The Daydream -- My Mind's Elsewhere Today

This photo with caption is self-explanatory and could have been taken

almost anywhere. Your ratings and critiques are invited and most

welcome. How many times have you felt like this in a school, job or

elsewhere, where your conduct was expected to be conforming, but your

mind was elsewhere? 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

WOW... I absolutely LOVE this! The ponder pictures of all PONDER pictures!

 

RED in the background and the face of the boy (youth of the past). The face of the man and the dream of his past all gone. The firm structure of his face and the serious stern look. You couldn't ask for a better picture. WONDERFUL! ~ micki

Micki, if you can believe it, this is what basketball player would call a photo taken on a stutter-step. I was walking in a popular American restaurant in Kyiv, a large one, and saw this graphic on the wall and this guy here, and judged that I could take both in a telephoto shot from across the restaurant by just putting my camera to my eye, on what those players call a stutter-step.

 

I did just that, and this is one of my 3 second or less photos, and I took one or two others, just for good measure and framing, since V.R. (vibration reduction) lenses not only 'hold' the image, sometimes they hold it in the wrong place and when you release the shutter it then 'jumps' to a new place, with boundaries being something you must watch carefully, especially in this photo as the graphic boundary was just to the left.

 

I dismissed this because of the 'ease' with which it was made, but when I captioned it, it took on new meaning.

 

With my caption, is it a thinking man's (person's) photo, isn't it?

 

It's amazing what a person can do with so little effort (and sometimes how much effort will yield such bad results at times.)

 

John (Crosley)

I couldn't tell at first if the boy in the back was "REAL" or not. It is a wonderful shot!

 

WELL DONE!

 

You said, always have that camera ready to go.

John,

 

I submit your portfolio as exhibit A.

 

A photographer must have a camera with appropriate lenses and know how to use them both.

 

A great photographer has to be able to "see the shot" whether they have the camera or not.

 

The truly great photographer has the camera and knows how to use it when they see the shot.

 

Cheers.

 

 

I don't know if it's my 'best', but it's certainly different than any photo I've ever posted.

 

I keep posting different photos -- day after day; and I feel I'll never run out of subjects for different photos.

 

It's a pretty good feeling.

 

Just when I feel 'stale', something new comes along, unexpectedly.

 

Go figure.

 

And it can happen within seconds, as above.

 

Thanks.

 

John (Crosley)

Based on your comment, I'd be willing to rename my entire portfolio "Exhibit 'A'", but they don't allow naming portfolios at all -- just folders.

 

I am proud that you could write those words about me.

 

From time to time, I often have been envious of the ability of other photographers to 'see' the beauty in simple things -- things I cannot or do not see -- or just find too boring to devote time to (probably the last).

 

I like the thrill of the hunt, and of 'bagging a good one'.

 

Sometimes, as above, I'm surprised greatly.

 

Who can judge the judgers?

 

I failed in this instance.

 

Happily.

 

John (Crosley)

This photo is a 'trick' and relies on a 'gimmick' and just took a few seconds at most to achieve.

 

it also has my highest ratings of the year, and perhaps of any photo posted, ever. 6.00/6.50! at this writing.

 

I am continually awed by the rating system, as I regard this as one of my minor or lesser works.

 

Who knows with the ratings system?

 

I do accept that as a measure of the photo's popularity with viewers.

 

I wish some of my more 'serious works' were viewed with such favor, however, but really have no problems with the ratings system, which I do understand and accept, for all its quirks.

 

John (Crosley)

... John, your work is pure and joyeux. Sometimes you pull things from reality that are like a great song in the sixties; two minutes of magic. Fine work, John. And personally, I think the title adds little to the success of the shot, because it needs no title to evoke a series of responses.

How many times I've passed this same wall poster, which is posted in a famous fast-food restaurant in Kyiv, Ukraine, and never seen anything that would be nearly as interesting (or interesting at all) as this photograph or even photo-worthy.

 

'Two minutes' of interest . . . . kind of like some 'lieder' singer from 200 years ago, and we never learn their name no matter how celebrated they were at the time, or adored by their public, because we have the giant orchestral works to celebrate and we do, over and over, because of their complexity.

 

Yes, I think I do shoot 'naturally' sometimes. I 'see' something, raise camera/lens to eye (already knowing what I'm going to take), and just fire. Sometimes it works/sometimes not.

 

You're right about the caption, but leaving captions off makes navigation here much, much harder. I can take 'em or leave 'em, but sometimes I write a good one -- and some are pretty inventive and fun. Sometimes they're pointers to some easily-overlooked part of a composition for those who troll the critique list, though that's getting to be less of a problem as I get better known and more liked.

 

When I first joined, I was easily overlooked, and didn't raise much interest; it took a long time to get interest up in my kind of photography -- what I feel is the 'interesting' stuff.

 

So, this is my little 'lieder' -- my two-minute 'song' against some of photography's orchestral and concerto works. I'll probably fade into obscurity . . . but I'm having the time of my life doing such shooting.

 

It's a real rush to 'see' something suddenly, and quickly reduce it to a recorded image in a second or three, sometimes even a 'great' or at least a 'very good' image results.

 

I'm glad to see you're trolling my photos. It warms my heart. I see yours frequently, and I'm frankly in awe of your endurance and skill - as well as the marvelous output, which is world class in my opinion (and that of others, too)

 

Thanks for taking a look at my 'lieder'.

 

And for the kind words.

 

John (Crosley)