1232 Club "Good Italian Dinners"

This impeccably dressed bar patron was asked to stand still for just

one frame, and the process took possibly 20 seconds outside the 1232

Club which advertises "Good Italian Dinners", part of North Beach,

San Francisco. Normal lens, Tri-X exposure, mid-day. Your ratings

and comments/critiques are most welcome. (Please honor me by

attaching a constructive and helpful critique if you rate harshly or

negatively/Please share your superior knowledge to help me improve

my photography.) John.

(Also, I welcome comments, especially, about the aesthetics of the

reflection of the passerby in the left window, and your potential

solution if you feel it detracts. JSC) (Nice duds, hunh?)

It's a nice shot, the reflection doesn't distract me too much, while i don't like very much the numbers cropped above and the pole on the left.

i like the tonal range and the interesting face of the man.

This is the photo, uncropped, except reduced to 8 x 10, the size then available for reproductions (negative not available). If anybody wants to submit an alternative cropping they find desirable, I'm interested. I almost never crop photographs, unless, say, there's a tree branch growing out of someone's ear, or (like I saw today in a newspaper, a photo of Courtney Love leaving a courthouse, and a cop appeared to be patting her backside -- but the caption said essentially "disregard that, bad justaposition -- he wasn't actually touching her". I usually crop for things like that, or to rescue a spoiled shot. But I'm interested if someone has any interesting ideas. John

The pole at the right (not left) is a curb parking protector. In that particular area of North Beach, San Francisco, as in most of Europe, the curb is minimal, but unlike Europe where it is expected that drivers will park on sidewalks, the pole is there to prevent just that. Whaddya gonna do, short of excising it entirely with PhotoShop, etc., which is not something I do, or cropping the photo and eliminating the interesting pattern on the right side of the restaurant, and thereby placing this guy smack in the middle of the photograph -- and destroying the off-center subject I was striving for? John

nice captured exp great lighting, masterfully done...would love if you could view my portrait shots

Don't get upset, i just told you what i felt.

Maybe i would have cropped the photo with the same ratio so to eliminate both the numbers and the pole on the left.

maybe like this

Thank you Davide, if I were going to do anything so drastic, probably I would crop off the entire left from the left door frame. Any other cropping suggestions? This photo may have many cropping possibilities. I personally think that the sign "1232 Club" "Good Italian Dinners" is important to keep displayed. Good work, and thanks again. John

Davide, I just saw your remark which suggested I might have been "upset" -- I don't get upset at such things. I'm interested in the "meat" of the critiques/comments and helpful suggestions and if I make a small "correction" it's just minutia, and trivial - to be disregarded, and means nothing at all. ;~)) John

I probably never saw the street number above this man's head, or the photofinishers, Ivey Seright in Seattle which did the finishing on this print in 8 x 10, (then the "available" size) cropped it off for me. The negative no longer is available for reference. John.

I don't think it needs to be cropped at all, personally, cuz the pole just reinforces all the vertical elements in the shot. What a very pleasant man! I wish you could have gone and had dinner with him... he looks like he might have enjoyed it!

I hope I did it well. That and his sartorial splendor, even though out of another epoch entirely. Maybe he was three sheets to the wind, or not at all, but he was most cooperative, and the composition just captivated me. Thanks for the kind comment. (Oh, and check the 'break' in his cuffs . . . ) J.