Jump to content
© Copyright 2007, John Crosley, All Rights Reserved

Grandpa's Cutie Pie


johncrosley

Nikon D2X, Nikkor 70~200 E.D. V.R., (crop), otherwise unmanipulated

Copyright

© Copyright 2007, John Crosley, All Rights Reserved

From the category:

Street

· 124,943 images
  • 124,943 images
  • 442,913 image comments


Recommended Comments

Some grandpa's heart melts when he sees this face everyday, just as

mine did when she glanced in my camera's direction. Your good faith

comments and ratings 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

Link to comment

This started out as a washed-out photo, about half this size -- this is a great crop -- and started out when I made a huge enlargement of the original, after adjusting for levels, etc., and sharpening, and then the 'large' version showed on my screen with about this much showing and the rest, showing the street, curb, etc., was situational, but superfluous - her face was about centered.

 

This crop is absolutely superb compared to the original, so that there is no comparison.

 

Some flaws are of course to be expected in making a 50% crop and I'd give a large part of my anatomy to be able to do in 5 minutes (yours) what it takes me hours to do in my digital darkroom, as I'm quite clumsy there -- I'm a photographer (at least aspire to be) rather than a Photoshopper, but I'm trying, and I am certainly grateful for your effort -- a most worthy one, and better than mine.

 

As you can tell, I think 'expression' rather than technique is No. 1 in my book; witness the two young girls hugging I posted yesterday, with a vacuous arm caught in blurriness taking up the bottom fifth of the frame, guaranteeing it low aesthetic ratings, but in my book the priceless expressions of the girls made it a winner (for me), which is how I judge photos I post.

 

I'd love to sit down with you for a day or a weekend and watch you work, and take some notes. A Master Class in 'doing it right' -- hands on, if you will.

 

I have lots of books on Photoshop, but I'm a hands on kind of guy . . . and I can hardly make the transition between those insipid photos they use for illustration and the techniques they espouse . . . they just turn me off so much I cannot begin to use the techniques they try to teach . . . . they teach dullness not how to 'liven up' your photos -- and you do the opposite.

 

Good for you, and thank you so much.

 

(Hope you don't mind the tome I left under your latest Hetch Hetchy photo -- it's from my heart *if I have one*)

 

John (Crosley)

Link to comment
Man, John....you give me too much credit...As I've said from day one, posting on the web is kinda like playing the slots...never know what is gonna show up. If you are on the road...chances are you are on a laptop...Good luck posting using most laptop displays...

As for the Hetch Hetchy heart felt essay..A true photographer never ever minds when a photograph pulls at the inner emotions... One of the reasons I shot it!!!!

Link to comment

This was taken near or after dark, so minimum ISO would have been 400 or greater, but I don't have the EXIF data handy to confirm.

 

I've been getting pretty good shots with ISO 650 to 1,000 lately and not worrying about throwing away so many capture attempts shooting people at gloaming (nightfall), and even in lighted middle of night, even going up to ISO 1,600 and on occasion 3,200 when necessary and forget about digital 'noise' -- the capture is the main thing . . . . all the rest is processing and you can't process something taken with a 'fast' lens if it's blurry. . . .

 

When I do come across the EXIF data (in a terabyte of photos) I'll try to post it here.

 

(In other words, don't hold your breath, but I did see the original file a couple of days ago, so I may be able to find it again . . . relatively soon . . . which is more than I can say for the vast majority of my well-organized photos 99% of which never even get seen more than once or twice when downloaded then archived.

 

In fact, I found this gem and 20 to 30 more as good when I reviewed photos from a trip to Argentina in the fall and was stunned by how much good shooting I had done and not processed . . . or posted.

 

Look for more and more trips to Argentina . . . it's a must stop on anyone's list . . . if you like California prices but want to live in a Mexican's salary and live well, Argentina's your place from the Andes to the Atlantic, with plenty of beef and salmon for the palate and fine (inexpensive) dining, abundant and large portions of beef and salmon, with fine tablecloth dining for coffee shop prices in the States with stunning scenery from the Andes to the Pacific to Tierra del Fuego to Brazil (where you'd get murdered for your Nikon, my M.D. who's married to a Brazilian tells me, and my last trip confirmed . . . I was robbed in plain daylight on Rio's busies street by a street urchin . . . gave chase, then cops gave chase, they caught the poor black kid and I think they killed him (yes, you read correctly . . . I think they killed him).

