North Beach, San Francisco: Enough Said?

Street lights provide the lighting for this after dark double

portrait of 'clubbers' doing their thing in San Francisco's fabled

North Beach district, first home of the Italians, then home of

the 'beatniks, adjacent to Chinatown, later home of topless dancing

and currently home of fabled 'table dancing and things more

intimate' -- and for these two women, 'CLUBS' where they dance the

night away. 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

no tongue? :-)

 

Lots of character, great communication bewteen the subjects and your lens... good aggresive composition. Besides the extra bonus of bringing back some hazy memories of college parties and other things best kept private, this has a really nice feel to it

Kiss Army! I saw this one, and it just made me smile... :)

Well, there's a little bit of tongue, if you look closer at the woman, leftmost you'll see her tongue. She actually was talking or licking her lip. Most people don't 'pose' for me exactly; I just try to get them to 'hold more still' but they may talk away and I'll try to get the one where they're most still - there were a lot of discards from the bunch of photos I took of these 'gals' and this was the best.

 

Also available in B&W.

 

John

Kevin, I'm not sure what Kiss Army!? means, but you're entitled to express yourself. I am greatly glad this amused you, just as it was meant to. This is a 'fun' photo in my book also.

 

Glad to hearten your day.

 

John

I note of the five ratings, there are no two repeat ratings from 3 to 6, the raters can't agree on anything, except perhaps that this IS a PHOTOGRAPH, but nothing more beyond that.

 

I kind of like that. A photograph that transcends rating. Distinctive in a way.

 

John

Nice one John, but you do not seem to know what you stumbled into:

 

KISS Army is here

 

http://www.kissonline.com/

 

One of their favourites was

 

MADE FOR LOVING YOU.

 

 

and if you take a look at certain promotion photos from the group you will know why the tounge was mentioned above.

Omigod, well, now I'm enlightened. I've stumbled onto the Kiss Army. There actually were four women, but I singled out two as I dislike 'group photos' and prefer 'double portraits' as they're easier to manage whereas triple and quadruple headshots are very difficult to manage to present in an artful manner -- usually the people line up left to right and it makes it very hard to take an artful photograph.

 

There were an 'awful lot' (many) of discards from this bunch of available light photographs, all taken under streetlights at night with an f 5.6 lens.

 

Thanks for steering me in the right direction; your commentary is always right on and very helpful.

 

John

Really an abrupt image of these two KISS groupies. There is something very disturbing in the initial photographic impact of the these two in front of the camera. Perhaps this is what exemplifies those that choose to bring so much attention to the the mere superficial and external not wanting to expose the themselves or their feelings to the world. Theatricality obliterates a lot of worlds more wounded souls both physically and emotionally. Really super image in both setup and execution.

I read your critique and wondered as I read, whether you liked or disliked the image, until the end. The woman on the right, is a prosecutor for a nearby county, an attorney who is a former model, who gave me her card which had her e-mail and phone number.

 

It was near Halloween, thus accounting for 'costumes' and hiding identity, so I'm not so sure so much can be read into the 'costumes' as you do. How about me; I go about dressed as a photographer overladen with cameras, approaching strangers and getting them to stop, sometimes engaging them in conversation and meeting new, interesting (sometimes) people (as above) where otherwise I'd have little reason/excuse?

 

(I hadn't heard of Kiss Army until this occurred; now I'm very conversant.)

 

Your critique was very cogent, but I wonder if you were aware this was near Halloween if you'd have written the same thing.

 

John (Crosley)

You know I think Halloween just provides more of an opportunity for people to get their alter-egos out of the box. I still get a very disenfranchised feeling from this image (even though it's probably the most enfranchised rock band in history).

I went to a show from the first tour of KISS back in 1971 or 1973 I can't remember exactly. They were in with the strangest grouping of bands I'd ever heard or seen; 10CC (headliner), Renaissance, and KISS. I think my impression of the band (all show and not much musicality) relates to my impression of the fans and especially the KISS Army. But then again, things are never as they appear at first glance are they?

Regrettably, although the summer after the 'Summer of Love' I was living in San Francisco, I was not part of the hippy scene though I lusted after the hippy chicks. I just was not part of the scene and never was going to be; I was not about to tune in, turn on, and drop out. I had a higher calling and better things to do, though bless me, it probably wouldn't have hurt to spend a year or so in a commune 'sharing' some free love.

 

I'm surely, therefore, unaware of the Kiss Army phenomenon, except as I've come across it in my dotage, with these younger people, who've asssimilated it (hook, line and sinker) -- maybe for something fun to do.

 

Who knows?

 

John (Crosley)