Refreshing Pause on the Street

This young woman stops for a Coca Cola (light), after the

photographer spent a long time waiting in front of this Coke poster,

in a far-off city in the East. Your ratings and critiques are

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

please submit a helpful and constructive comment/Please share your

superior knowledge to help improve my photography). Thanks! John!

I hope to God that this was planned! :-) What a cool shot. My only critique would be to mention the lack of feet (not that I've got some weird fetish or anything), and maaaaybbeee the left and right sides. (not sure if their inclusion adds or detracts from the final product, but in either case, very small picky stuff) Overall very good shot!

I woul dmore or less agree with what the previous writer has said. I think it would be absolutely a marvellous photo if the sides are cropped at the edge of the banner. Now that you havent included the feet lets not crib over spilt milk. Tha said, i find this phot to be one of the best of its kind ( posed or otherwise). Very original and aesthetically pleasing if you leave out the nitpicks as said before. I think Coke would definitely want it as part of their campaign.

 

Congrats

I agree: 'cool shot' I about jumped out of my viewfinder when I saw this and saw it displayed on the back of my camera. This young woman had been slightly to the right, but moved and the rest is 'wow', way cool, as you say. As for the feet, well that's ' street photography', but what about the license plate left--I thought the parked car would back in front of the poster entirely on this, my second trip to the poster.

 

Thanks for the comment.

 

John

Well, there wasn't room in the frame, (aspect ratio and all that) to include the feet and still keep in the top of the poster and not allow lots of background and interfering detail from the sides at left and right.

 

I left in some detail, left and right, to show that it actually was a 'street photo' as opposed to something somebody dreamed up in a studio, just for the sake of keeping it 'honest' and showing the true 'street nature'.

 

Thanks for the nice thought.

 

John

Since I'm at work (though hardly "working hard" as you can tell), I didn't even notice the license plate on my first go around (shows what "my" critiques are worth). Love the inclusion though, it really sets up a nice border & context to the shot. As to the right side though...I still find myself itching for the crop button. Sorry (I can really be a bastard sometimes :-)

Great shot and very well seen.

How are you?Havent seen you around for some time

Regards,judy

Classic John Crosley - I really feel you have developed a style that you can call your own now.

I'm trying to 'keep up' with the queen of mural shooters. I've been the world over looking for something to top your young guy with the 'bug' eyes, and the mural behind him, and some other things, but this is the best I can do. (Well, I do have one or two others in the works . . . ;-)) but they are not so 'substantial' or easily-recognized.)

 

No, I don't plan on doing a specialty of Coca-Cola posters, but they are ubiquitous and 'street art' is not always well-developed in every area of the world as it is in yours - you must have a surfeit of graphic artists and advertisers where you live.

 

Anyway, still trying to 'keep up' with you, Judy, and acknowledge your queenly reign.

 

With highest respect.

 

John

Well, Miles you did an outstanding job with 'levels' -- I often post with minimal editing -- just like a photo processing machine would do, unless the histogram shows details that should be highlighted better that a machine would print but aren't in the digital file visible reproduction. It keeps me pretty honest.

 

As to cropping out the 'street', I think I disagree, for that just makes it look more like a 'studio shoot' and any graphic/photographic artist can create a studio shot, but to 'find' a shot like this . . . well that's another matter. (You can look at my rejects or I'll post them if you want to know what it's like standing there just waiting . . . waiting . . . waiting . . . and then later trying it again and finding THIS.) (I did make contact with the young woman who is very proud to be in this photo and will release rights, in case Coke people are reading this.)

 

I have a couple of others -- I pushed that trigger finger hard about three times and each time cropped the feet--in that poor country, women don't wear stylish shoes, and they would have detracted, but other photos were less well-cropped and more well . . . 'streetish'.

 

As to 'my style' or the 'Crosley style', watch out, -- I'll be taking bird photos or bug photos next and posting them when they go out of vogue on Photo.net as well as portraits, scenics, and everything else, just as always.

 

(I like to keep everyone guessing.)

 

Regards (to more than one if appropriate)

 

John

The City and Country were withheld because this photo probably should be placed in place by the viewer, not by the caption.

 

In other words, it may come from almost anyplace in the world, (at least where they use Caucasian -- as we use that term in the USA) models on posters and a passer-by is also white, but that may be a lot of places, mightn't it?

