Life: Movies V. Reality ('Funny & Charming') (B & W Version--Please View Large to Read Poster Message)

Life: Movies v. Reality was taken at a nearby video store/utility

pay station, where people pay for their gas, electricity, telephone,

cable, and either go to restore shutoff service, pay additional

deposits, or make payments in person because they lack checking

accounts or a check cannot be sent in time. The poster in back is

for a teen/tween movie. Your ratings and critiques are very

welcome. (This is a B&W version of a color photo posted earlier).

(If you rate harshly or negatively, please subit a helpful and

constructive comment/Please share your superior photographic

knowledge to help improve my art.) Thanks! Enjoy! John

Toby Hicks:

That's the whole point of the photo and of the posting -- the people here are 'most unhappy' or at the very least -- very bored. The line was moving extremely slowly because the guy ahead of them was trying to get his electric service restored and the clerk was pretty unskilled (read minimally competent), and everyone in line was unhappy (including me, except when I turned to see this scene and realized my camera was on my neck).

This was shot from chest level (and cropped a little bit) so that those being photographed in the foreground wouldn't try to block the shot if they realized that I was photographing -- I have a stock answer for those in foreground who do object -- 'I'm taking a photo of 'that poster over there' I'd tell them pointing, truthfully, . . . so far as it goes,m and then they would relax.

(If someone vehemently objects, I now say 'OK, where are you on parole from; is your parole officer gonna be upset if he/she sees a photo of you here?' and very often it hits the mark. You have to make a remark like that as 'banter' as opposed to being aggressive, though, and 'NEVER' take photos (that can be observed) of young men who object and who appear that they might be or might have been criminals on parole or probation or 'on the lam', at the risk of your life, or at least your cameras and lenses.

I posted this photo previously in color (see my Single Photo Folder), and wanted to see how this did in Black and White, using the channel mixer to convert, especially since the 'Chivas' woman, near foreground, was pretty 'washed out' in that photo (and this) but in the other photo, she was 'colored' somewhat yellowish by the the strange illumination -- which couldn't be corrected, without correcting the whole color photo version of this, and thereby 'screwing it up'.

John

You are a superb shooter -- and an excellent 'street shooter'. I'm glad that you are keeping tabs on my postings and portfolio. You have given me much inspiration and I'm glad you didn't decide to say 'goodbye' to posting after all, as I advised.

You have a shooter's eye, and any mention from you is held in high regard.

John

Viewers: This photo is posted in both Color and Black & White.

Each has its own peculiarities and charms.

I invite you to view the photo as posted in my Single Photo Folder (in color) and compare it to this B & W photo, and let me know what you think is the stronger way of displaying this photo, and constructive ways of explaining why you choose one or the other -- the more detailed and reasoned the explanation, the better, but any opinion is better than none.

Thanks.

John

I think I like the black & white version better, because the background is less obviously a poster. At first glance, my thought was, "Why are those two in the back so happy?" Then I realized they weren't standing in line with everybody else, it was actually a movie poster. The color version (while EXCELLENT) gives the poster that shiny surface that clues you in immediately.

Very nice, and I loved your entire gallery, too!

Your point is one I hadn't considered at all -- the blending in of the B&W background figures into the foreground figures -- what an interesting idea and something that hadn't passed my mind consciously or that I hadn't given much credence to since I figured 'oh, it's a movie poster, everyone will know that'. Well, apparently, it's not obvious at first, and I only know that because I took the photo and have been looking at it for a while.' It's comments like yours that I value so much. Thank you.

Thank you also for the accolade.

John

It just struck me that these characters are arranged in a reverse 'S' curve, a most propitious arrangement, which draws the viewers' eye from the front to the back, if one considers the poster figures together with the human (real) figures.

John (Crosley)

(This also is presented, possibly better, in color)