Where did it all go wrong?

I vaguely remember an interview with the late George Best. He tells the story of a time he won a lot of money in the casino. He took the money up to his hotel room. His companion (probably a current or ex Miss World) was in bed. He sprawled the money on the bed and called room service for a bottle or two of Champagne.

 

The room service waiter delivers the Champagne to the room. He looks at the beautiful women in the bed and all the money and turns to George almost in tears and says, "George! Where did it all go wrong?"

 

The story is probably better than this photograph but I thought I would share it anyway.

 

Should there be anyone looking for my more daring work, you can always do a search for me on photopoints or photosig where I have uploaded some of my deleted images and where I will be uploading more soon. (New uploads too.)

Sorry, but it looks to me like it all went right. Nice shot.

The detail on the Canon 5D is good, I think that I can see Ben Franklin smiling.

 

The shadow on the upper right background is a little sharp.

Mark, I don't think you read my accompanying story but thanks for dropping by anyway.

 

Keith, I don't think Benjamin was the only one smiling! I can't see the shadow you are reffering to.

In 8-bit gray scale, the shadow is at a level of about 202 and the bright area is 211. If it were less sharp it would not even be visible.

 

I probably would not have noticed but I just did a monitor recalibration.

David, I read the story, but thought I'd ignore for a nonesensical comment of my own. Guess I got lost in the shadow.

Keith, That shadow! I was looking for something in the corner.

 

Mark, Thanks again.

Srange this frequent debate over shadows (I think that you have also objected to them sometimes in the past David?). I always find that shadows give perspective. I would probably be too lazy to touch it, but if I did, my tendency here would be to reinforce it, as it helps to distract from the symmetry of the centrally placed figure.

John, Strange as it may seem, I didn't notice the shadow when I uploaded the picture. I did notice it when I took the picture.... which I realise makes the first part of this statement sound stranger. It is a minor annoyance to me. Keith says the shadow is sharp which is not something I agree with. However it is clearly defined and there is not getting round the fact that it is there. I don't really have too much time to spend on PS and so the shadow will stay.

 

I have indeed been very crtical of your shadows but without a doubt, these would have been hard shadows. Your opinion may or may not be valid. Certainly shadows didn't do Terry Richardson any harm. I am of the opinion most of his photographs look like snapshots.

 

There is a sadness about all of this. You may find this amusing but I simply uploaded the wrong image.

That's just great David. Imagine if we all did the same thing, it would be terribly boring. My feeling has always been that you get more depth with a shadow, though obviously it can distract also sometimes, though not here in my opinion. I like the two photos equally by the way.

Indeed John! Indeed.

I once did a series along these lines...and in color, yet! The major difference was, being a poor Southern boy, I only used one-dollar bills! The images were loudly denounced among some locals as too glam and too commercial, so they haven't been seen since. I'm wondering now why I listened to them. I may have to post it on p.net now.

 

All that is just a preamble to my saying I like this one. My one question is...how did you get the bills so flat and stiff?

Jim, I still am poor. As for the the notes, the reason they are so flat and errect is because they are new...... or at least newly printed.

 

I look forward to seeing your photos along these lines.