'It Must Have Been the Beans'

If it wasn't the beans, perhaps it was just an itch that needed

scratching --- look closely and you be the judge; also look closely

at the claque of onlookers for similarity and see if you're surprised!

Your good faith ratings and critiques are invited and most welcome.

If you rate harshly or very critically, please attach a helpful and

constructive comment; please share your superior photographic

knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

Good creative composition

This happens just once in a lifetime . . . . you gotta agree.

 

Just gotta love it, don't ya!

 

Thanks.

 

John (Crosley)

 

Image copyright 2007, John Crosley, all rights reserved

A really beautiful shot, John! Best regards, Ruud.

I was zeroing in on this guy and the poster, trying to frame the whole thing and make it look 'pretty' when the guy lifted his left buttock (as he looks at us) and then it became more than a composition, it became a story.

 

Funny how things somehow 'work out'.

 

Lots of times things 'deconstruct' and just fade away.

 

Many times I'll be going by and see a 'scene' that I might have taken if I were 'there' but I cannot 'grab' it in time. This time I was 'focused' on it when he raised his buttock.

 

To scratch or to 'f*rt'? That is the question.

 

I'll let you decide.

 

;-))

 

Thanks for the kind words.

 

John (Crosley)

 

Hi John,

 

I have to say that I appreciate very many of your photos. You have a particular eye to capture situations, moments, people, which really strike me.

I don't like to "dissection" a photo from the lighting, technical, framing, exposure point of view: it's the impact on the eye and the mind which is important. Technique is only instrumental to this impact, even if I appreciate your care in mentioning your equipment. This is useful to know how and where you place yourself to capture these moments.

And the short story you tell is a perfect add-on to put the picture into a context.

Not every picture strikes the same, but many do.

Thanks for the care you put into communicating your talent.

 

Luca

I came under 'attack' recently from a pair of Luddites who suggested I took too many photos for a particular subject . . . and remember the criticism of a King who Mozart was a court composer for, when Mozart was a child prodigy, from the movie 'Amadeus'.

 

The king, a piano student, complained, carefully mind you, that the music was 'fine' but there 'were just too many notes' to which the self-assured Mozart (child) assured him that there wasn't one note too many or one to few -- they were all just right.

 

I can't say that for sure about my photography, but I do know that in order to capture the one 'true' moment, it takes some patience and perseverance -- one has to have an 'idea of what goes into a good photo' and if one is taking a photo such as this -- at least to frame the guy with the rows of comedians behind him, so that when he lifts his buttock, one knows 'not to wait, but to fire the shutter release' for the capture, then immediately walk away, knowing one has the capture -- since the rest already were made in case the raised buttock photo is a failure for one reason or another (and it won't happen again, probably, there being few bean burritos in Paris).

 

And look at the rows and rows of guys behind this guy -- they're all the same guy, Photoshopped -- even the same pose every other guy -- also Photoshopped -- this is one very big visual joke!!!!

 

It's my visual joke and the poster's visual joke, and combined it's a greater visual joke!

 

So, I think even the comedian of the 'sketches' would be pleased that the young man seated in front of him seems to be passing gas (or scratching his rear).

 

He'd probably howl with laughter, if he saw this.

 

I did.

 

I had a particularly good 90 minutes on the Metro that night, getting on trains and off them stopping at most platforms from Gare du Nord to Montparnasse then changing to another line, an elevated one and doing the same to a nearby hotel.

 

The results still are being posted from that night.

 

Some nights, I'm unstoppable, like those sports stars who just need the basketball fed to them to score points; it's called 'being in the zone', I think, and it's a good place to be, but increasingly, I can replicate that most any time if the circumstances are right (interesting subjects, well placed). It's just that the Paris Metro is an ideal situation for same.

 

I am gladdened by your kind words; it vindicates those very few who suggest I am too prolix; my words are aimed at those like you who enjoy them, and they are directed squarely at good faith readers like you who enjoy them.

