Three States of Awareness

This is the scene at a SRO (Single Room Occupancy Residency) hotel

in San Francisco, some time ago. Older people on limited incomes

often lived in such hotels, which then were clean and adequte for

their housing needs and provided for their social and living

comforts, and which now have been turned into slum housing for

addicts, welfare tenants and others in need of social services (or

demolished altogether in the name of 'progress'. Your ratins and

critiques are invited and most welcome. (If you rate harshly or

very negatively, please honor me by submitting a helpful and

constructive critique/Please share your superior photographic

knowledge!) Thanks! Enjoy! John

Very Good picture john, congratulations, greetings, Hector

Threes again (and not consciously). (And a sister photo of similar scene also had threes). John

I like the photo for its impact. It reminds me of the day rooms at a physical rehab center back east. What most people in that situation are thinking about is their pain level on a scale of 1 to 10. If it is less than 5 they are glad to be alive, if it is greater than 8 they are looking forward to it being over

 

Any photo that gives people something to think about is an accomplishment.

I like it very much. The man that is probably watching you has his shadow on the wall. The classy style of the lady, the way she crossed her legs, the aged look in the environment.. Perfect lighting. Did you overly dodge the bottom edge on purpose? It adds depth to overall image. I would like to see it a little sharper though.

 

P.S. No way it is my "superior photographic knowledge." Just an overly enthusiastic photographer want to be, I am thinking aloud expressing my interest :)

You might look in my Early Black and White folder -- much of which has never been critiqued, for work in a similar vein, from long ago up to the present -- all black and white and I hope ageless. I have many genres, and this is just one of them, 35 mm with normal, wide and moderate tele lens, Tri-X film, a lot of holes in my shoes, and a lust to find the embodiment of 'life' through the day-to-day scene.

 

John

The dodging (corrected from 'burning' erroneously posted previously) of the forward carpet comes from distant sunlight through the remote front window to this SRO hotel -- I am not yet skilled enough in Photoshop to eliminate it, and not sure I'd want to in any case. The negative is no longer available, and this photo already has been sharpened -- any further sharpening and you'd reject it.

 

Thanks for the very nice compliments. John

Such photos are reminders of life to those who are attentive enough. I think it does not suit the end result to criticize or compliment specific aspects of these photos. They are a whole altogether. They can be broken down for examination but this act will only facilitate an exercise of the mind. It is only grappling with the truth/reality in its wholeness that an exercise of the meaning/life might be attained.

 

So John, I look at this one and it touches me. Perhaps it is really timeless. I do not know. However, in the totality I percieve, I am stirred and that's what matters. Regards. Okan.

This is an excellent IMHO in all the aspects, composition (!) , texture of the image, use of BW, moment captured, perfect exposure with available light, and mainly the history behind, of course.

 

Excellent, could be signed by Cartier Bresson or Sebastiao Salgado ... IMHO of course :)

It's always so nice to see that you are watching my critique posts and other submissions and maybe browsing my folders which now are very large but were very very small when you first browsed by nearly 3/4 of a year ago.

 

I first made my paltry submission last Feb., and didn't know how to submit for critique, and soon came away amazed that members had 'discovered' some of my work and it actually got 10,000 views in a month, and I knew not where or how they had 'found' my photos that I posted.

 

Now it's between 2 and 3 million 'views' total, and I still am amazed and wondering what would have happened if I had pursued photography instead of the writing career that Associated Press diverted me to because after they hired me as a staff photographer. They valued me and gave me assignments as a writer and I jumped up the ladder to New York in a year and three months through three assignments -- literally landing at the top of the heap as a writer -- then editor/photo editor.

 

What would have come if I had just taken photos for them (or others?) I wonder because I always had the choice to do staff photograpy just by saying so.

 

Thanks for your always insightful and kind remarks.

 

John

I actually gave up photography for the main part because of Henri Cartier-Bresson.

 

He came to San Francisco with his giant traveling photo exhibition after I had developed my 'style', and because of the similarity (see my other early works in this folder), I feared I would be seen as a lesser imitator and 'of the school of H C-B', and not be able to stand on my own and be 'of the school of John Crosley'.

