The Work Day Begins

This is my neighborhood. It's been raining so it was good to get outside

and do some shooting.

Jack, a good photo and culturally informative -- in uniform and all queued up, as our English friends say, ready for work.  I'd guess the cyclist as a student, but possibly not, unless dress has code changed.  I much enjoy the window to Japan that you provide. It has been a number of years since I spent time with Japanese instructors and friends.  Regards, Sandy

sometimes rainy days make for some great shooting Sensei; here’s one I know you remember…

RAINY DAY - ROME

Thanks for taking the time to comment on the picture.

Sandy - Thanks for stopping by. I realize I owe you an answer to the message you sent me. As usual I've been putting it off till the time is right - and it never is. I'll get to it today. I've lived here a long time and have a lot of thoughts about Japan.

Carlos - I don't know how long I've been on pn - 10 or 11 years, certainly no rookie - and like you I've seen a parade of very talented photographers pass through here. Most of them have moved on but I still think of them from time to time. Giuseppe was a genius with a camera and very generous with his comments. There were so many others as well but if I start reminiscing and naming names, I won't know when to stop; I really used to look forward to opening this page every day because it was such a collegial place. Of course that was before the convenience of the "like" button that simplified communication for all of us. We wasted so much time back then talking to one another and sharing our thoughts when we really should have been more concise, more twitterish. Now of course we're much too busy for such foolishness as we hurtle towards the presidency of the King of Tweets himself, the Lord Trump!.

I thought they were cups at first glance, but they are only firemen!'

Cheers

PDE

I had this photo sitting up on our computer while I was thinking about what to write.  My wife walked by and said, "That's a nice photograph!".  She has had an appreciation and knowledge of good photography for far longer than I.  I have to agree with her.  And I always try (not always successfully) to understand why I favor a given photograph.

In this case it stood out pretty quickly for me.  It is the relationship of the larger figure in the foreground to the 3 or 4 men entering the building (?) that makes the photo for me.  It may well be that he is actually riding in that direction and just happens to be looking at them, but frozen like this there is a tension as if something (other than men reporting for work) is going on and the cyclist with upright head is gazing at it.  It is almost as if he is the protagonist of the story and we are seeing it from his point of view.  The angle of view and the prominence and direction of the cyclist's attention gives the men and their activity a much higher significance than if the cyclist was absent from the photo.  To me this is part of the magic of a good street photograph -- catching some action which, while mundane in reality, appears significant because of the way (light, angle, juxtapositions, activity, subjects, or timing) in which it is photographed.