'Next Customer!' (Cleaning the Barber Chair)

'Next Customer' (Cleaning the Barber Chair) is a view very familiar

to many older American males and maybe fading from the American

scene in this era of unisex hair 'salons'. The customer, right,

probably has just put down his 'Maxim' or 'Playboy' if he's like

many of the rest of the barber's customers. Your ratings and

critiques are invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly or very

critically, please submit a helpful comment/Please share your

superior knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy!

John

In painting, compositions that display a 'slice of life' are called genre. This is a good image in that mold and your artist statement does well to reinforce that. There are some artistic elements in the composition that could be discussed and of course praise given for not letting outside light overdrive the photo, but this is really not that kind of creation. It is what it is, and well done at that. If mounting, include the location city below the image and post the artist statement nearby (but separate).

 

Very nice slice of life. There is a lot to look at here. The barbershop itself; the expression of the barber; the shaking of the cloth; the mundane world outside the shop; and the customer? leaning out of the way. Well done. Regards: Jeri

I could be considered an older American since I am 61, and the image brings so many memories and you have captured so very well. I like the composition and I also like very much the "next" customer at the edge of the frameas if ready to sit and yet not quite there. The "Movement" that you have captured with the sweep of the bib on the chair is excellent. I have taken the liberty of changing it to B & W since I felt that it may also be interesting.

 

Great shot and great moment.

Sorry I forgot the B & W!

Dana,

 

This is indeed a 'slice of life' type of photo.

 

It is a capture that probably every American male of a certain age has seen but it's probably seldom or maybe never been captured thusly, with the bib in the air brushing away the last customer's hair. (so much for hygiene and those hair mites!)

 

This is a good case for setting the D200 for vivid, or maybe even just using a D200 at all, as it tends to act very much as though the shadow/highlight filter in Photoshop CS2 had been applied, as this image has been untouched by Photoshop, and the backlighting has not overwhelmed the capture or left the foreground in shadows -- it's a very new rendition of Nikon's that I have found very much to my liking for what used to be discards from scenes that were far too contrasty. Shadow/highlight filter from Photoshop CS came along and allowed us a simple way of saving those shots without 'selecting' them and leaving selection marks and spending overmuch time on them, and now the D200 makes Photoshopping those images at all superfluous (Imagine that!)

 

(It's a good argument for the D200, at least as mine are set, at least in JPEG mode/I haven't analyzed my NEF captures as I've just started taking them and will confine them to landscapes/high ISO captures, as they use up way too much chip space shooting both NEF and JPEGs (my JPEGs often are rendered very well and I am a 'street shooter' much of the time where the image is the thing, not so much the rendition and 'artwork' to it or post-processing (hence I eschew Photoshopping except in its most basic functions).

 

I take great price in captions -- and artist statements as well, for some photos require some sort of scene setting; others not. This was helped in my opinio by a scene setter.

 

What was wonderful to me was catching the bib sweeping the chair in the position I did. That made the whole photo worthwhile and worth posting.

 

Thanks for weighing in with thoughtfulness.

 

John (Crosley)

This in deed, as stated above, is a 'slice of life' but the customer, right,, is NOT leaning out of the frame, but actually stepping into the frame.

 

This is reminiscent of another photo of mine, a photo in black and white of a woman kissing a man on the neck in a Denney's restaurant with the waiter half in and half out of the frame, bringing water (it's in my Early B&W folder), taken last year.

 

I really like this capture, just for what it is. Nevertheless 'street' photos get little respect on Photo.net generally (though I spent a day in a car driving around a major U.S. city -- like I did in S.F. before, getting amazing capture after amazing capture, wondering what I'd take next and always being rewarded -- maybe 50 worthwhile photos worth.

 

I'll post them someday.

 

In the meantime, this guy's partner was my barber (he trims too aggressively).

 

John (Crosley)

You have absolutely and ultimately understood this photo. And from your reaction it also has touched you at some visceral level, as it did me -- I captured a scene straight out of Americana -- all missing is the girlie magazines spread out on a chair somewhere, even the kids looking at them as they (we) did in former times, pretending we didn't notice them or weren't desperately curious about them and their contents.

 

And thanks for the wonderful B&W rendition: If you did it on Photoshop channel mixer, I'd be interested in the RGB settings so I could use them as a starter -- you done good and I'd like to do the same with yours as a starting point.

 

(I always intended to convert this to B&W, as it is more typical of photos in my Early B&W folder, but I was caught by the purplish color of the bibb and the reddish/oranish of the 'open' sign reversed so it reads 'closed' -- definitely 'low tech.'

 

John (Crosley)

I am flattered that you felt that that my observations were befitting of this great image. I am an admirer of your art and of your technical ability and I continuosly learn from it. Thank you. As for the conversion to B & W, I like you, try to correct images minimally or none at all. I changed your photo from RGB to Grayscale and I "Played" very little with the levels and added a bit of contrast, that's it.

Again thank you for being a constant source of learning and for continuing to share your great work in such eloquent manner.

 

Marco

John:

 

I believe you when you say that he is stepping into the shot after all you were there, but his body language is leaning back a little and the expression on his face looks like he is wary of flying hair. Anyway this is a great slice of life. It remimds me of the old Saturday Evening Post Magazine shots.

Regards: Jeri

I was taking a photograph, not tracking the next customer's movements. He was stepping toward the chair, but may have rocked back on his heels when the barber, left, began to clean the chair -- a very reasonable explanation. We'll never know for sure, but I think that is the most likely one.

 

Thanks for the thoughtful analysis.

 

John

It is you who is owed thanks.

 

Everytime (almost) someone leaves a comment, (see above, and yours) I learn something. I am ever thankful for the commentators who have enriched my photography (and my life)

 

Thanks again.

 

John (Crosley)

:---)

I'll bet you can see yourself at some time in your lifetime in this All-American photo; a true 'slice of life'.

The barber who retired that gave this barber his place was a former porno star and he I think was known as Mr. Foot Long. to some (not in the profession).

I never saw any of his former work; only got a few haircuts from the man before he retired. Nice enough guy and never would have suspected his former profession, if that ever paid enough for any male performer to call it a profession aside from Ron Jeremy and a few others.

Basically the producerrs own the business and a few very smart, very savvy pretty young female performers who are in big demand and know how to keep that demand in the forefront (so to speak, and I purposefully did not use another more common English word instead of 'in the forefront' to avoid double entendres.

If you get my drift.

Remember the girlie magazines on the tables, chairs and even the floors with all the interesting parts airbrushed out. Airbrushing then was a BIG business; now all gone. 

No one said anything then if their 6 year old or four year old came into a barber shop and saw those things; now they'd have Child Protective Services there in a heartbeat if there was just one of those available and seen, yet those kids grew up, many to be today's Christians and Moral Majority as well probably as Tea Partiers lusting after 'Conservative values' and the 'good old times'.

I'll bet you!

Thanks for the remark, Drew.

john

John (Crosley)