Street Contrasts of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine City of over 1 million

This "street" image recently from Dnepropetrovsk (Ne pro pe trov

sk), Ukraine, a city of over One Million in Ukraine's heartland on

the Dnieper River, is emblematic of the contrast as the city (and

the nation) change from a Communist to a Capitalist system more

slowly than neighboring Russia. The upper floor of this remodeled

building featured high quality vinyl windows and doors, but

these "street people" apparently have "liberated" the basement and

are remodeling it without interference for habitation. A well-

dressed, but probably poor Ukrainian woman walks by, apparently

obliviuos to such an all-to-common scene. Your ratings and comments

are most welcome. If you rate negatively or harshly, please submit

a helpful and constructive comment/Please share your superior

photographic knowledge with me to help improve my photographic

skills. Thanks! Enjoy! John.

Interesting. And I love the composition and colors. But... Rotate a tad, it's slanted... Then can we dodge a bit the missing 3rd person somehow...? Regards.

Marc,

I don't want to sound defensive, and I was struck also by the apparent possibility for rotation but it appears that the building is askew -- the photo was aligned by the curb line and also by other photos of other adjacent buildings which were more erect. It appears this building has settled with a slant to the right. I may be wrong and it is certainly "unsettling" in any case. I may "correct" it anyway just to avoid a trompe l'oeil effect (mistake of the eye in French).

 

As to dodging, there's not much info on the woman in the basement -- the missing third person. But should there be?

 

Do we want to know what she looks like very much?

 

Thanks for the help. I may try to use your suggestions, and my reply is NOT defensive.

 

Addendum: By the way, if you're wondering, the street was perfectly level, so there's no issue of the street's being uphill or downhill.

 

John

Those who watch my photographic themes: Notice the use of threes in this image: Openings -- windows, doors, and people. Interesting compositionally to me. Some people like the use of 'twos', and I like 'threes'.

 

John.

Three blues, three blacks on the pink woman, three lines in the window with blinds, three vertical lines in the doorframe... I like that you can't see the third person very well - adds to the furtive tenor of their existence (now THERE'S a phrase for you, and it's not even late at night!). And yep, it's the building that is slanted...

Hi John, well, what can I say. I looked at your image for quite some time today - the basement dwellers... almost a piece of photo-journalism, tells so much. From a technical perspective, I prefer the third person dark like she is. Makes you look deeper into the picture for starters. My eyes were getting distracted by the windows tho, so I tried a different crop - not saying yours doesnt work, just to see if I could make it work more for me. What do you think? Cheers, Ellen

There is no "right" way to display most images, just the "artist's choice."

 

I am so pleased to find that I have a formerly "unknown" admirer, who feels strongly enough about an image of mine not only to view an image but to crop it differently.

 

I am bound by the format of the 35mm frame and think in those terms, and like Henri C-B who had the no-crop stricture (self-imposed, for that matter), I have a similar stricture for the most part.

 

But I am attracted also to your crop, and you have done justice to the subject.

 

As I have pointed out, the artist in me likes the almost random distribution of threes, and the three openings is something I find interesting artistically, and does not come through in your very intersting crop.

 

But it does emphasize the mysteriousness of the woman "squatter" in the basement.

 

Although across the street, I was viewed very askance by these people, as you can see, especially with my very large and long lens.

 

You have flattered me sooo much. You are invited to visit as much and as many times as you want and to participate as much as you like -- you are always welcome -- I like the "community" of Photo.net and encourage your viewpoint(s).

 

John

 

(the "former" photojournalist)

I not only think but write like that, but I'm sometimes afraid in these columns to put forth expressions like that for fear of scaring away the masses. Thank you for being such an acute commentator with such a wicked humor (three blacks on the woman, etc., the lines on the door, etc.). I love to read your comments and they bring joy into my otherwise very mundane life. I very much look forward to their insightfulness and incisiveness. Please come again and again (No, not something I heard or read in "McCabe and Mrs. Miller".) John, who is happy he is communicating with his viewers, a very high state of existence in his view of life.

j

The unfinished nature of the building, the furtive figure in the basement, to me, are emblematic of life in the former Soviet Union where there is transformation (and a rough one) from a command economy to a market (capitalist) economy. Businessmen once were criminals and sent to prison where they consorted with other "criminals" and now they openly consort with them and it's hard to tell the two apart at least in Russia. In Ukraine, it's easier to tell the two apart, because the Ukrainians are less ruthless, it appears - they gave their Nukes back to Russia for instance -- truly a peaceful gesture. The partially revealed window (top) and door(top) plus the furtive figure in the basement window indicate that less is shown than one can guess in such a situation if one analogizes to the nation's (Ukraine's) situation, as it transforms.

