Portrait and Pattern

This is a 'street' photo. This man was just standing like this on the street, and was unaware of being photographed until after I showed him the digital results of my several shots which I had recognized from a distance. I had just prayed he would not move, and he hadn't. John

To the viewer who inquired: This image was composed entirely in the viewfinder and was not altered by cropping one iota. John.

This young man was waiting for the bus in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine,

and held this pose for the longest time, unaware of being

photographed as I approached, snapping away. Your critiques and

ratings are most welcome. (If you rate harshly or negatively

please submit a helpful and construcitve comment/please share your

superior photographic knowledge to help advance my photography).

Thanks. Enjoy. (From my Russia and Ukraine folder)

One critique: it's slightly blurred and this blur is a little bit disturbing, because the umbrella is perfectly in focus.

 

It has a great potential. Looks a carachter coming out of a movie from Almodovar. He has a slightly feminine look, that tells a story...

I had other images taken from farther away that had the man more in focus -- it was a very rainy day -- with torrents of rain and me without even a raincoat and my lens covered with droplets shielded by my hand. I'll look over my other images when I get a chance to see if there's something more 'in focus' for the man. Yes, he looks slightly effeminate, but that is a cultural thing I think because of his size and weight -- I see motorcycle guys -- big guys -- in San Francisco on a frequent basis who are not effeminate who are very homosexual and proud of it. This man may be the victim of an unfortunate stereotype -- of course if it were Communist times and he were Gay, he would have been subject to blackmail, as the Communists would stoop to any trick to gain power over almost anybody. And what is the name of this movie and how does it relate to this image? Let me know please. Thanks for the comment. John.

Name of the movie... gosh, the problem is that I've seen all Almodovar's movies in italian, I can only guess what the english title sounds like, also because the original versions are in spanish.

 

Have a look on the internet movie database (www.imdb.com) and have a search... then pick any of them, since his stories always include homosexuals, effeminates, transvenstites and so on.

 

The last movie should sound something like "the bad education". It's out now in Europe. Maybe in the US you have to wait a little bit.

 

Of course I'm not suggesting that the guy in the picture is gay. Nor I got anything against it... it's just the sensation the picture gave me.

It's near Christmas and I'm a lone photo with nearly 14,000 views and apparently very succesful, but only 10 ratings, so I don't get into John's highest-rated folder because that requires 11 ratings, even though other photos posted at the same time only have half as many views. Is there something wrong? Maybe it's just because John's not a mate rater, or doesn't rate a lot of people's photos, but mainly comments extensively on photos and often not such popular photos.

 

Just musing here under my umbrella waiting for the storm to break.

 

There are a lot of other photos in John's portfolio with 10 ratings, just like me!

 

What to do?

 

Anonymous

There John, I'll push it over the edge. Wouldn't want the poor picture feeling left out during the holiday season.

Or as you must know, having spent so much time in Greece.

 

Merry Xmas

 

(X having been a Greek symbol for Christ --- not some newspaperman's shorthand for Christ designed to shorten headlines as some outraged but simpleminded people once erroneously and foolishly argued).

 

I guess you saw through my ploy.

 

Did you read my famous book, Primary Colors, or perhaps read all those famous letters and poems that I have authored -- there are literally thousands of them published -- just Google me -- 'anonymous' -- and you'll see. ;~))