One For the Boys Back Home

Most Japanese tourists regard photography as gathering proof of

their travels to display once they return, and they're entirely

humorless about it, never cracking a smile; while Americans, as

here, are somewhat different and sometimes more inventive. This is

the huge AVN (Adult Video News -- porn) convention at Las Vegas in

early January. 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, or at least be edified! John

I didn't rate but perhaps shooting from a different spot whereby you get the guy's expression.

I would have if I could have, but this moment was fleeting. It lasted a second, then was gone.

 

I thought it worth preserving, just for the incongruity of it all.

 

Something I like to capture scenes as seen from behind a crowd (see his eyes, somewhat furrowed -- what is he thinking?) It boggles the imagination, doesn't it?

 

There's a story there.

 

Thanks for the comment; you had to have been there.

 

John (Crosley)

You should have cropped to get the guys head in and the girl's butt. Then called the image 'head-butt'. Lovely image. Keep on shooting. Regards. Antonius

Or how 'bout 'butt-head'.

 

No doubt where 'beavis' (sp) is.

 

John (Crosley)

 

Well, the shot does, indeed, reach a point where it shows how mediocre social inertia becomes flagrant buffoonery; not only is the main character's face deeply revealing in its frivolity (I think that seeing only part of it enhances this effect), but also the blue cap and easy-to-guess idealism of the man behind it helps better contour the 'spirituality' of this. On-lookers add a somewhat muting effect to the image. A very good snap-shot.

I do not disagree with the word 'snapshot' with regard to this particular photo, even if it is meant with derogation, for it captured a particular moment, as though one were back in the crowd.

 

And as such, this is the 'crowd's point of view' -- not the view of the omniscient photojournalist but a very personal view, as though one were crunched between the throngs, vying for a look, just a peek at one's 'ideal' -- or at least the source of those restless nights of video watching. . . .

 

I often take the 'omniscient photojournalist point of view' but if you look at my portfolio/folders, you'll occasionally find that I place the subject in the background, partly or mainly obscured, so that the viewer has to fight to see it and is partly frustrated -- it's not only a conscious choice to press the shutter, but also a more conscious choice to actually post such a shot, and such a posting is only motivated where the subject matter is so strong that it overcomes any objection I might have to beautiful aesthetics, because I'm dead sure this is not a 'beautiful' photograph . . . and surely expected a bunch of 3s for aesthetics and would not blame anybody for giving them (I haven't even looked as I write this).

 

I post as I will, without regard much for ratings; I have had quite a number of well-received photos recently and feel the ability even more to post what I will -- a surfeit of freedom in a place where I feel great artistic freedom, unconstrained for the greater part by rates and ratings, and rewarded by interesting and helpful comments, such as yours, especially the social commentary about the frivolity and faces, both of which are 'dead on'.

 

That's why I post these things.

 

The old canard: 'Is there a sound in the forest if no one is around to hear?' has (corrected: should read 'now' not 'not' as originally posted) been scientifically resolved (yes, there is sound), but the greater question might be, 'what good does it do to post photos if nobody ever gives a s*it whether or not you do, and cares not a whit to comment on them.

 

Thank God you do, and some others --- sometimes quite a lot of others, especially when the Photo Gods have been kind to me and I have been especially rewarded and/or prolific.

 

The comments I get often contain great insights, and very often in very concise language, but they're so often insights I didn't have, and so I value them so much more.

 

You are always welcome to comment here.

 

(Oh, and for those who don't have the time to look it up: Dystopia = a fictional place that is the opposite of 'utopia', a sort of anti-utopia, where nothing is desirable and little works or is really desirable.)

 

John (Crosley)