 

Besides, he invented and 'occupied the field'

and everyone else beyond him would merely be compared to him.

 

Finally, the dusk of the magazine photographer was coming, and I could see it; news photographers now are selling their young for credits -- AP locally offers $50 or $75 for a published photo that takes $2,000 to $10,000 in equipment to make and a day's labor to produce 'on spec'.

 

The days of such images are over except as pure art, I'm afraid, but I'm still out there -- some of the images posted in this folder are from just a week or so ago or a month or two ago, despite the label 'Early B&W', as I feel I'm back to the old form.

 

Thanks for the wonderful and flattering comparison. I feel I could walk into a room and take this photo today, frankly but also take five other interesting photos as well -- as I've also grown.

 

I'm extremely honored by the comparisons you make.

 

I'm probably one of the few H C-B drove out of the business, and now happy to be back in it.

 

John

Thanks for the high rating, raters (6.50/6.12 after eight ratings) as I write this. This is definitely NOT my best work -- for that you'll have to look elsewhere -- perhaps in this folder, and perhaps in other folders where it may be dragged down by ratings trolls or where the test of time may not have set in.

 

I actually almost didn't post this image at all, debating to myself whether to post another, similar image, of the same subject, different postion -- and I almost never post two of the same or similar subjects -- it's just too boring and indicates lack of photographic depth, I think. I get tired of folders with 23 photos of the same subject, don't you?

Nice to see you back and rating my photos -- even a 5/4 from you is appreciated and not resented as originally your ratings were.

 

I know your ratings schema and respect it -- it's probably the toughest on Photo.net and to get a 6/6 from you is the highest praise a photographer can strive to, I think.

 

 

It's nice to have some yardstick (however subjective (or even wrong sometimes ;-)) ) to measure the quality of my photos)

 

I have one photo I'm holding back that I hope will meet your standards maybe for a 5/6 or a 6/6 photo. I'm crossing my fingers and have been saving it to end this folder for a half year.

 

Welcome back.

 

John

John, this IS a great shot!

There's some kind of "triangle of interest" going on here, created the two men and the woman (agree with the classical look of those crossed legs as mentioned by a previous poster). Each of them has a different level of "awareness" of your presence: one is standing and looking straight at you; the woman has maybe noticed you but she does not care that much, she's too busy now. And the old man in the center, well, how could anybody care less than him?!?

A perfect story, this could easily be the shot of a master.

John i could never "judge" your work...only admire it. This is an aspect of photography the camera was created for..the moment in time and situation that will never come again. In this field there really isn't some "better"...the better are just more selective about what they release. Lot of it is random chance. A landscape or flower can be shot today, tommorow, next day with very close results, but not this...your Puzzling is my pers fav in there and this is second....i accept the imperfections and savor the situation here. This is the rarest of stamps, only one exists...which is "best"?...all of them. 7/7

Glad this fella finally made it into the critique list so it could be appreciated! Love that somnolent man in the middle...

Well, coupling my name with 'master' (and not in connection with a dog or a Victrola) got my attention.

 

Seriously, your analysis is spot on -- about the triangle, which I was very aware of, and the issue of the various subjects' awareness of me as a presence -- I was subliminally aware of that and you have significantly helped enunciate that by placing it in words -- yes the woman in the background was somewhat aware of me, especially as I left -- she was 'not unaware' of my presence but had just somewhat disregarded it as a nothingness or 'not important' -- some kid with camera. Who knew I'd be preserving her well-dressed and well-coifed image for another couple of generations to admire, crossed legs and all, as her cohort 'bags zzzzzzz's with his open mouth on the nearby couch'?

 

(by the way, that's an elevator door catching the other man's reflection.)

 

John (with thanks to you)

 

Paul,

 

Who knew this 'stamp' with its imperfections would be such a hit -- I might have posted it a very long time ago, but maybe it's aged somewhat and I've learned something from the experience?

 

I know I have relearned how to shoot in this style and genre more recently . . . and can explain how to do it . . . after experimenting with a lot of different genres and styles.

 

 

Part of it is using a 'normal' lens and using a 400 ISO/ASA capture speed, and using a lot of shoe leather.

