'The Kiss' (Color Ed.)

Like the question 'when a tree falls in a forest, does it really happen if no one

can hear the sound?', likewise, 'does a kiss (here on the neck) really count, if

your lover is (apparently) unconscious?' This photo, taken a while ago, has

new ramifications in this age of new awareness of 'sexual rights', and a

discussion of them may be appropriate. Photo taken in CA which has new

laws about 'consent' (though not relating to just kissing of course). 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

Quite a story, very cinematographic with appropriate nostalgic colours, makes me truly envy!

I agree with Vlad, that the colors play an important role in creating the mood here. The vintage 70s' look adds to the drama.

It also has an element of humor, since the man at the hands of his GF looks like a mouse caught by an eagle :-) (not wanting to be disrespectful) Wish I could see the waiter's expression seeing all this.

Yes, it really happens whether or not one can hear the sound. The question is actually not whether it happened but whether or not it makes a sound if no one is around to hear it.

And, yes, the kiss counts because it's something given whether felt or not by the recipient . . . and besides, it's been caught by the camera, a kind of truth/proof of its own.

Has a movie diner vibe and puts me on edge . . . in a good way.

I posted this a long time ago as a classic B&W photo, and it got an outstanding reception.  it was well suited to B&W, and viewers told me so plus there was extensive discussion.

I went a very long time and except for when i originally converted the photo to B&W, had not viewed the photo in color, and if I had, the Photoshop of the day was not up to the task.

This is a up-to-date workup with modern Photoshop with all the bells and whistles, and i must say, i'm gobsmacked with this as a color image.  The image is the 'same' but it's still quite different and seems to hold its own as quite a different thing to look at.

(I note that initial ratings had this in the mid 5's, and now,  with one low rate, it's in the mid 4's -- looks like someone has it in for me???)

Maybe I'm wrong, but one now banned member (by me only) has a 'thing' for me and has had more than one paid account before.

We'll see.

Thanks for the helpful critique -- I always enjoy what you write.

john

John (Crosley)

Your work makes me envious every time you post so maybe turnabout . . . .

I hadn't thought about the cinematographic viewpoint . . . thanks for pointing that out; it makes my day.  I do love the colors, and note they blend very well, with especially the red of the seats extending into his beard and her hair . . . did you notice that?  Even the window frames have a red tinge.  How lucky can a guy get when he can't plan such things and is shooting to show as B&W?

Thanks for a very interesting and complimentary critique.

john 

John (Crosley)

I'm afraid I was jumping ahead.  I am well aware of the 'noise in the forest' aspect and phrase . . . . and deliberately avoided it.

In a very erudite introduction to one of Henri Cartier-Bresson's books, written by a man either in love with himself or his own writing, the interesting suggestion is made that an event does not happen unless it is recorded, and let's face it, that's an interesting point of view.  We all know objectively that 1o to the nth power events happen every day at all times, but unless someone is there to save the viewpoint and the event, it instantly disappears, and one might even say it didn't really happen, save with the other 10 to the nth power of things that were happening simultaneously, and thus because of its infinitesimally small size, one might posit that it never happened at all . . . . or came so close to that point that the event can be disregarded (as well as NEVER remembered, because it was never recorded anywhere).

Now, moving on. How many angels on the head of a pin?

Thanks for an interesting discussion.

I'm interested in that 'vibe'.  I find this very surreal, myself.  Does that square with your feeling?

john

John (Crosley)

A mouse caught by an eagle; she's a predator tearing him apart with her talons?

Or about to?

Maybe a vampire in these vampire-filled days of tv and cinema drama?

As I noted above, I like it for its surrealness, but you have outdone me, my dear, inventive friend.

Kudos.

(and to heck with being 'respectful' for a photo like this with such a great idea!)

john

John (Crosley)

A couple of things. I like the photo a lot but, no, I don't find it surreal. My diner reference recalled a 50s-70s on-the-road vibe, stop at a diner, meet all kinds of interesting people. This moment and photo put me on edge because of the one-sidedness of the affection here, which is so often the case, but hard for most of us to digest.

Offering a kiss, even when the person being kissed is unconscious of it, its power, passion, or meaning, is still a powerful event. In many ways, perhaps even more powerful than a kiss that's received or returned.

As far as an event not happening unless it's recorded, no, that's not how it works for me. So many things that happen that we're unaware of at the time have lasting impacts. Take man's imprint on the environment which, for years, no one cared about, bothered to record, or even consciously noted as it was happening, and yet the cumulative effect of actions no one was taking notice of has been slowly altering the planet on which we live. 

I often talk about photos I have chosen NOT to take. Those are some very significant moments, moments that remain only in my memory but in a much fuzzier and ill-preserved way than most photos of various moments in my life. Sometimes, I just want to soak in what's happening without a "medium" between me and the instant, without a recording device. Years later, my memory may be vague, but that experience still impacts me in a most unique way.

The view that would say something didn't happen if no one was there to experience it or record it is one I'd find too anthropocentric. Once we give up the notion that we and our experiences are the center of the universe or that our experience is somehow the arbiter of "what happens" we realize we are merely small cogs in the universe and part of a world of experience that goes way beyond our own individual or even collective consciousnesses.

Think of all the kisses, for example, that fathers and mothers give to their sleeping babies and children. I would maintain that, conscious or not, those kisses are significant. The man in this photo is being cared for and that care is being expressed. It's significant whether he knows it or not and on some level, conscious or not, it will affect him and better his life.

The two comments by Fred G. above.

Thanks Fred; in the best tradition of PN and some of the best comments under photos I present.  

Photos such as this would be the lesser without your commentary (and that of others, too); thanks.

john

John (Crosley)