 

As a Jewish man who stopped me on the street yesterday for help with an American document (he was immigrant American of Ukrainian parentage and birth), said to me after I recognized the document to bring in his immigrant wife to America, and I gave him a one-minute fix for his problem:

 

'May you have a good life!'

 

John (Crosley)

Well spotted John. Perfect timing as well.

Those who say 'perfect timing' are like those who told attorney Louis Nizer how lucky he was to win so many cases and with such cleverness.

 

His response was that he made his fortune whiling away his time in his law library at 4:00 a.m.

 

I did that too when I practiced law, but no longer can do that, and maybe that's one of the attractions of photography -- and street photography especially -- it's entirely extemporaneous, and I must respond immediately to what I see with the resources at hand and either do a standout job or it is passed by (or ends up on one of my voluminous hard drives --- dedicated to preserving my own mistakes and reminding me of what a mediocre photographer I actually am and how many so-called 'opportunities' 'deconstructed' before they came fully to fruition or I simply 'missed' because the timing was off, the angle was wrong, my camera was not set properly or a thousand other reasons/excuses.

 

And I keep them there because I learn from almost all of them, and sometimes I shoot just to keep from 'getting cold' and to learn my equipment's reactions -- and also to spot unseen flaws, such as a color temperature not set to A (Auto) but accidentally left on K (Kelvin) from a model shoot indoors under tungsten lights when a K temperature of 2550 might be indicated, and any outdoor scene thus would have an overall bluish cast that would be ghastly (fixable because I now shoot also in RAW -- Nikon Electronic Format) which preserves the original information, unprocessed, so I can undo in-camera processing and re-do the processing the camera would fix into my photograph on say, a JPEG.

 

So, when I focused on this guy, it was to frame him with the rows of the comedian behind him (I thought it was different guys then and didn't then recognize it as a Photoshop sendup, with the poster being the same guy with Identikit disguises -- for an ultimate joke, and even on me, the photographer.)

 

One of the tricks of photography is to find repetition and to find a break in repetition. Here the 'break' is the guy sitting on the bench.

 

So, I was focused on him and the poster, and had them perfectly framed, and shooting a shot or two -- got it just about right -- and lo and behold, he lifts his left rear (as he looks at you) 'cheek' and (your choice) either passes gas or scratches his left cheek (or he passes gas and to disguise passing gas, scratches too, so nobody will be any the wiser . . . ;-))

 

So, perfect timing is not time spent in any law library, but it is time spent already here framing this subject, having spotted a likely candidate -- mediocre to OK -- and then he raises his cheek and 'pressing that shutter like crazy' and nailing it.

 

That's the craziness and the loveliness of shooting 'street'.

 

It may be only 1 of 100 or 1 of 1,000 and occasionally every one of 50, but it's not like a studio shoot where every one almost is perfect. You waste lots and lots of shots, (in others' estimation) but the winners are irreplaceable and show lots of originality.

 

In order to be 'original' one must be free to make those 'mistakes'; I'm always willing to throw away either 'film' when shooting film or pixels when shooting digital, in order to 'get it right'.

 

This is one where I got it as good as it could be gotten, I think (It also looks excellent in color!)

 

Thanks for the endorsement Karina.

 

John (Crosley)

At first it is a humorous capture taken at a timely moment. The guy's inquisitive expression is engaging and challenges us to decipher his thoughts. Is he ridiculing the photographer or perhaps is embarrased of being caught in such compromising position? His posture and young face placed against a background of uniform clones who are dressed alike makes the subject stand out as a symbol of rebellion or nonconformity. The way this is done in B&W without the distraction of colors enhances the subject of this composition.

It made a great color photo too, and the choice to desaturate was a tough one; it still exists also as a color photo, but B&W made it especially strong.

 

Your comments are great. I am very pleased by your insight.

 

John (Crosley)