black and white: then to now Down and Out at 2:00 A.M. II (Zims)

This man and his two dogs are 'Down and Out at 2:00 A.M.' in one of

the once-famous and once-ubiquitous Zim's restaurants in San

Francisco which was a coffee shop chain open all night. San

Francisco long has had a reputation for being hospitable to the

homeless since the days of Haight-Ashbury and the 'Summer of Love'

although things have deteriorated since then considerably. This

photo from the early 'and better' days when things were more

tolerant. Your ratings and critiques are invited and most welcome.

(If you rate harshly or very critically, please submit a helpful and

constructive comment/Please share your superior knowledge to help

improve my photography) Thanks. Enjoy! John.

it is a very strong and the same time minimalist image.. very very moving. I am amazed on how you got this high key despite shooting in closed ambience at night at still having the subjects so clear. congratulations

Very nicely captured. A very moving shot that tells a story

John: Isn't this goaround #2 for this image?

Goaround No. II? No, of course not. It's marked No. II, because it's a different view of a similar image that was put up for critique a long time ago, but a very different image -- I don't request critique of the same image twice, ever.

 

And, if you look at the caption, it's clearly marked 'II'.

 

John

Thanks for the nice compliment; this is the second of a series of two photos; each of which tells the story from a different perspective, each of which is a strong photo in its own regard, I feel.

 

John

The 'high key' effect just comes from slightly 'over-exposing' the negative, resulting in a relatively 'thick' negative and very contrasty -- the scene was highly lighted but with the individuals somewhat contrasty and the print was developed to bring out the individuals -- leaving the restaurant walls and floor somewhat washed out -- I'm glad you like the 'high key' look. Of course, it was necessary to print this way to get the detail of the dogs under the counter.

 

Thanks for the very high compliment.

 

John

Hi John.What are you doing out so late,W

Well, I was out so late (actually, on reflection is was 3:00 a.m., not 2:00 a.m.) because of my dedication to photography at the time -- it has come again.

 

I would stay up all night in San Francisco when I lived there to record the nighttime happenings and the morning action as the city awoke. I often worked on the 'overnight' shift at Associated Press during one summer there, and this is what I often did after working when I didn't have to be at work early the next day or work at all the next day.

 

They never saw, or would have appreciated, this work, and it has sat undisplayed and unappreciated without display all these years. You and the PN audience are the first to see it after over 35 years.

 

Other recent postings are from just a few days or weeks ago in this folder -- I'm mixing them up now, as I'm re-developing my B&W style, and feel I'm on track. This one, however, is particularly 'sharp' I feel in the resolution, with plenty of both depth of field and steadiness with an f 1.4 lens stopped down considerably under artificial light.

 

This was commercially printed -- and I very much like how the printer printed it -- they seemed attracted to the work I gave them and did a very good job on almost all of it (except the liquor store owner photo, which came with dust spots all over it).

 

(I was a little taken aback by your posting, because I didn't see it until late at night, and thought 'How does W. know where I've been and how late I've been out?' until I figured out your comment related to this old photograph.)

 

Best regards.

 

John

 

Two cups of coffee, two homeless guys and two homeless dogs.

 

Did you push Tri-X back then? The shot looks quite contrasty.

 

I really appreciate your street photograpghy John. Keep 'em posting.

You watch my photo more carefully than I for the continuing themes. Whoever would have guessed, finding 'threes' in pairs in this photograph -- not I. It certainly, however, doesn't add to the composition, so probably for me it doesn't count, and is just an artifact, like counting the number of words in a caption and finding it equals 'three'. ;-))

 

I love your comment, however, because it made me smile with discovery.

 

John

Unfortunalty this could have been anywhere in the world-this is how we look az a society.

Thank you for reminding us.Regards,Judy

I guess this is ageless -- this photo is 35 years old (maybe the dress and haircuts could tell you), but the scene is pretty much the same, isn't it?

 

It's a scene of quiet desolation . . . 2:00 -- 3:00 a.m. and only cups of stale coffee . . . a couple of dogs and a cold vinyl surfaced counter on which to lay one's face for comfort.

 

Even for the most comfortable of us, sometimes that's only a little ways away.

 

I'm reminded of that today when the head of Worldcom, the high-flying telephone company, Bernard Ebbers, was found guilty of United States charges involving cheating investors as part of a huge scheme involving hundreds of millions of dollars . . . or more.