 

I very much like your analysis about 'being more selective about what they release' referring to the 'masters' as I have been completely careless about what I post, since this PN experience has been totally for my enjoyment and personal growth, and lots of fun instead of trying to get Top Rated Photo or any such nonsense which I never have aspired to, and pity the person who does and resorts to trickery and tomfoolery who does and even then gets disappointed -- with his/her 200 PN and e-mail accounts and the 'rubber stamp' self-posting 'nice photo' 7/6 or 'excellent 7/7' all for self-gratification -- a sort of Playboy or Penthouse way of looking at one's own photographic merit or as the British like to say -- 'wanking'. Some people like to 'wank' with the ratings to make themselves eligible -- something I've never been and probably never will be.

 

I AM impressed when a bunch of subscribers with their special 'logos' line up to critique and/or rate one of my photos --- now that's recognition, and you've all given it to me -- thank you so much.

 

I post 4/4 and 4/5 photos all the time, and some of them I'm very proud of and wouldn't have it any other way; sometimes I'm unhappy with the ratings and other times I'm surprised with them (as today).

 

Who knew?

 

I don't try to figure out ratings -- I just post what pleases me and if it pleases you, so be it.

 

I do like sharing -- for me why take a photo if you can't share it and PN is the ultimate sharing experience.

 

Isn't that what photos are all about, unless they're for personal memories, which mine almost never are, although they do fulfill that function for me also?

 

I like the 'stamp analogy' and find it highly flatering, and like the other poster above who mentioned the 'Puzzling' photo which is quite bizarre -- I'm also attracted to that for reasons which must be obvious, though it's not a great photo by any means -- but it IS sardonic just by it's being posted . . . if you get my meaning. I revel in such little absurdities.

 

The absurdities of day to day existence.

 

The warp and woof of life.

 

That's what my photography is all about.

 

If you remember that, it's my photographic philosphy in six words.

 

John (Crosley)

 

(Thanks for your literate and apt comment)

 

The photographer of this photo has a pain level reaching up there, but somehow photography has an analgesic or narcotic effect -- maybe some medic ought to write that one up.

 

And reviews like this one are positively narcotic.

 

John

The reason was reinforced top hosiery -- also with seams and reinforced toes and heels.

 

I once sat next to a flight attendant on American Airlines who made the 'mistake' of sitting down in a passenger seat because she had menstrual cramps.

 

She was in pain, the reinforced tops of her nylons were barely showing, and a 'stew' supervisor saw them.

 

She was fired on the spot, there somewhere between Nashville and Memphis in 1966-67 in a winter's night on the way to Dallas . . . and tears of unjustness streamed down her cheeks.

 

The 'stew supervisor' had no other reason to fire her than for seeing the 'forbidden' tops of her stockings which were just above knee level.

 

That's why 'nice' women crossed their legs thusly.

 

John

just enjoying this onne, no further comment needed!congrtas

For me,,,same as Simon,,,,very good

Working the airlines for some time...I still remember traveling in mandatory uniform..one party was seen in a terminal not wearing a business suit jacket and on his return to work he was fired. Flight attendants had to stand at attention as the captain of the Airplane inspected their uniforms. (Air force type but grey in color)anything out of place and you got hell....You traveled on orders....those were the days...

I think this is compositionally very well balanced, John. You have a triangulation effect between the subjects that rests easily on the eye. Could be sharper, though I suppose it is in real life. Cheers, Seven.

I developed my love of 'threes' because they made 'triangles' which I found so dynamic. Before I discovered the 'unsharp mask', this photo as printed (negative no longer available) was unpresentable). Now, happily it is. Hail Adobe! (And sometimes Hell Adobe, for now my Adobe CS detects a 'system change' and I can't get it started and they won't help me because I'm offshore and they have it registered in the U.S. and they suppose it's being pirated -- in their computers -- though it's entirely legitimate and I can't drive to their headquarters (as I once did, it's 60 miles from my my home) to straighten out their foolishness.

 

Fix: I keep a pirated copy of Photoshop 7 inactive until they do such foolish things and then activate it when they leave me stranded: Fair's fair. After all I paid hundreds for Adobe Custom Suite (the whole suite), not an upgrade and CS has left me stranded, victim of their mixed up anti-piracy policy.

 

John