 

Anybody want to guess where this photo was taken?

 

By the way, it was not my intent to play guessing games, but I did later meet the live subject, and she was in contact with me when I posted this, and wanted to see the reaction, but was a little impatient, wanting to get on to other and better things. ;-))

 

John

Well Jeff, for a while, I thought the poster model's shoulder was a 'couch' so there you go.

 

A 'street photo' is a 'street photo' and although I will sometimes crop for emphasis (see 'Wheelchair Dreams' from my single photo folder), I prefer to leave uncropped as best I can to prove I can 'SEE' through the damn viewfinder, which is proving increasingly hard at my age.

 

(And somewhat unpopular with photographers on Photo.net . . . )

 

Though, of course, not if a young woman of this caliber is at the other end of my 'objective' Def.: Objective., known in other countries as a lens. Sometimes spelled Objectif and variations, thereof. e.g. Kamera y objectif, not lens.

 

;-))

 

John

you mean it's not a couch?!

No, not a couch, though I wouldn't have minded resting my weary head there -- oh well, there was the other Coke drinker, but struck out there too, and she was alive, but VERY NICE person -- world class.

 

John

As noted above, I was able to contact the human subject (above left) and take a few more photos of her in natural settings during day and part of another, so you may see more of her in my folders -- portfolio. Keep an eye out.

 

(I'm not a complete idiot.)

 

John

Well seen, John; a very pleasing, red-blooded result. Uncropped it is definitely an excellent page from the universal Street Photography Album. Cropped it becomes more artistic & passionate in my view but as earlier observed it could be deemed to have been taken in a studio or other controlled environment which might seem a little 'easier' and less natural.

Either version would be most welcome on my wall.

Hope you are in fine fettle, cheers Seven.

Seven, your use of the hyphenation 'red-blooded' certainly nailed me.

 

Yes, this young woman would arouse the 'red blood' in any healthy male, and in fact, when she and I later met, as we walked down a main street, taxis with multi-sound klaxon devices, would turn on one klaxon sound, then another, trying to get her attention -- much as 'construction workers' in America used to hoot and hollar at beautiful women in America as they worked on America's high rise buildings in cities such as New York.

 

But the interesting part was she found it more than a little flattering and not at all condescending or 'beneath her.'

 

Like women of her country, she would easily describe herself as a 'beautiful woman' or if someone told her she was beautiful, she would matter-of-factly and without deceitfulness or snootiness just reply 'I know'. End of subject. Fact acknowledged; no need to go into it or into heightened 'male consciousness' of the female condition of being 'subjugated'.

 

After all, don't modern Western women spent hours primping in front of their mirrors hoping to be seen as the most beautiful woman in view, only to vehemently and falsely deny it when someone compliments them on their looks (if Western or at least American man these days dare say anything about a woman's looks that aren't related to her potential as a photo model, for fear of being seen as a 'male chauvinist'.)

 

For her, male chauvinists don't exist as a 'problem' -- it's a much more natural culture, with abundant numbers of 'beautiful women' almost all of them willing to acknowledge that they are indeed 'beautiful women'. I married one such at one time (her brain cancer ended the marriage) -- and she was even better looking than this beautiful young woman possibly by several times, and she had also no problem acknowledging her beauty -- which I found quite disarming.

 

One problem in this culture is that women of her 'beauty' are somewhat reluctant to show their sometimes incredible intelligence for fear it might 'put men off', as she feels men she comes into contact with may feel threatened by a display of female intelligence.

 

(And yes, this young woman has incredible intelligence and a great thirst for knowledge.)

 

I am not put off by such things; cannot be, and thus when I go to a country such as this, find that I continually attract as 'friends' some of the most beautiful AND intelligent women regardless of age, for they've often got nowhere else to turn for the intellectual stimulation they keep repressed. (I know it contradicts the part above about 'male chauvinism' and 'natural acceptance of beauty', but them's the facts.)

 

(And I don't go 'looking' for such younger friends, either, but find they continually seek me out, which is an interesting phenomenon for a man of my age.)

 

Your comment Seven, as always, is right on the mark.

