new -- color & b&w 'The Mixed Joy and Burden of Parenthood'

The metro ride late at night has been exhausting, there are long corridors to be

havigated, then steps first down down under huge sewers that serve the metropolis,

then up long flights to the street, followed along streets either to home or to waiting

buses, but junior is dog tired -- so drowsy and out of energy he cannot navigate with

legs of rubber.. So the parent mounts him on her back and trudges on, just as

humans have for eons as parents are expected to. Your ratings, critiques and

observations are invited and most welcome. If you rate or critique harshly 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

The 'Request for Critique refers to the child as 'him',yet it appears it may be a girl; in which case if I had been more noticing, I might have written that the mother mounts 'her child' on her back (instead of 'him') which may not be true.

I try to fix errors or possible errors so people can rely on what I write or post.

Apologies.

john

John (Crosley)

John,

That's one big kid to be lugging around- looks like a girl, too. The subway certainly is neat and clean. We enjoy your stories and philosophy along with your photos.

I try to take 'interesting' photos, and the 'interesting' part may have just one component (or aspiration) or numerous ones.

Part of this photo is about mom lugging very huge daughter on her back in a very large metro station underground area before the entry and between the entry stairs and the entrance booths and gates which lead to stairs down to the trains.

You can see it's huge, empty, and clean.

The Kiev metro is absolutely spotless with never any graffiti or any despoliation at all; if there's any vandalism on a train, they take it out of service until it's fixed, then back in service with repairs are so rapid you NEVER see any vandalism, nor do you see anybody trying to do that; it's an unspoken rule of conduct that even the most drunk or rowdy (not many are rowdy) obey.

Ukrainians in Kiev especially are pretty good citizens and civic creatures, yielding their seats to the infirm, elderly, aged, unsteady and mothers with small kids in tow frequently without any asking -- they just spy those in need and someone gets up and offers a seat.

I'm told by a Roman friend, that would be unthinkable in the Roman metro, and for sure that would never have happened in the many years I rode the NYC subways -- which I once did, including every mile of track, I think, all over, and again, again, an urban explorer (minus camera alas).

This 'story' has a moral about mothers and parents in this woman's burden; not especially 'intended' in the taking, but surely in the posting.

Kid's huge, but mom's not complaining -- no sour expression.

It's her duty.

She doesn't vandalize the metro, her kid probably was offered a seat and sat all the way to this final end of the line station, but there's nobody to help her out, so she has to do it alone, and she does her parental duty.

This photo is an entire story, and a civic lesson at once with maybe some didactics thrown in about the parent-child relationship -- not only in Ukraine but universally.

I take a lot of photos that 'interest me', and some of them turn out to have 'stories' in them that are part of why I was so interested, and only needed some study for me to explain in words the reasons I suddenly put camera to eye and shot quickly.

Is it a great work of art?  Maybe not at all, but it's workmanlike enough for me, and maybe more so for the 'art' world than Photo,net's general 'fishbowl' standards which emphasize 'stunning', focus,  and 'sharpness' over thoughtfulness, concept, meaning, and story,.

Sometimes I opt for story and meaning when I have some 'art' included-- even if not in the traditional Photo.net fishbowl style.  

I would not feel wrong seeing this exhibited by me or someone else at a giant photo expo of name.  Much on Photo.net would never make it in the front door of such gatherings, I think, as the two venues sometimes are world's apart in what they value,

Of course the 'art'  here is in subject mom with her burden, and also the spotless vast mostly empty underground she's standing in, plus the questions some viewers probably will ask him/herself about what this depiction means in an 'art' and 'other' sense.

You asked the right questions and made the observations for my book, and that moves you to the head to the class -- from commenting on a most unlikely posting.

Thanks for your observations and comment.  Best wishes.

john

John (Crosley)

Thanks, John- what you delve into is the "culture" of the people. Here it is one of respect, not only for those less fortunate than oneself, however unfortunate oneself already is, but also for one's surroundings which are shared by all. Today there is little respect for many things and this comes down to education, not in schools only, but at home. And, of course, the present leadership fosters this attitude to the ultimate. Of course there are some things that do not warrant respect (like the present leadership). Being able to discern between the two is another part of education. G