'The Late Bus Ride Home'

There's no car ride, the bus saves on gas even if it's blowing, wet and very

chilly outside, and mom, dead tired, drops her head in tiredness while her

charge, not yet ready for bed, props his legs on a bus bench/wheelchair

partition, and all's nearly finished for the day, except the final walk home

and coaxing the freshly renewed Mr. Energy into bed and plunging her head

into a well-deserved pillow, possibly only to repeat tomorrow or at least very

soon. 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 John (Crosley)

Ah Mr. Crosley you've done it again. A very expressive street image. I especially like the mothers' hand on her sons' head. Very good.

BR, Holger

Mesmerizing image... epic story about work, life and commuting, excellent presentation.

Hard life. Good photo. Karl

This photo represents the realities of life of many people. As many mentioned the mother's hand shows care and protection.

Also shows importance of public transportation.(G)

John : Difficult, if not impossible, to fault. a masterful image which portrays reality. Great shot. Rgds. Rick

You can't believe how many photos I took of this woman and her lively child, with him in all sorts of positions before he settled down, then at ISO 3200, the question was could at 1/25 of a second could I get a properly sharp capture, and the odds were slim, but I shot away.

This is the result despite all odds.

Proves the point:  Keep on firing no matter how tall the odds against you, (when shooting digital).

Thanks for the endorsement.

I look on an accolade from you with great pride.

john

John (Crosley)

Thanks for a heart-warming comment.

Frankly, I didn't know where to look in the first photo rankings to watch for this photo's appearance, though I'm in love with it (I'm not in love with all I post). I looked both at the top and the bottom; raters have far greater taste than I can discern, and are most often right on the money (with some horrible exceptions).

jobn

John (Crosley)

I would be you, like most mainstream children, were anxious to go out and 'do it' yourself, but happy to return to a mother's tender touch.

Without that almost absent-minded and understood conveyance of love, this photo would be far different -- it binds, nay seals, the understood love between the two together.

Thanks for commenting on an important underpinning of this photo.

Thanks also for the nice compliment.

Accepted with pride.

john

John (Crosley)

There are certain of my images that I catch myself staring at (certainly far from all), and this obviously is some of my best work; your stating it's 'mesmerizing' hits the nail on the head for me.

This image, to me, has a certain timeless quality about it.  Landscapers trek, camp, endure cold, sleep under the stars, often hike endlessly for their captures.

I just take a bus ride.

In this same bus ride, same seat, I got another wonderful photo, which I am certain  in a half year or so (when this one has faded from memory) to post, and those who do remember can compare, as they're quite different, except for the location and lighting.

It's also very good, though not of this caliber; imagine one bus ride and two great shots?   Not bad for a ride I had to take anyway, just always carry a camera and keep an eye out.

These photos here are the story of my recent life, last decade plus a little bit.

I'm so glad for your positive and wonderful feedback.

john

John (Crosley)

Hard life, but life could be harder, the bus has a wheelchair ramp and a lift, and ths seat lifts to hold weelchairs; where else can you go in the world for such thoughtfulness outside of maybe Europe?

And they're not handicapped.  This child may be a 'ball and chain' holding her down in some ways, but I doubt she'd agree - so great is her mother's love, this photo being a case in point.

Motherhood is its own reward, I submit.  Fatherhood, it appears, is more optional, sadly, with moms replacing spouses (and father figures), but a mother's love is seldom forgotten and not often abused.

Best to you Karl, from a guy who saw this scene and wanted you (and others) to see it too.

john

John (Crosley)

Gregory, you have correctly understood this photo, though I am sure there are few humans who would not, but your comments are important indicators of what makes it special, and for that I value what you have written.

Thanks for the compliment of taking the time to let me know your highly positive thoughts.

john

John (Crosley)

Thank you for suggesting this image is almost faultless; if you could see the original, it would not be here on the top of the bunch but somewhere in the middle or the bottom -- I owe a lot to newfound Photoshop skills and new tools in Photoshop, which I used liberally to make badly lighted photo with a good subject and possible movement artifacts, into something highly viewable.

I will hold your comment out as a sign I succeeded, based on good material that had at first many flaws, which I dutifully set about for a long time trying to fix -- something I am getting more used to dong, as I troll through my vast archives; however this is a comparatively recent capture.

This also works as color, but patches of her jackets are in neon green . . . hard to work with but good if she's covered by an avalanche.  Sort of dominates the frame.

Best regards, and thanks.

john 

John (Crosley)