'Lou' The Greyhound Bus Driver On Break

This is 'Lou' a Greyhound Bus Driver, during a 7-minute break. She

is capable of a different expression every five or six seconds, as

the other 76 photos I took illustrate. Let me know what you think.

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

rate harshly or very critically, please submit a helpful and

constructive critique/Pleae share your superior knowledge to help

improve my photography.) Thanks! Enjoy! John

You are a collector of some of the most unusual and interesting images on Photo.net. Praise for this portrait from you is high praise indeed. Thanks for the kind ratings.

John (Crosley)

This woman really was worth 77 photos in just over 7 minutes as she took a break from her job driving a Greyhound Bus, stopped at a local station. She can be 'in your face' or the loveliest and most expressive person I have seen in a very long time; here she understood that my work was serious, and I snapped as we talked (well . . . she talked, and I listened . . . ;-) )

Thanks for the nice comment; I'm glad it made you laugh.

John (Crosley)

What an infectious smile, put one on my face!

funny tho, I wasn't suprised when I read she was a bus driver... somehow fit with my first impression of her face - a face that does this every day!

But U have to say, her eyes are the real knockout - bright and full of life.

Congrats again,

El

It does 'pop', doesn't it?

Regrettably, I'll probably never see this woman again, as she's based a couple of hundred miles away, and for some reason I don't hang around Greyhound Bus Depots (except when I'm looking to photograph down and outers). (However, I think she has my PN address, so she has permission to copy this photo, which I told her I might upload.)

Thanks for stopping by.

John

When I first spied this woman, she thought with my camera I was a 'checker' and about to 'write her up', a thought which I quickly dispelled.

She's capable of a huge range of expressions, and every one of the 77 photos I took of her in 7-8 minutes shows a different expression -- she moved and weaved and bobbed as she talked, so framing was an interesting phenomenon, as I try to 'fill the frame' and don't crop usually from larger captures. (this is a full-frame photo with no cropping at all, as she moved, weaved and bobbed, while I tried to photograph her.)

Interesting task, and she was very happy with the results (as are you, thankfully, and me too.)

(Low scores notwithstanding, I note this photo is garnering a large number of views . . . for an anomalous result, I think.)

Thanks for the attention to my work. ;-))

John (Crosley)

I was particularly proud of this capture when I made it and after I sorted through many good captures in the 77 photos I did take.

So, when someone asked me as I carried my camera(s) whether I was a photographer (duh, what else, if I'm carrying a pro camera or two -- one with an SB800 Nikon flash), and I would sometimes say 'well, you judge', and show them this image on the digital screen', and it was universally acclaimed -- often with people saying to their friends 'come here, you gotta see this.'

So it's interesting that when posted, one member of good cheer and usual good humor (a rarity on Photo.net), Bob Kurt, makes a nice comment/rate, but the rates average about a 4.00 which is allegedly 'average', but really 'below average' in the inflated currency of this site.

Is this truly an 'average' photo?

I doubt it and I disagree. I think it is extraordinary.

Compositionally it's not unusual -- no head and shoulder portrait can be very 'original' -- except I wonder whether an unusual expression should also count toward 'originality' -- as this expression is -- if nothing else -- unique.

Nevertheless, I'm not particularly perturbed, just mildly amused that there must be some 'other' reason this photo was rated very low by some members. Is it because she's of a darker hue, or am I seen as pandering for allegedly caricaturing someone of a different and darker hue (not intentionally - at least because of the hue - but in general, yes I did capture her image, and her expressions border on caricature because they are so strong that for other subjects such an expression would be gross exaggeration (not for her, however).

Thanks, Bob Kurt -- you're probably the most prominent humorist on Photo.net, and when I post something that grabs your attention in a genre you are attracted to, I'm particularly proud.

As to low raters: a raspberry to you. I love this lady and think I did her real justice in the capture. Regrettably a few low raters meant this photo did not get the exposure I think it deserved.

I'm often baffled by raters on this site, but I find when cross-posting from Color to B&W or vice versa, the ratings seem to fall in line with each other, unless one presentation is clearly favored

by saturation/desaturation.

John (musing on ratings and raspberries)