'The Battleship Potemkim Massacre' to An Exuberant Daughter -- Odessa's Steps

This mother and her exuberant daughter are almost dwarfed by the

immensity of the enormous harbor steps that lead from the main

city 'downtown' area of Odessa, Ukraine to the harbor area where

they probably are going to catch a bus to their home. Bus lines run

along the harbor, which is part of the Black Sea (Chernoye More).

Your ratings and critiques are invited and most welcome. If you

rate harshly or very negatively, please submit a helpful and

constructive criticism, keeping in mind that this is a 'street

photograph.) Thanks. Enjoy (And help me find out if a photo that

needs to be viewed 'large' can survive well on Photo.net) John

These harbor steps have been well-worked in the short time I was photographing in Odessa.

Those who browse my portfolio will recognize the following photos dealing with these harbor steps, the top or nearby areas:

1. The statue at the top, with the outstretched hand, points to a bystander in my 'Early B&W' folder 'This is MY Man'.

2. Also in my 'Early B&W Folder' is a bride and groom's wedding kiss being interrupted just after the ceremony, both in their marriage attire, as the groom reaches out and views his cell phone (kiss interruptus).

3. The photo View from the top of the stairs, a backlit photo at night showing a man on his cell phone outlined in glowing yellow-orange, was taken from one of the upper landings, with a telephoto lens, showing a man at the top of these steps.

4. At the base of these steps and out on a pier, is the Odessa Hotel, shown in this folder with three windows open against its blue exterior.

This is the fifth shot I've milked from this very small area and posted. I've a sixth I will post soon, which may appeal to 'fine arts' afficionados.

John

This photo, taken with a 24~120 VR lens as night was approaching and under a very, very overcast day, was taken from across a very wide street/boulevard at the base of this hill, where I found a car and rested my supporting elbows on a car roof, almost exactly across from the center of these stairs.

I waited for some time to get something that would display the 'stairs' in their immenseness, yet add a human touch -- and took two frames only -- this one of the mother and daughter being the second and final, as I decided I could do no better under the circumstances.

John

hi john, sorry, but i can't see anything in this picture, there is nothing happening that attracts my attention, no graphical highlights, dull and flat light and the composition is too statical.

you've got much more interesting work in your portfolio!

That's because, primarily, this photo is meant for a gallery, not Photo.net, I think. It's meant to be blown up large -- very large, so the mother and daughter are quite large. It does not do well in thumbnail at all.

I knew that when I posted it, and knew and expected low, or lower, ratings, but I also knew that if you saw it on a museum wall, you might also be quite happy with it.

Some photos, say portraits, nudes, or simple graphics, do well on Photo.net and a computer screen -- others do not.

This is one of the 'do not' type of photos.

Perhaps I'm wrong and this is just a terrible photo and I should be ashamed for posting it and thinking it's halfway decent; I think not but I'm open to being wrong; I often am.

I think my 'Light At the Top of The Stairs' -- in fact the right side top of these very same stairs, backlighted, is highly overrated, though it does well on Photo.net and was quite popular and highly-rated. Conversely, I think this is under-rated because it's wrong for the format.

It may also be that I should have slightly 'desaturated' the background for the PN audience to bring out more the contrast of the mother and daughter, foreground, to give it more Internet and computer 'pop' but that's just not my style -- I believe in minimal alterations, and try to keep with that practice.

(If I were doing this for an ad agency, I certainly would use a larger format camera and hire models to wear more contrasty clothes -- mom especially, but I'd take the same photo again, and be happy to do so.)

I just post 'em; you're free to dislike 'em and rate 'em as such.

I happen to like it and some PNers also will like it, I think. I think, if nothing else, it represents just one more facet of my many 'styles'.

John

John this picture is not the usual standar for PN. I find a few things a little distracting but let me state that they are no your fault.

1.- The face on the little girl is overexposed as well as the background sky.

2.- There is some distorsions on the trees on the sides of the stairs. I don't know what causes it but it is there.

The composition is nice, but then again not suited for this "fast pace" forum.

Greetings B.

John - are these the famous Odessa steps of the unforgettable steps massacre sequence in the seminal Sergei Eisenstein 1925 film 'The Battleship Potemkin' ?? I do not recall seeing photos of these steps (other than in the film), or at least not on this scale. oh, the chills !!

http://www.orbitalreviews.com/pages/full/BattleshipPotemkin.shtml

Howard Foto,

Excellent comment,

You really opened my eyes.

I've seen the Battleship Potemkim, or excerpts nearly in fits and starts all my adult life - it's really the start of epic filmmaking - a seminal work.

As I shot in, on, around, and even above (on top) of these steps, it never occurred to me these were the steps made famous by Eisenstein in that movie. (The massacre never occurred in real life, according to the link you provided, which I read eagerly).

