Working the Shrimper Stern**

Unusual body language characterizes this worker as he searches for

an angle of attack to repair the stern of this drydocked shrimper,

Moss Landing, California. 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

photographic knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks!

Enjoy! John

Yep, that is what I used to do for a living. Did it for years. So John, I just cannot pass this one by. 7/7--some of the right reasons and some of the wrong ones.

I think if I'd done it poorly, you'd have rated it poorly. People seem to like this one, regardless of their prior profession.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

John (Crosley)

 

 

john-

 

good contrast and use of negative space. a winner

 

tony

I have been particular successful in 'blur' and other use of 'negative' space from time to time, without particularly planning for it. I just take the photos. (I did try to use shadow/highlight to bring out detail in the hull, didn't like it at all, and darkened it back immediately, discarding the idea entirely).

 

Thanks for the endorsement.

 

And how much of this is in the unusual 'bending' of the older worker's body as he assesses the situation, do you think -- there's a lot of action/interest in that, I'll wager (there a number of other captures that look pretty pedestrian in which he's just standing there)? The steam also helps too, I think.

 

John (Crosley)

Like the action of the man and the negative and positive shapes within the picture area. Maybe a little lacking in tonal range. A bit of burn out in the steam. Over all good observation. Regards John

Yes, it was 'burned out' in the tonal range, and deliberately so. This started out as a color photo, and the blue sky distracted greatly, while the steam was helpful, being white and all, but it was 'burned out' in the center.

 

If I labored over it greatly, Photoshopping it to death, there may have been ways to preserve more details in the steam, but my Photoshop abilities are not up to it, so it's a little 'burned out' with the sun directly behind it, blowing it out.

 

I could have used shadow/highlight filter to increase tonal range, and tried that, but it ruined the photo, at least for shadows, and for highlights, it only revealed the 'blowouts' in the steam, so I just let it go.

 

Very good observation.

 

Sometimes, film with its 11 EV range beats a D200 with its 8-1/2 stops or so.

 

But I was surprised by how 'happy' an exposure I was able to obtain, not expecting anything at all . . . just noodling around the boatyard.

 

So, you were right on.

 

John (Crosley)

If you are wondering about the fuzziness of the man's chest, that's chest hair, not some artifact of 'sharpening' or some such.

 

;-))

 

John (Crosley)

I swear to God, the first thing I noticed was the "hair" on the man's chest. Then I read the comments. The lighting on his hairy chest creates a nice contrast to the smooth lines of the rest of this image. It echoes the form & edges of the steam.

 

The composition is very interesting, use of light & dark almost creates an abstract effect. The ladder, then the man & arm, lead my eyes to the boat bottom. Anyway you look at this it leads your eyes right to the man. Really nice :)

You left one very fine critique -- highly worthy. One of the best in a few words. You obviously have great experience and a good eye. I thank you; your critique ads value to my understanding of my own images. I can be quite blind to them as I am an inchoate shooter who seeks to be able to put the process into a 'recipe book' and be able to replicate it or at least explain it.

 

Toward that end you have made a valuable contribution.

 

Thanks.

 

John (Crosley)

Thank you for the lovely compliments, coming from you it means a lot! :) You are too kind.

 

As a child, I always seemed to have this innate sense of balance. I use to re-arrange furniture (LOL) & decor. Drove my mother insane! I always loved Art. While getting my Nursing degree, I took a few Art & Art Appreciation classes. One day, one of my elderly Art professors demanded I stay after class. I did. He launched into a long & heated diatribe about "Why I should NOT be a nurse". I listened intently while he rambled & muttered to himself & pointed & waved his finger into the air. In a nut shell, he explained that I was wasting my time in Nursing, that I was way too creative for Medicine :) He insisted I immediately change my major to Art :) I was very polite & respectful but explained to him I needed to be able to make a living to support my medical school bound husband & 2 small children :) He explained that I would "never" find any satisfaction in Nursing.

 

I opted to continue in Nursing, graduate & work as a nurse (& still do) for about 25 years. I often think back & giggle :) He was right, you know. There is not a lot of room for a "creative" nurse. Most of us nurses do things pretty much by the book, I on the other hand most generally opt not to :) I have always been what I describe as a 3 dimensional or spacial thinker. I'm constantly thinking 2 or 3, sometimes several steps down the road in multiple different directions. I was born with this odd ability to previsualize where a situation may end & the endless possibilities of how one might get there "or" get back from there :) Most physicians respected me, a few less secure ones, despised me :) I have never felt intellectually or physically intimidated by any physician. I feel sure I bruised more than a few egos & more than a few probably wanted to choke me :) I have been in so many wonderfully entertaining situations as a nurse, I often think back about them & laugh. I never felt that things were ever out of control though, because of this "previsualization" ability I always had 99.9 % of the bases covered, no matter what happened :)

 

So..... now that our children are grown & I am not supporting our family, I feel I can kind of kick back & enjoy a few of the things I find a little more interesting, photography & art :) I am sure that my old professor is long dead, I think he would enjoy the fact that I did find some satisfaction as a nurse, but that I continue to enjoy & appreciate Art :) It speaks to me!

 

 

 

 

This is an interesting story, full of much detail -- none of which I could have anticipated, and yet none of it contradicts one iota what I have felt 'inchoately' to use a term I have thrown about, and this in regard to the worth of your commentaries (and your photography which I have had a careful look at).

 

It is not so hard, after all, to feel a certain sense of community with other people who have a certain intellectual ability, even when there are barriers of distance, schooling, culture, etc. etc,, so long as there is some common and clear line of communication, and you have established that with me.

 

I think you know you are received here, and that is why you can tell your story and know that it would be read and received openly and with full understanding; after all, I only took up photography (again) two years and two months ago (despite my huge offerings since then).

 

You are ALWAYS welcome to meander over here and ALWAYS welcome to express an opinion about just about anything, and it doesn't have to relate just to photo criticism (these pages run the gamut of social, scienctific, philosophic, poetic, etc., and are rather freeform, and somehow they relate to the topic -- at first -- and then can meander -- no moderators here.)

 

WELCOME!

 

John (Crosley)