the keys to doing what i do.

I'm no physicist; after all my score did fall, and maybe my 'street' skills are falling too, but they're good enough to keep me plugging away.

Thanks for the encouraging remark.

I really like this one and cannot fathom why I passed it over long ago.

john

John (Crosley)

It seems that age bracket doesn't change much, wherever you are in the world. Really a great street shot John, so interesting to see the faces/expressions and wonder what they are thinking as you pass through a crowd snapping away. I'm likin' it.

Best,  Holger

It was a long time between the snap and the approval (or even finding this one) but it truly has been worth it.

Thanks again.

john

John (Crosley)