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© Copyright 2006, John Crosley, All Rights Reserved

Hot Summer Dayz II


johncrosley

Nikon D200, Nikkor 70~200 mm E.D. V.R. converted to B&W with channel mixer, monochrome setting (which is not a 'manipulation' as I read the rules) (taken a different day that other image posted)

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© Copyright 2006, John Crosley, All Rights Reserved

From the category:

Street

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This rather complex 'street' photo, shows a water fountain

previously seen in a photo posted of mine, during summer's broiling

heat. What stories does this photo tell you? 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

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Your work is stunning... the delightful split-second timing here is very compelling to behold---the raised step and it's shadow, against a complex backdrop of a plethora of actions and expressions. It's timeless, and perhaps more importantly, about time and life frozen against it... you have an outstanding picture here my friend, my heartiest congratulations.

 

Best regards.

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This really is one of my all-time great photographs, as I see it, and it was posted directly to my best folder. Sometimes I like first to see how people react to a photo before posting to that folder, but this time I knew from the start. It's complex beyond imagination, for a silhouette shot, I think (well not beyond imagination, but try to think something up in Photoshop drawing a silhouette that's more complex than this and you get the idea . . . ).

 

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I appreciate them very much.

 

John (Crosley)

 

addendum

 

(sorry for misspelling your name D., at first -- I corrected it 8-16-06. JC)

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I don't think I could have done any better.

 

If conditions had been perfect, I would have placed the guy, (centermost) a little more to the left, but as it was there was another person crossing the scene, so I had to wait.

 

I held my breath until I magnified this on the viewfinder screen to see if there was light between him and the photo-guys on the rightmost.

 

And then I said to myself 'wow, I got 'em.'

 

And, I was happy . . . for about 20 seconds until I went hunting for another good shot.

 

And I did get some good ones that day (yesterday).

 

It's not often one gets in a position even to take a photo like this, and to have all the parts fall into place and to 'be there' (like Peter Sellers in the movie of the same name) was wonderful *in the extreme* for a photographer.

 

Thanks for your comment.

 

John (Crosley)

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I guess there's not really much to say about this one, is there, except what you said?

 

I'd call this a lucky moment, except when I open my Windows Explorer page under my 'C' drive and explore under the folder with photo thumbnails in it and photos of this fountain and the various people, including the guys on the left (and right) fill the page (in thumbnail photos) on my superwide laptop, you can imagine how many photos I took just to get one this interesting . . . . and why I kept snapping the shutter.

 

There were many other interesting ones, that day and another day or two -- enough to start a new folder -- The Fountain Photos, which I'm considering . . . but usually I don't repeat myself or confine photos to one genre in a folder . . . so I'm wondering . . . .

 

I don't want to be tagged 'the silhouette (or shadow) guy.'

 

John (Crosley)

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Well, one rater didn't like this and gave it a 3/3.

 

It just goes to show you . . . that you can't please all the people all the time.

 

I am curious whether that was an experienced rater or someone who just joined (there were three of those) or whether the 7/7 was from the new rater -- I'll probably never know under the 'anonymous ratings' unless I happen to open a 'highest rated' folder and 'up pops this photo' in that folder of a member/subscriber, which means that certain 'anonymous ratings' are not anonymous after all . . . .

 

And what the heck . . . . I often comment about ratings, often for the absurdity of them or the idiosyncracy of them, but they do mean something, just as the 'view' numbers mean something -- and when a low-rated and fewly-rated photo gets extraordinarily high views while sitting in a folder (and it wasn't the 'lead' photo in a folder representing it for the folder on the TRP folder list) I sit up and take notice -- there's a form of validation in such photos too -- and there's no real way to know about such photos until after they've been posted and sat in a folder/portfolio for a number of months or a year, then outlasted their similarly or higher-rated brethren posted at the same time/same folder by double or triple -- a phenomenon I've written about before.

 

Think what would have happened if I'd pressed the shutter a micro-second later, and there was no space between the stepping man -- center -- the the photo-taking pair, center right, and there was an 'overlap' for a black 'lump' instead -- no photo, no rates, nada.

 

As noted above, this photo is all about timing, and I couldn't press the shutter sooner because someone was exiting the frame, left (and someone was entering the frame right (a hand and beer cropped out -- very slight crop).

 

John (Crosley)

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All I could say, after filling large parts of a huge, 4 gig compact flash card with some things like this was 'Wow' when I connected with one genuinely 'good one' in my view, after coming real close lots and lots of times.

 

I certainly place this among my all-time best, regardless of ratings, good or bad, although there were silhouettes by those on the opposite side, (left side) that if they'd been so arranged would have made this photo 'stunning', and I could easily have Photoshopped it to make it appear as though it were one 'stunning capture', but as you probably by now are aware, I just don't do such things.

 

I don't know why, but something stops me.

 

I guess some things in life have to be sacrosanct, and for me 'street' photography is one of them.

 

I had a chance last night, when seated with a beautiful young women who quite obviously was interested to cheat on telling her my age (and am sure i would have been believed), but I just couldn't, and consequently that went nowhere, although if I am to believe her on her last relationship, the guy mislead her, she fell in love, then later she found his age, and it was 'too late'. I could have done the same maybe, but just don't do such things.

 

Is there a place for me in this world?

 

And how did I get so holier than thou anyway? After all, I'm a grown man and I've practiced law (and the pronunciation difference between 'lawyer' and 'liar' is probably no accident;-) -- it's just that one twists the words more and one just doesn't care whether the words are twisted at all and just spouts off any old stuff passing it off as the 'truth'.

 

And she would have liked me very much, I think.

 

Tant pis (so much the worse in French).

 

My best wishes to you (and your loved ones).

 

John (Crosley)

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You took some very pleasing shots during a recent fest in your native Netherlands, which were somewhat out of keeping with your usual style and which I found very refreshing.

 

;-))

 

John (Crosley)

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Thanks John for your story, I do love it, and I am glad you find my 'latest' work refreshing...

 

you should write a book with your pictures, Els

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Thanks for the prompting.

 

I think I'll do just that.

 

That's what my 'Presentations' are all about . . . setting the stage for publishing . . . and they bypass or miss much of my latest work.

 

I'm not getting older . . . I tell myself . . . I'm getting 'better' . . . like cheese. ;-))

 

Actually, I feel younger than in decades because of taking photos like this.

 

And it's a microsecond away from being rubbish. (If I'd hesitated for a millisecond in pressing the shutter, think how it'd look.)

 

My best regards to your best and closest.

 

And thanks for thinking of me (It was your best and closest who suggested the idea to me of 'comments' as a forum through interesting his use of 'comments' prompting my 'style' in comments, something I think I should acknowledge.

 

At least if I have my facts straight.

 

John (Crosley)

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I think on rework, I'd just select and apply shadow/highlight filter and use the scrubby slider to lessen the highlights on that, and that would be that. It will be easy.

 

Thanks for a valuable commment on a beloved photo. Amazing how that got overlooked.

 

Thanks again. Good eye.

 

John (Crosley)

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