These steps, wide as they are, and old as they appear to be, seem to be a likely candidate for having appeared in Eisenstein's film -- indeed I can think of no other steps at all which would fit the description. And any other steps large enough for the scale on which he shot would have to have fit somewhere nearby and would have left a giant scar in the landscape if they had been abandoned, of which there is none. And these steps lead directly to the harbor within the 'breakwater' of Odessa harbor, and there is nothing else which fits the description.

So, by process of deduction, I conclude that these are the steps, without having rented and reviewed again the movie.

Excellent Comment! Thanks!

Even if my photo is bad, that alone is one good reason for posting it.

John

If you can get me further evidence -- say another photo from the film or some such, I may change the title to say: 'From the Massacre of the Battleship Potemkin to a Daughter's Exuberance'

How's that?

I'm not stuck in the mud - and alway appreciate good feedback.

John

pretty sure (99.99%) these be THE STEPS. also sure you can rent the film which has shots from different angles so you can count the steps between landings. for me, the sub-sequence of the runaway baby carriage amidst the carnage counterpoints the frolicking child here.

as for this photo I would have cropped down to the right tree line to better frame the figures in the light at top of the steps. otherwise I wish you had shot this with camera position slightly more left, but I see why you wanted to get the expanse of the steps both laterally and perspective-wise.

btw, John, I see that you don't often find time to comment in others' folders photos, but I would be honored if you could visit one of mine to skewer or not. - many thanks, HF

I wanted this photo to be one of 'scale' and including 'everything' was part of what this photo is about. Without the exuberant daughter, this photo would not have been posted and would have stayed as pixels on a hard drive.

I aim for symmetry in trying to depict a thing such as these 'steps' and the mother and child at the edge are 'accents' -- albeit very important ones.

Yes, you are right, I seldom comment on others' portfolios -- and often do not cruise the Top Rated Photos except to look for overlooked photos that deserve more attention . . . ones that should stand out among the sameness but are languishing because they are somehow 'different' -- the 'ugly duckling' photos if you will.

I'm more interested in developing my photography and its many styles and becoming a more versatile photographer (and technically more proficient), and I thank you for your continuing and able feedback, and expect to visit your portfolio, but don't expect a skewering -- that's not my style. I look for what's good, not what's bad. Anybody can take a million bad photos (I'm the first to confess), it's how many good ones one can take . . . and consistently, that sets the 'photographer' apart. A 'bad photograph' to me may be another's masterpiece, or it maybe simply something you wanted feedback on because you were trying something out that you wanted group opinion on and were uncertain of . . . as opposed to group accolades . . . otherwise you'd join a mate-rating e-mail circle and not submit for critique.

Me, I post what I will, and ratings come what may, from low to high and vice versa and hope to be judged by my more inspired photos.

I think that -- like intelligence test scores -- one cannot fake consistently well-taken photos just as one cannot fake a high intelligence test score but on any one day one does not always produce one's best on either one.

How's that fit?

And as far as posting, the purpose of posting is to get opinion as well as to display one's work. This work, for not such high ratings, is to me a step toward perhaps trying to retake this photo, but I do like it very much and if I had to shoot, say, a commercial, I'd choose a day where I could have more depth of field, and shoot it exactly the same way otherwise.

I do appreciate your visits.

Wow: Your portfolios's grown and shows some excellent work. I'll return -- I just stopped by for a moment. Christo's visit sure helped, didn't it?

John

This is the Fifth Photo taken from this location, or thereabouts, that I've posted.

They are:

1. This photo, Odessa's Steps.

2. Odessa Hotel, a photo showing three windows against a blue hotel wall full of closed windows;

3. The Wedding Kiss . . . Choices . . . Choices, a photo of a man kissing his bride, interrupted by a cell phone, and breaking his wedding kiss (she and he in full wedding regalia standing at the top of these steps for their ceremonial kiss) for a glance at his cell phone for an SMS messsage or to view the 'caller ID' before actually using the phone (I have a photo of him talking just afterwards).

4. The Man at the Top of the Steps, a photo of a man, also viewing an SMS (phone text message) message on his cell (mobile) phone, at the top right of these steps, taken from a landing on one of these steps, much farther up, and to the right.

5. This Is MY Man, a photo of a statue of some historical figure (see the statue at the top of these steps) with outstretched hand (see it?) seeming to indicate that it is choosing a man standing beneath the statue, a photo taken in fog similar to this. (Maybe also on this same CF card and probably taken just before I descended these steps this day.) I only went down them twice.

I have, for posting, another photo, the sixth, which is 'very subtle' of people on a walkway, between two ships, with the harbor in the background, also in the fog. I am undecided whether to choose one with two people on the walkway or five (or six, I forget). It's a very 'subtle' photo, and may be over people's attention span, just as this photo was.

Another photo, showing geometric patterns formed by train bulk cargo cars in the rail yards that one has to pass over between the street this was taken from and the quai (pier) on which the Odessa hotel is situated.

All for a total of seven photos posted or to be posted from an area of about two or three hundred meters.

How's that for economy of motion and 'milking' an area?

John