 

Go see the film 'City of God' as that boy almost certainly was from that outcast city 'City of God'.

 

It's a stunner, and about the life story of a photographer, to boot.

 

I do hope I'm wrong, as I may never know the truth; Argentina is the antithesis of Brazil -- completely civilized and very 'European' in culture and outlook and amazingly easy on the pocketbook -- stunningly so.

 

And I'm not foolin'.

 

John (Crosley)

 

Link to comment

I don't even use a home computer - I have four laptops with me, two with very high quality screens, one with my assistant (Anya, pictured in this portfolio) and one that was just a poor choice by me (one is down due to faulty software and needs new restore disks . . . which are currently unavailable here in English . . . )

 

Everything you see by me posted or elsewise is done on a laptop . . . no exceptions.

 

Glad you did not take exception to my 'heartfelt' essay, and understood where it came from. Not everyone understands when such things 'crop up' under their photos. (unintentional pun)

 

John (Crosley)

Link to comment
I just wish I had a portion of your knack...the right place the right time... I came out of High School and went in the army at the end of 'Nam...I have a longing to have a bio like yours....Just never in the right place at the right time......

Don't sell your d.darkroom skills short....You have made a living as a photographer..very few can say that...

Link to comment

My father never tossed a ball to me, or taught me the rules of baseball or football; he never did 'guy' things, though he was around 100% men all day, as a locomotive engineer. He didn't want me to grow up to work for the railroad as his (estranged) father had before him.

 

And as an 'only' child of a divorced mother, he had little parenting experience, and much of what he taught, he did by example -- he was pretty honest, and pretty good-hearted and believed in the 'common man' qualities which I hope I embody.

 

He also believed that 'hard work' is rewarded -- which in today's topsy-turvy world is no longer a truism, if it ever was -- Capitalism rewards innovation. He actually knew that and dreamed of finding the 'get rich quick scheme' and eventually, he believed he'd retire, buy a boat, an airplane to fulfill his lifelong dreams of flying, and move to a South Sea Island.

 

Funny thing is whatever he 'invested in' was pure speculation --- the money he made was 'house money' only to be 'given back' -- a kind of funny money, until a wise partner got hold of him and showed him how to invest in second mortgages in an 'up' market, and he made enough to retire and buy that plane (actually two) and buy that condo in Hawaii (actually two), and even a boat of sorts.

 

(and of course, he also lost lots of money through failing to foreclose, but that's how he had taught me -- by negative example -- in many cases.)

 

I learned how, in investing and making career plans, to watch what my father did, then do the opposite.

 

If he traded stocks, I bought and held; same with property. His private property purchases all turned handsome profits because they were 'for family' and not 'for investments' which in his world meant for 'speculation'.

 

I learned a valuable lesson.

 

For people chained to jobs with salaries and job duties, investing becomes an 'outlet' -- a way to lead a second life and a way to a more outsize existence, even if it means 'giving it all back to the house after winning a good hand.'

 

It was more about he excitement of holding a good hand, or making a good killing on one deal, than about how much was left after all the accounts were squared.

 

I learned from him to do just the opposite.

 

I learned to buy and hold quality things and to know my tax law, so deductions and losses always exceeded earnings . . . which confounded those around me, and then a long time ago, I retired on very little, which also confounded many, and what money I did make after that was classified as 'damages' or otherwise, and also was not taxable, and at the end of a long period, the housing boom is ending, and I find myself looking at my photography passion not only as the 'passion' it is, but as a way to a living.

 

I'd rather be a slave to my love of photography than a slave to 'law' which requires obedience to the clock every minute of every day. I never was a conformist; and made too many compromises to excel in law, and promised I'd never do that again, and I won't, even if I were to practice again.

 

I'd rather try to get published.