 

John.

 

(thinking perhaps far too deeply).

After reading your reply, I checked again about the slant. I don't particularly want to be right, and the house may have been built in an awkward way indeed, but the best way I know to check this sort of things in this sort of images, is 1) to look at vertical lines (windows, doors) & 2) to look at the base of the house, meaning this line which passes behind the back side of the man in blu, and which separates wall from pavement. The conclusion here is that there is a similar slant to the verticals & this horizontal line; so it is indeed slanted.

 

As for the 3rd person, is it important to see lots of details ? No, you are right. But IF seeing a bit more was possible, I think it would get our attention a bit more and tell a little more in terms of story. No big deal. Cheers.

You have made a convincing argument for rotating. I don't have the ability to do so right now, but I had the question initially, resolved it by reference to other photos which showed this building slanted (it still is, even so) and the reference to the curbline was completely misleading, but if a slight rotation makes it more palatable, and since it appears you are right, I will do the right thing in the near future. And I thank you -- anybody who can improve a photo of mine gets a very hearty thanks, as I give to you now. Spacibo bolshoi, or better yet Bolshoi pacibo (big thanks in Russian -- the primary language of Ukraine).

 

John

This image has been rotated slightly.

 

If it does not appear so, please refresh your browser.

 

Thank you Marc G.

 

I had gone with the sidewalk as a reference instead of plumb lines, and you, Marc G., taught me something.

 

There also was some settling which threw me off, compared to neighboring buildings in other photographs.

 

John.

This photo was the only photo of this woman walking by this scene, and soon these basement dwellers changed position and no more photos were possible at all.

 

It was important to catch the walking woman in midstride and also at the exact position she was for balance of lightness and other artistic reasons, and also to contrast her stride with the squatting and basement standing of the squatters.

 

So, I had one chance to catch her mid-stride, which I did, which takes some practice, especially with a reluctant camera like a D-70 which is slow to recognize a focused image in 'S' mode (single image, focus required mode), especially with an older 80-200 f 2.8 lens as I was using that day.

 

The other choice is to take a motor drive (or sequence drive for digital images when a camera is so equipped), and then set about choosing which of the various frames fills the bill.

 

But the former calls for a 'photographer' and the latter reduces the photographer more to role of 'photo editor' of his/her own images.

 

I prefer -- when I can -- the former role, and planned this image accordingly.

 

John.

A good job you made of it, too - John - excellent timing!

Sometimes delaying pressing the shutter is important.

 

Here the scene was set.

 

The man and the woman in the cellar were present, and I was across the street, but the scene could be better.

 

I had two eyes open, one for the viewfinder and one for the street, as I often do.

 

I saw the woman in the dress coming along, and I waited for her to be at just at the right spot before I pressed the shutter. The right spot meant that it had to be a place where she added 'balance' to the photo, and she had to be midstride.

 

That is something that comes from 'pre'visualization (thanks 'Pogue Mahone' for adding that word to my fund of words).

 

The ability to do so comes from studying failed images -- don't delete your failed images until you've studied them and found out why they don't resonate, is my motto and practice.

 

I think in retrospect, I would slightly dodge the woman, basement, and may do so yet, but ever so slightly, for we don't really want to see her, but just know she's there as a 'mystery' person.

 

John

Hey John,

 

I don`t know, if this is the right way to ask you, but I couldn?t find any address of you.

My name is Judith Steingiesser, I?m an Anthropology student from Cologne, Germany, and currently participating in a project for our new Museum of Anthropology.

For this, we need photos, which show an encounter between different people.

We found this photo (and anther one: nr. 2651291)and would like to ask, if it is possible to use these photos for a permanent exhibition and how much you would like to have for it.

Thank you very much for your help!!!

 

All the best,

Judith

 

PS: My email-address is: judith.steingiesser@web.de