 

Sometimes the highest flyers end up (or deserve to end up) like these two guys -- or actually spend substantial time in federal prison -- because of their greed . . . and prison often is far worse than the life these guys were leading. At least these guys can choose when they wake up and where they go from day to day, but in prison you have to be nice to everyone, for fear they may stick you with a 'shank' -- a prison made knife or do other bad things to you, and prison has its own rules -- often very outside the norm for the rest of society and one in which 'normal' people do not thrive well.

 

These are the 'down and outers' for whom the day after tomorrow means little, and just getting some sleep becomes the highest priority as the evening draws to a close . . .

 

Maybe it's a step up . . . and maybe t(he)y already spent time in prison . . . or maybe it's a stopping point between prison stays . . . particularly for the man at the left . . . probably not for the man at right . . . who seems just to be 'off shift'.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

I hope you're taking more wonderful photos.

 

John

John, you know I like your style. Again, this is a good image with low ratings.. who cares ?

 

Please help me with an honest comment to this:

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=3195260

 

Is it clear the idea of the photo ?

 

Would it be better in BW ?

 

Should I crop the top ?

 

Thaaanks.

John, comming late , so I will echo the others, it is a very touching street shot, of the underpeivileged among us. thank you for sharing it with us.importent! Pnina

I love this one John. I've seen your work and I really like what you do. Probably, if to certainly because there's people...life life life...

 

What camera-film do you use?

 

cheers,

 

e.

Thanks for the praise.

 

I have used both Leicas and Nikons (as well as some other brands, but rarely, though I have owned many and still do -- through a trust, -- for legal reasons).

 

This was taken with either a Nikon F or a Nikkormat FTn, a metered camera for sure and both were of the same ilk and on Tri-X film.

 

Now mostly I take photos using my D200s (2) and My D2X, D2Xs (2) and D2Hs, but tending toward the D200 when traveling on public transportation because of weight problems with the D2X series but the D200 is used without extra battery holder (they have a plastic battery retainer clip that breaks), although I have two of the battery holders today they are both not functional because that pastic part has broken, first on one side on one, and on the other side on another. Both are usable and Nikon will fix them for free -- it's the old rule, if you make one weak part, it will break. The techs tell me -- in person, by the way, at their tech facility that they have not seen many with broken retaining clips for batteries, but I think that's bull).

 

Also, the D200 (both) have suffered from having the rubber coating come loose (one is just fixed on warranty and the other is going in for warranty service--but it's free).

 

I handhold my cameras a lot as I'm on the street 'a lot' especially holding a huge lens or two adding lots of weight and tension to the grip, making dislocating the rubber (devulcanizing) rather easy.

 

This has not been a problem with the D2X, D2Xs, or the D2Hs, or my D70s, D80, D100, or other Nikon cameras. I have boxes of film cameras; I collect them, same with lenses.

 

I also collect Leicas; but I dislike rangefinder focusing; the lens can get in the way of the rangefinder frame causing framing problems.

 

I take advantage of the large size of Nikons and their lenses, just as Leica photographers take advantage (for stealth) of the small size of their cameras and their supersharp lenses. The attention they cause sometimes convinces people I'm 'serious' and maybe 'famous' as a photographer. I don't encourage that, except the 'serious' part.

 

I am just about to receive a Leica M8 (digital) and lense(s) being given to me by a charitable person.

 

I'll be testing them and maybe report back.

 

I can take an equally good photo with any camera that is a single lens reflex.

 

It's just that with auto-focus and Nikon Matrix Metering, it's easier to take lots of good photos quickly.

 

So, if I had a Nikon F with needle metering, I could take the same photos I take today. One of the best cameras ever made with a Nikon F variant that had a LED digital readout -- I had two of them in mint condition.

 

The problem with manual focus and needle metering is though I can take just as good photos, I can just take fewer of them and will miss quite a few for slowness.

 

And it takes more work.

 

That's all.

 

The camera does some work.

 

Most is in the photographer's eye.

 

And ability to handle the camera, whatever brand it is.

 

People ask me what camera to buy and I say 'Nikon or Canon' if a SLR, because you have the greatest choice of lenses; you'll buy the camera that has the best, most expensive lens that you bought first and are happiest with -- no one wants to exchange lenses and cameras -- it's too big a deal and the cameras are too closely matched.

 

I just happen to like Nikons, but I could shoot the same photos with Canons.

 

And if you gave me other SLRs I think I could do the same.

 

(Thanks for asking - I think others were wondering.)

 

John (Crosley)

perfect

This is the second photo of mine I see that you've commented on (I view them in reverse order -- you're batting 1000 so far.

 

I agree.

 

It can never be duplicated - and it's probably 40 years old now.

 

Thanks.

 

John (Crosley)