 

I did learn one thing in practicing law. People would come to me time and time again with bad luck stories -- this thing or that thing 'didn't work out', and I realized that many people only saw me once, I analyzed why their 'deals' that had done bad and bit them in the read, taught them how to prevent that from happening again, and sent them on their way.

 

Years later, I'd meet those wiser people, and I'd have been the last attorney they'd ever have needed; they'd have learned their lessons from me well. They made subsequent good luck by learning the signs of impending 'bad luck' and changing course.

 

Some people have bad luck.

 

When a truck careens off an overpass and lands on top of you, that's supreme bad luck.

 

But if you're always in tight traffic, cutting in and out, even if there is adequate room, sooner or later, someone's going to rear-end you. And if you go into life with an 'attitude', or have poorly thought out ideas, or don't think things through to their conclusion, you're going to make some very bad decisions, and so sooner or later, people (or events) are going to come cascading in on you, and you're going to be needing a civil (or criminal) attorney.

 

Some people, by the way they think 'make their own bad luck'.

 

The next time you meet someone with a long tale of hard luck stories, keep this tale in mind; they probably were instrumental in making their own hard luck.

 

I made many sacrifices to go to law school, including working an entire summer for free, when I could have made $25,000 in the '70s, when that was very big money, but I got several hundred thousand dollars worth of good will from attorneys and prospective employers for doing that, and the same amount in experience plus a good step ahead of everyone in my law school class.

 

I made my own good luck.

 

I continue to make my own good luck by planning how to be 'at the right time at the right place; I carry cameras (two) preloaded, preset, with me everywhere, no matter how inconvenient.

 

As I go in and out of buildings from daylight and back to indoor lighting, I am continually changing my ISO, so I can take that shot in an instant. I am always aware of where my focal point is and often adjusting it.

 

Last night on a block-long stroll through a square to dinner, I shot a guy who set newspapers afire, then rolled across them.

 

Psychotic?

 

Probably or just drunk and wanting a spectacle to panhandle from. Anyway, I got an after-dark (ISO was preset, and lens was tele at f 2.89) of a guy rolling through fire, his mouth frozen in seeming agony, and nobody would ever know if he was drunk, psychotic, or being burned alive . . . unless I told them.

 

Good Luck?

 

Not on your life.

 

Famous attorney Louis Nizer was congratulated at a party by a woman who apparently hadn't read his autobiography describing his work habits.

 

'Mr. Nizer -- You're so lucky, winning all those cases and having all those famous clients' this slightly inebriated woman told him at a party.

 

'Madame', Mr. Nizer replied 'You should see how much good luck I make in my law library at four in the morning.'

 

I learned much from that story and did the same.

 

I apply the same gusto to photography.

 

Luck favors the well prepared.

 

I never go out to 'take photographs' or on a 'photographic trip'.

 

Every step outside my door (and inside when the models come) is a photographic journey. Even when models go to the toilet to apply makeup and say 'stay out' I plead my case for 'natural photographs' and they often let me document that for stunning 'street' captures in my own bathroom!

 

I just have to be willing to take the long route and be willing to pull over when I see something interesting, and even to wait for the right moment, as I have many times, or learn to circle the block when I see something 'photo worthy' as I often do.

 

Luck favors the well prepared.

 

It doesn't give a good gol darn about a resume.

 

Your photos are your resume.

 

They make you, Dennis, a doctor of fine photography.

 

In my eyes.

 

John (Crosley)

Link to comment
You confirmed what I've always have felt... "....Luck favors the well prepared"....

For the most part, I keep my camera handy... Just not thinking ahead ALL OF THE TIME...... Hard work creates luck...part of the right place right time...Hard work introduces you to people/places that provides the rewards...

I just wish my Olan Mills days, after the army, wouldn't have singed my photographic desires/goals... I have a hard time even pointing a camera at a human being...never was one of my favorite subjects to shoot anyway.

My hats off to ya...It's just a shame the great photo mags of our times such as Life are going away. I just hope that we, the masses, get to see folks, like yourself, showing us the everyday going-ons from all cultures.