 

John

Very Good Coke Shot John, I think it might be just a wee bit better if you had the ladys feet and a bit more of the sign on top, or maybe work with what you have and just crop it so you only see the sign with the lady just below her knees, no car or sidewalk etc. Anyway its very good. thanks for your words by the way. take care friend.

 

DK.

 

P.s. I feel like a Coke! but I don't have any! ;o)

I overlooked your remark about the 'Universal Street Photography' album. Coming from anyone that is very high praise, as 'street photography' is sometimes so idiosyncratic and often goes over, behind, beyond, or around the viewer and as such often goes unnoticed.

 

Coming from you, that is ultimate praise.

 

I stood across the street from this photo/graphic depiction -- a sort of street-level billboard, for some time, trying for any sort of justaposition, and left unfulfilled with nothing worth showing except pedestrians passing by and no worthy juxtaposition or anything at all worth having pressed the shutter release for.

 

Later, I came back, and voila.

 

The woman (left) Coke drinker first stood in front of the billboard face, and then moved to the left as she upended her bottle. I snapped three quick ones as she worked on finishing the bottle; all slightly different and the other two showing more of the background/nearby area than this.

 

I still feel the 'street' elements are helpful to appreciating this as a photo of opportunity, although I agree with Miles Morgan above, that it will also look very good (although as if made in a studio) when adjusted for levels and cropped as he or a later commentator suggested.

 

Thanks for the accolade.

 

John

better would be a pepsi or even better yet- water-would give a pleasant ironic feel.

 

although, it would lose some of that mystic coinkie dinkness that it currently holds.

 

I thought of you while in newport, with its murals..but didnt shoot them.

 

 

So you were in Newport (Oregon for those who think you were at a jazz festival) on the bayside.

 

The photo 'Don't Look Now; I Think We're Being Followed' from a warehouse at the Newport wterfront, taken under horrendous conditions, was just about the epitome of my shooting, despite all the trouble it took to 'bring out' the image of father and son (being followed by a 'school' of salmon). I'm very proud of that image and would show it to anyone as among my best ever, and it shows well in color.

 

But my dear Knicki !?!, you are ever so perverse -- adding a Pepsi bottle just to tweak everyone. If that were the case, I might never sell this photo to Coke (maybe Pepsi?), which I might choose to try to do in the future (But they'd better pay big for it, since it's 'picture perfect' when cropped and levels applied.

 

You have essentially a 'New York' intellectual mentality set down there in coastal Oregon, I think -- just a little 'twisted' -- something I find very appealing; I went to school in NYC (Columbia College) and was shooting in Manhattan last weekend for a brief period -- watch for one particularly good post from the N.J. side of the Crudson River. (Oh, I forgot, it's supposedly been cleaned up).

 

Thanks for stopping by; you're always welcome.

 

John

This woman wants to be a future famous actress. Any bets whether she'll make it? This is her first 'credit', all by chance. Odds are against her, as in her country, there virtually is no 'theatre' except stage theatre -- no cinema to speak of, and she spoke little English when I met her, although after over a week of practice she was increasingly proficient and now can speak over the telephone with some clarity, an amazing feat.

 

Look for other photos of her in this or other folders (one's already posted as I write this.)

 

She is a 'world class' nice person, enormously intelligent, of highest culture and breeding, but with many cards stacked against her, not the least of which is complete lack of money and opportunity. Somehow, however, I'm placing my money on her success. (I think character and hard work wins in the end and would help if it meant a difference.)

 

John

The photo reminds me of Budapest in the early 1990's, (15 years ago). Things like Coca Cola, Levi's, and country music were very popular.

Well, I wasn't in Budapest, but these days Levis are almost or really bankrupt but 'jeans' are the name of the game with designer jeans going for $200 to $400 -- although this woman is wearing genuine Levis I think. And, you're somewhere in the general vicinity geographically, and, I suppose, genetically, although the Hungarians actually are a distinctive stock -- a group that ended up migrating to Finland -- hence the remarkable similarity in their languages.

 

But still close geographically.

 

And of course, this is an iconic photograph -- Blue jeans, a Coca-Cola and a VERY pretty girl. Almost timeless, hunh?

 

(Also, she's now a close personal friend, to my very good luck, and I took this photo before I knew her.)

 

John

hard to think what could make this better....just plain excellent