This Is MY Man!

Ukraine's Orange Revolution of contested elections is over with a

new leader, but this statue seems to be indicating that it is

choosing the bystander below, atop a high bluff overlooking Odessa's

Harbor high above the Black Sea (Chernoye More). I had to dodge

cars from both directions to take this photo as I had to stand dead

center in a street to take it. Your ratings and critiques are

invited and most welcome. (If you rate harshly or very negatively,

please submit a helpful and constructive comment/Please share your

superior photographic knowledge to help advance my photography).

Thanks. John

Dan

 

(the post below was to someone named 'Dan' who wanted to know why he should be moved or interested in this photo. He specifically asked why he 'should care' about this image. He just about demanded that I defend the image and its posting, though in a brief, pretty negative post. He subsequently removed his post. I am keeping my reply here. jc)

 

 

No one can take a blank tablet and make images on it or a lust for something that is not there.

 

I recommend a trip through Elliott Erwitt's book 'Snaps' --- a very large book representing a lifetime of work from one of the masters.

 

Then, when you have spent some time with that book and if you feel you have an appreciation for Erwitt's 'magic' -- try coming back to this image and see if you see it in a different light.

 

I'm not about to tell you what you should or shouldn't like . . . that isn't my job -- that's exclusively your domain. You might also try browsing through my Early B&W folder for a bunch of other photos that you may not care about.

 

You might be surprised (or not)

 

John

Wonderfuly seen -they seem to stand in the same posittion ,all the man needs to lift his hand .I just love it.Best regards,Judy

It has been a pleasure meeting you and your work

Sometimes you can travel far, but all the photos can occur in a short radius.

 

My recent postings in this and my single photo portfolio -- three of them -- all came from the same place.

 

The man at the top of the stairs with mobile phone, backlit, was standing just to the left of this man, who is also at the top of these stairs (at a later hour of course, and on the same CF card.)

 

The man who was kissing the bride and looking at his mobile (cell) phone also was taken just steps away from here, in the shadow (if there were one) of this statue, on the overlook to this harbor.

 

Go figure. One can go halfway around the world and take three entirely different photos within a few paces.

 

Oh: And the Odessa Hotel, all blue with three windows open, is at the bottom of the steps. I liked that one a lot. Small area, rich in opportunities.

 

Thanks for the nice comment.

 

John

 

Addendum August 26, 2005

 

A fourth photo show a mother and daughter at far left, daughter dressed in red, skipping, as they descend the massive, and famous' steps just beyond this that lead to Odessa's harbor from this bluff. (four decent photos within a few short steps, plus one from just beyond)

 

And from the harbor below -- one color and one black and white are posted showing pedestrians and ships -- for another two photos from this area.

 

John

This photo was taken in early evening, on a very gray, foggy day. There is an 18-story or so hotel in the background that is completely obscured by fog, even though some of its windows were lighted. If it had been visible, the scene would have been ruined, wouldn't it have been? It seems that you take only the photos you can see, and that if the elements are there you see some things no one else may ever see, in the past or in the future, because of such circumstances.

 

Photography is partially about preserving just such moments.

 

John

This statue is 'leaning' to the right.

 

So is the man.

 

Mirrored leaning, something I hadn't counted on -- in effect a bonus.

 

This felicitous occurrence only appeared as I examined the prints and attempted to 'rotate' to 'cure' what I thought were problems with the statue's alignment, until I looked at the base, and learned that the entire statue is settling to the right, from the elevated base through to the man's figure.

 

Sometimes things just work out.

 

John

was a great choice here, John. I suppose with the fog and all there wasn't much color to begin with, but desaturating it serves to underscore the angles and the drama. Interesting, the 3 pics so close together - you have a very observant eye - open to possibilities. An important trait, I think...

The obscured 'hotel' in the distance at the base of the hill out on a pier in the breakwater was the subject of Odessa Hotel, or some such, the hotel with 'three' open windows and the blue walls.

 

Yes, it was a grey (gray -- another spelling, both correct) day, and the color was washed out, so conversion was an easy choice, but then it already was almost B&W anyway. I hate posting such a 'washed out' photo, but that's the breaks. It was a 'washed out' scene and the fog shows, so no use in 'dressing it up' by upping the contast, as it would be then unnatural.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

John

Without his book 'Snaps' and the many photographs in it, I might not have been so quick or so insistent on taking this particular photograph.

 

And Erwitt had a minor obsession with 'hands' -- he shot them whenever he could.

 

(Thank you also to member Doug Hawks for writing of falling asleep with 'Snaps' open, and giving me the thought to purchase it -- somehow I don't fall asleep either with or because of that particular book (one on Cartier-Bresson puts me to sleep every time after just a few paragraphs) however . . . I just absorbed the ideas that went into the making of the photos and have put it away . . . to be revived and resurrected just for the fun of it . . . whenever, but not copied . . . just used for inspiration . . . on a dull day.

 

I don't want for inspiration really, but fresh viewpoints (and Erwitt had an amazing number of them) are always welcome.