Looking forward to seeing more of your work... Anyway I can give you a hand, let me know... I'm humbled that you enjoy any of my photographic skills...

Dennis

Link to comment
If you ever in the Okie state, give me a shout...Be happy to share with you what little I know in the d.darkroom...
Link to comment

When I spent a year as an AP photo editor in New York I definitely 'burned out' on photography -- especially photojournalism.

 

I was offered a transfer to anywhere I wanted -- and even a transfer to a beat job in Washington, D.C., where I would have covered, get this, the Watergate affair which was just going to be uncovered, and I could have shared in that brouhaha, but I'm afraid my reporting skills probably were not up to that. In any case, I left to be a business magazine editor (at four times the salary) for a year, finish up my education for a year at Columbia (previously interrupted by the student riots -- essentially 'making my good luck'), and then going to law school, where I earned essentially nothing for three years, and while going to law school also clerked for a stingy but very able local attorney for two of those years who paid me $3 an hour (but I learned all about how to run a law practice and ALL his secrets of how to manage clients which was worth a fortune.

 

Another case of earning your own good luck. I did NOT follow the path of least resistance. I ended that job at $5 an hour, and in New York then as a journalist, I was worth $50,000 to $100,000 and had turned down an editorship of Business Week (not THE editorship, but an 'editorship', to go to law school -- they liked my no-nonsense style of writing and my ability to 'dig' in my reporting. So my law school education cost probably $400,000 in opportunity costs -- lost earnings, alone, plus other 'hard costs' such as tuition, etc., but I certainly got it back in a short time.

 

In my second year of practice, my wife and I bought (on credit) five houses in a Silicon Valley up market and those houses literally fueled my existence for the next several decades.

 

I did EARN my good luck, and of course houses depreciate and the negative cash flow (which was substantial) is an offset to income, so I essentially earned little or nothing 'on the books' . . . for an amazing tax return.

 

I lived a most prosperous life, but literally 'earned nothing' or next to nothing, legitimately, on paper at least. I had studied the tax code before investing, not after.

 

That's a byproduct of a law education, but anybody can hire a good attorney who can teach them the same things I knew instinctively from my education.

 

Of course, those houses skyrocketed in value, and when dissolution came and my wife asked for $12,000 monthly support (and I had also supported her way through law school as a sort of payback for her generosity in doing that for me) so the judge gave her nothing for spousal support and half the property as was her due -- it was hers to begin with, and I offered it to her because it was hers, fair and square.

 

It was a shame to sell things then, 20 years ago, as the leftovers would have been worth millions and my suggestions of co-ownership as a business only, fell on deaf ears.

 

Her emotion robbed her family and mine of millions from premature sales.

 

Now, values and sale prices are going down and I have recently sold and am traveling -- looking for opportunity, no longer earning in gained equity $100,000 or $200,000 a year, but also not losing a penney as the market goes down.

 

And, if the tide turns, I may re-enter the market.

 

I try my hardest to 'make my own good luck' and to take the advice I have given others.

 

In the meantime, I'm a homeless photo bum, with publishing aspirations.

 

So don't be surprised if some day, I give you advance notice and actually do take you up on your invitation -- a trip across the USA to New York publishers is close at hand this Spring, through your territory, and I regard you as one of the leaders of Photo.net -- someone who is a teacher (and doesn't hold his secrets close to his vest, like some) -- and someone I took a hint from in my relations with other PN members early one and who is partly responsible for my sharing style -- did you know that?

 

I hope to meet you, perhaps in the near future.

 

John (Crosley)

Link to comment

This shot makes me want to post so many of my shots that I feel are not "good enough". This is most definatly good enough and your thoughts on it are extremly moving. GrandPa sees past all those years.....

Very nice John.

Link to comment

You should have seen this before it was worked on -- all 'blown' (almost) and also cropped wrong in the camera -- well, not wrong, but not so pleasingly.

 

Cropping and working on levels just brought it up to snuff, plus her very pleasing face, which is why I took ONE photo of her -- just one.

