The Joke (color edition)**+

These four seventeen-year-old boys enjoy a beer in the afternoon

during winter-break holidays (New Year's and Russian -- 'Old'

Christmas in a Courthard near the Center of Odessa, Ukraine when one

tells a joke and another reacts. 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

I tried here to capture the epitome of this situation, and feel I did.

 

So, indeed did the boys when I showed them this capture on my digital screen; each of them said 'Klass' which is a Ukrainian-Russian expression meaning 'high class' so far as I know, an expression many greet my best photos with when they view them.

 

I have little hesitancy in showing my photos to willing and non-threatening subjects -- it forges a bond and makes new friends, and I learn about the people that way -- sometimes they bring me to new subjects or 'photo opportunities' as a sort of reward, saying essentially, if you can take a good photo of I (us), you should go there and see 'this' ('that')

 

John

Very nice capture. They do seem to be very at ease in front of your lens. Still in Ukraine these days John? Wish you more good shots around!

After sitting for 9 hours in the Odessa Airport while Turkish Airlines didn't make a single announcement (about the plane that did NOT leave Istanbul for Odessa on account of visibility on the Odessa runway), the temperature inside the terminal (which was the same as outside) fell from plus 38 degrees Fahrenheit (unheated) to about 5 degrees Fahrenheit, and the front door to the terminal was left open so the cold could just come in. That was the same day they were counting the dead in Moscow and the rest of Russia from the Siberian cold (coldest day for that date since 1927 in Russia and much of Eastern Europe), but I've seen it minus 42 on a different date about 5 or 7 years ago in a region not far from Moscow -- schools closed and everybody sleeps in the same bed for warmth -- because even though Russia has hot water centralized heat, it's simply inadequate mostly for such extreme cold.

 

I'm still recovering from such cold, because I was dressed for moderate temperatures, (and nursing the sniffles and a cough).

 

As to this capture, I absolutely love it. I have converted it into B&W in which it also shows well, and you can look for a future posting in my Early B&W folder (includes recent work). (Regardless of current ratings). (I'm more or less ratings proof.)

 

This was taken with a 200 mm lens on a Nikon D2X (with a smaller than film-size CMOS sensor), making the crop factor equivalent to a 300 mm lens on a film camera, bringing the vital graffiti in the background (far away) into close-appearing juxtaposition to these 17-year-old-beer-drinking teens. Nice kids too; I talked to them and they truly liked this and other photos I made.

 

They were subliminally aware of being photographed, but were surprised at the 'detail' and absolutely loved this capture. 'Klass' they said when they saw this image. (It translates just like it sounds).

 

Thanks Alexandre for the comment.

 

John

This for me, despite lower ratings and views, is a rare moment captured -- boys being boys, and a composition worth capturing, all brought together by a 200 mm lens on a digital sensor for the equivalent of a 300 mm crop, full frame, using quite a small aperture to bring all into focus, despite very dreary, cloudy, late afternoon skies in a part of the world that seldom sees the winter sun, and in which, consequently, I often have found myself shooting at ISO 400 at 1/30th of a second more or less with the 70~200 mm lens fully extended at 200 mm.

 

That's quite a trick, but I'm a steady holder and the Nikkor 70~200 V.R. (Vibration Reduction) lens can handle hand-held shots as low as 1/5th of a second. (In those circumstances, I often resort, when shooting 'street portraits' to continuous (motor-like) drive, firing a rapid series of shots, (either single shots or continuous firing) so that at least one frame, perhaps more, will be both in focus and more importantly, the subject the subject's image in at least one photo will not be blurred by subject motion, which especially is common when subjects are talking.

 

It's a new technique for very low light telephoto 'street portrait shooting' at low shutter speeds, but it seems to work OK, with some substantial number of salvagable AND interesting shots, even at such low speeds (not always, of course, especially if I'm tired and my hands are shaking from cold and/or fatigue -- problems I just don't encounter near my home in Coastal California.)

 

John (Crosley)

This photo, taken on a winter day, just across a main street from the center of Odessa, in a hidden courtyard, is the essence of a 'street' photo, to my mind. But what is extraodrindary about this photo (and the following two posted photos in this folder as posted 2/8/06) is the color rendition, especially under high ISO with the Nikon D2X.

 

To my mind, as a sometimes 'street shooter' and someone who almost never shoots under full sunlight and takes a camera out at 2:00 a.m. or shoots indoors and is hardly deterred by European winter overcast in the late afternoon, a high ISO and good color rendition are very important to me.

 

I need the lowest ISO I can, but I also need speed for capturing action. Sometimes, shooting a 200 mm zoom lens at full extension, I need all the light I can get and often must choose not only the f 2.8 setting on one of my zoom lenses, but also high ISO just to be able to stop action at, say, 1/60th of a second.

 

Here, the lens was stopped down quite a bit in this late afternoon capture to place the very distance graffito (or gaffito if one includes the various graffiti -- plural) it was necessary to 'stop down' very much, resulting in an extremely low shutter speed, even with a very high (400 or 800) ISO.

 

I have left this color in its natural state, a little bluish, because that's naturally how this scene appeared on this gray, cloudy, late afternoon before the real winter plunged in with a vengeance and everyone went indoors to shiver. (Russia tried to raise Ukraine's natural gas prices 400% precipating a national -- and international crisis -- while I was there, and Ukraine is going to be shivering when the compromise price hike, much less, expires in July and next winter, the Ukrainians will be shivering much more and hardly celebrating their harsh (not as harsh as Russia) winter (about as harsh as, say, Buffalo, instead of Vermont).