 

I recommend the read (view) to anyone who has the money -- it's money well spent.

 

John

If any sharp eye wonders about the 'glow' around the statue, it is something that I may try to cure.

 

In order to 'select' the statute from the obscuring fog, I used the magnetic lasso tool, but used a 150 pixel 'feather' which is what resulted in the appearance of a 'glow' around the statue.

 

I think if I hadn't written about it, no one would have noticed it at all, but the scene needed something to make it stand out, so I manipulated both the man and the statue, for contrast and brightness, with the 'selection' of the statue being a somewhat 'tricky' thing because of its right base being partly dark and partly light and the question being 'which one to select'?

 

If anyone wants to comment on the appearance of this photo, and the selection and 'editing' and manipulations, I'm interested in hearing it. Usually I don't post-process so much, but in a foggy day photo, I practically was compelled to.

 

John

This was submitted twice to the Critique Forum for review, and twice it got NOT ONE COMMENT or rating . . . and it was left there for some time, but it had a different caption.

 

I changed the caption, to the above, to help connect the statue with the man below 'This is MY man' almost compels the connection between the two. Voila -- the ratings process began in earnest as the connection was seen AND commented on.

 

It seems that the power of a proper caption is not well-documented on Photo.net but I feel that in this instance, this photo would have been lost to obscurity without the use of a proper caption, as evidenced by my experience.

 

John

you are my man. good job again. regards,

You are a man of few words -- very nice ones. Thanks.

 

I like the variety of your portfolio -- You and I share the idea, I think, that if you want to take photographs, you point a camera at anything interesting and try to make a good photo of it, regardless of the boundaries of 'subject matter', styles, or techniques. (or at least I feel that way and get that feeling from viewing your very nice portfolio that you do too -- I think others with more blah portfolios - and folders - could go to yours and learn that being a 'photographer' is not about specialization, but about being able to photograph anything and doing a very good -- and interesting -- job.

 

Regards back

 

John

This is a 'cropped photo'. The original photo showed the statue more symmetrically, and it was also a good and interesting photograph -- one that would probably show well in a gallery without the cropping.

 

However, as noted above, it was difficult even with two tries at ratings, even to get one rating without a special caption for this photo, and then only with most of the left (and some of the bottom) cropped out.

 

So, if you wonder about the unusual 'aspect ratio' of the frame, that is why. (aspect ratio: the ratio of the width to the height -- or vice versa, or some such, which defines the shape of the rectangle in which the photo is shown.)

 

John

One reason I love 'street' and 'candid' photography maybe is that I lack imagination -- but I readily recognize imaginative things that are in the world -- I have an eye for the interesting and the unusual (and my introspection tells me it's from a youth spent reading 'Life' and 'Look' Magazines and 'National Geographic' and absorbing their contents subliminally).

 

Well, however, I couldn't have dreamed of posing this guy like this or any pose at all -- I'd probably fail as a cinematographer, which is why I never took the next step from still cameras to motion pictures, I think.

 

But I do love to find moments when I can 'see' things like this.

 

John

This is one Ukrainian's view of this photograph, from Yulia of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine -- notice the depth of symbolism in which this able critic places this photograph and its meaning for a Ukrainian:

 

'the . . . monument- is quite contrast. I see it a litlle bit different to how you feel about that photo. The monument showing a man of those times is pointing at a man dressed in a leather jacket and casual trousers, lets say dressed contemporarily. And the ancient person

seems to point at the man of our ages like saying:look what happened to people that were born after us. They created many things and discovered many things, they are supposed to be more advanced and educated, could be more happy but they are not. This man (in leather jacket)looks sad and perhaps a little bit drunken. He feels lonely although he want!s to hide it and wants to seem to be cool. In few words the statue is showing that the humanity has not changed to a better life. He feels sorry for all of us.'

 

I think the comment above, also is a comment on Ukrainian life: Life really has not improved, and the man is drunk. The statue feels 'sorry for us all' -- meaning Ukrainians. This is a wonderful, contemporary criticism not only of the photo, but, I think, a valid reflection on life in Ukraine from one most able critic (a surprising one -- who is NOT a Photo.net member, and whose criticism came to me through other means).

 

John (posting for Yulia of Dnepropetrovsk, not a member)

A beautiful moment captured here; has a very ``Doisneau'' touch to it. It was nice reading your descriptions above.

Sometime ago I had promised to put a link to an Andreas Heumann picture with a hand jutting abruptly in the frame (that actually `makes' the picture). Since there is a beautiful `hand' involved here as well, I'll place it here; it is the one named ``Stay'' on the second page of the set of pictures here.Best regards.

What good thing have I done to deserve such a good thing as you have done here?

 

Heumann's photos are interesting and I'll be returning to look at more of them when I have time. Thank you.

 

Of course, whether or not Doisneau was the inspiration for this photo, I think he certainly would have been interested in this photo and might actually have taken a photo like this himself . . .

 

Thank you again . . . you have flattered me.

 

John (Crosley)