 

The background was all washed out, so I selected her, worked on her, then did inverse select and worked on the background and brought both into compliance, then worked on levels together -- you wouldn't recognize this with the original except for her 'doe' eyes and her wrinkly expression. 'Magic in the digital darkroom' but I don't even think that counts as 'manipulation' since it just amounts to brightness, contrast adjustments and nothing more.

 

You tell me please if it does after reading the guidelines.

 

And tell me why, if you would, so I may be enlightened. I am not averse to learning a thing or two or hearing other people's opinions.

 

John (Crosley)

Link to comment

Thank you for your kind comment!

 

I think this grandma does 'get up and go!'

 

She has my approval too.

 

John (Crosley)

 

Link to comment

John ~

Did you say guidelines?!

I feel, and I am an amature, that art has no "real" guidelines. That should tell you a thing or two about me! I view it (art)mostly with my heart and then I,sometimes ,may look a little harder to see if rules(the few that I have learned about on this site and from my mother~)are used or not. Your shot caught my eye, and your title caught my heart~ it is a beautiful thing to say.

I frequent your site because I think your photography is exceptional and I enjoy reading your comments because you have a beautiful way of expressing yourself! So, there you have it......my 2 cents!

Janis

Link to comment

I couldn't have written it any better.

 

You have embodied above exactly how I feel about things, to a 'T'.

 

With the heart (and soul).

 

Grandma here, is full of 'soul' too.

 

That's how I judge her.

 

And a soulful grandpa probably is warmed everyday by her kindly expression (or was at one time, life among men and women being what it is).

 

Thank you for reducing my philosophy and practice to so few words -- I endorse them. Guidelines are for measuring, and if they fail as measures, throw 'em out, and make new ones (rule of thirds, doesn't work, try rule of fourths; that doesn't work, try rule of fifths; etc.; . . . . )

 

John (Crosley)

Link to comment

I can say nothing about darkrooms and stuff.

 

I can only say something about how you can capture people with your camera. How you can grasp ahold of their spirit and bring them to life regardless if the picture is sharp or perfect. Blurred or the contrast might be off to some people you still capture the moment.

 

THIS ONE you got down just right. You captured her and we see her life pass before our eyes in a picture. WE see the bottom of the braid of her hair down to the left of the picture. The grey is all over her head now. Her hair is that long.

 

WE see that her scarf is NEW and it matches the color of her eyes.

 

WE see that she has worked hard all her life and that she has lived a hard life. All those lines in her face show the life she has had.

 

I just wanted to say something about the picture.

 

The wonderful picture!

 

WELL DONE!

 

~ micki

Link to comment

Or the most on all of Photo.net

 

You see things others simply pass by, like the braids on the top of the head.

 

 

The clue was there, you see, but I missed it. It comes down to a braid tail at the end of it all. Well seen.

 

And a new scarf.

 

Matching her eyes.

 

Again, well seen.

 

So we know her feminine instincts still are intact -- maybe there still is a grandpa to be sweetie pie to, alive and kicking. She's dressed in matching colots, at least and her hair is up. She hasn't let things go, even under her fancy new scarf.

 

You are a photo detective; bless you and your interpretive powers.

 

Makes me proud to be 'criticized' by you.

 

You are always welcome to 'hack apart' any photo of mine.

 

And it needn't always be complimentary; have a critical swing or two, also.

 

Not all deserve glorification; I'm here to learn also.

Also, it seems clear to me you read the rest of the critiques before striking pixel to screen; an admirable quality that avoids redundancy and misunderstanding.

 

Best wishes to you.

 

John (Crosley)

 

Link to comment

I love this one!!!

 

My heart goes out to her and I feel thru her eyes I know her longing for love and friendship. I bet she is a very sweet person.

 

Now I cannot know any of this, as I have never met her. The idea of pictures beyond just art, is to tell a story. Her story is writen on her face and thus in this picture.

 

Good Job!

Link to comment

You have told the story of this picture better than any words I ever could write could attempt to do.

 

Thank you so much.

 

John (Crosley)

Link to comment

Thank you so much.

 

It's a crop, but a very good one. I usually eschew crops, but not if I can get a very good photo from it.

 

John (Crosley)

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...