 

The D2X performed flawlessly under these circumstances and even under rainy, snowy weather and even in very bitter cole -22 Celsius when I was in Russia and I never had battery problems (I always kept a warm battery in an inner pocket for re-insertion in case the cold killed a battery).

 

If one attaches a V.R. (vibration reduction) lens to a D2X or as good or better -- the D200 -- one gets an almost unbeatable combination and files sizes that are comparable. The D200 actually renders shadow detail more readable and requires less manipulation than the D2X and does extremely well in low light as well as one can set the D200 at intermittent ISO equivalent speeds above 800 instead of H-1 and H-2 of the D2X, which gives a little more control.

 

The heft (mass) of the D2X makes for extremely stable shooting (but it is heavy, especially with a long, zoom V.R. lens), however, I have been able to render street portraits with that combiantion sometimes (assuming no subject movement) at 1/5th second (bursting the shutter in case of my own movement ruining a particular frame at that speed).

 

The D2X (and the D200) seem ideal for street shooting, although they do give away that you are a 'serious photographer' instead of, say, a casual tourist, which many street shooters using, say, Leicas, would like to pose as, or the ability to hide a camera like the small 35 mm film devotees can do. Perhaps someday there will be a comparable camera to the D200 but small size and with lenses (and camera)that are inconspicuous, and more suitable for street shooting close up, say in a crowd.

 

John (Crosley)

 

Lower views and ratings have not changed my mind -- this is one of my finest 'street' captures -- bar none.

 

I captured 'the moment' and it was a good moment that I'm thoroughly satisfied.

 

There is very little I could do to make this photograph better.

 

I'll probably desaturate it and place it in my Early B&W folder.

 

; -))

 

John (Crosley)

Hey there,

 

I'll throw in my two cents. Bottom line, I enjoy this photograph a great deal. It excels in one major aspect in that it indeed succeeds to convey the true spontaneity that existed during this moment. However, there is some room for for improvement, in my opinion.

 

-- And here is where I feel it essential to emphasize that I am haven't the sort of mastery of my craft that you do (and I'm being honest, not for the sake of flattery) and am only trying to offer a bit of constructive criticism from another point of view. --

 

I believe it is the content of this photo (i.e. what's going on) which makes this a great capture. However, I believe that technically speaking, it's lacking in a few respects. I realize that you may not have been able to capture such a candid moment without a long lens (although if you showed them the photo afterwards, like you said, I think they would have been comfortable with you using, say, a 50mm lens) but if you had used a shorter lens, the shot might seem more intimate, as though you were part of the group, rather than a distant observer, as the perspective of this photo implies. Plus, had you used a shorter lens, you might have been able to experiment around with different angles more easily, and perhaps we could have seen the expression on the jokester's face, etc.

 

Again, this is an excellent photograph, just as it is. And who knows, maybe if you had gotten closer with a 50mm, the photo wouldn't have been any better. I'm just idealizing (is that a word?) and wanted to give you a bit of insight from another perspective because you seem to have this monologue going on where the comments on this photo are just your own.

 

And if you're wondering, I have looked at the rest of your portfolio, and I am a huge fan. Teach me! No, seriously!

 

 

Regards,

Luke

 

 

Thanks for interrupting any monologue.

 

That graffito on the wall was at least 75 feet away and fills an essential hole in the grouping of individuals -- it's a 'figure'. See my unfinished 'Presentation' on 'Photographers -- Watch Your Background'

 

These boys would NOT have allowed me to approach them , EXCEPT that I already had captured this moment.

 

To have approached them beforehand would have resulted in destroying the moment. They had no idea I could have captured this moment.

 

Moreover this photo relies entirely on telescopic or telephoto compression -- bringing background and nearer subjects into juxtaposition and my being unobserved.

 

I can work with a 50 mm or even a 12 mm lens, but the captures take on an entirely different look -- there's a completely different way of photographing with those lenses -- compositions are entirely different, and this photo could only have been taken with a very long lens.

 

One uses a wide angle when one is 'in close' to separte photographic elements (figures) who appear jammed together -- the wide angle gives the appearance of separation. Photojournalists use them almost exclusively indoors, in hallways, outside courtrooms, in halls of Congress, in offices, etc.

 

One uses wide angle and 'normal' lenses on the street, at times, to photograph people, depending in part on how 'crowded' the scene is, and how much separation there is between the photographer and the subject and the angle of view necessary -- some views require a wide angle.

 

See my shot of Richard Nixon with his arms around me and wife Pat in my Early B&W photos (includes recent work), taken with a 28 mm lens on film for a good example.

 

One uses a telephoto often to bring far-off subjects in close, to compress and bring together disparate elements and bring them into justaposition, and to capture subjects where elements occur within a narrow angle of view.

 

There: some erudiction on the use of lenses, and well thought out.

 

You can also take it to the bank, but it's not exhaustive. Landscapers use wide angles to take the 'near and far' (though the not so far appears quite distant with a wide angle).

 

Telephotos allow one to bring in close the far away, (and also allow one to be surreptitious, as above).

 

One my age only can approach youths such as these after the factf when one has a good capture to share, and then only after the frivolity has passed and there are no chance for further captures.

 

There, does that help?

 

Not exactly a defense, but an explanation.

 

Thanks for being a fan -- one never knows until somebody writes something and 'steps forward' symbolically.

 

Addendum: 9-21-06: Feel free to stop by and contribute from time to time, anytime. You do not have to be 'correct' to comment or make a suggestion, but only to be of good faith and interested in sharing. 'Comments' under my photos are freeform and open and frequently go 'off topic' into various realms of discussion, and many members/subscribers find them most interesting reading.

 

All that requires contributors and those who will engage in 'discussion' -- and you're always welcome.

 

John (Crosley)