Paris -- One Man's View

This last weekend Paris had a general and transit strike. I arrived

by interurban train (free) at the northern train station (Gare du

Nord -- and end of the line from the airport during the strike) and

began to walk. This is one scene I saw -- from an 'older' and

more 'rundown' part of Paris. Your comments 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

 

(and if you're even in Paris you can easiy find it -- look on any

map ;~) JC

Good timing, great shot, W

If I didn't know your capability, I would have said that the photo is arranged.

You are a master in spotting these situations, thinking of how fast a biker rides, and that they go in opposite directions, the take is absolutely incredible.

Another one worth enlarging and exhibiting.

 

Luca

Thanks for the kind note.

 

Yes, this is 'good timing' but wait until you read in the next comment how easily 'great timing' comes about.

 

It'll be an eye opener.

 

Thanks for the accolade.

 

John (Crosley)

The only thing 'arranged' about this photo is how long I stood there waiting for the right moment, frequently ducking left or right to be able to spot this wall with 'decal' of a man and a street sign, knowing that if one person came by and I caught him in the right spot, it would make a great photograph.

 

So, I stood there for 45 minutes, as traffic blocked my view frequently of this building side and as numerous pedestrians went by. Some were absolutely 'perfect' for this situation -- including one older, protytypically French man, but cars/trucks blocked my view and ruined an exposure.

 

When the man, right came walking by, I hit 'C' drive, and somehow caught him with his arm almost parallel to the pavement -- he was really striding, and the bonus was the bike coming in the right direction.

 

But what if that didn't happen, you might say.

 

Then I would have posted another of my great photos, this one of a guy walking, shrouded in a hood, just about where the bicyclist is and looking somewhat dark but ghostlike - a worthy photo in its own.

 

And if I didn't have that, I'd have waited another 45 minutes or an hour. Wall art like that no longer is in much of Paris, and I vowed to take advantage of it.

 

Thanks for the kind endorsement.

 

John (Crosley)

Only one thing is constant and that is the face on the poster calling for attention. We have heard the phrase "if walls could talk" and I am thinking along those lines with this guy. He's a silent witness to the drama that unfolds outside in the street. Imagine all the greetings, farewells, fights and reconciliations that he has witnessed. The art of observation seems to reach its zenith in Paris. Who better to capture this than you, John? The guy striding with his raised arm and the bicyclist pedaling in the opposite direction frame this composition perfectly. Each person is his own world yet when they are placed together they become pieces of a puzzle and we get the big picture.

It's the 'big picture' that is important to me.

 

Each element is inconsequential by itself.

 

It is the 'arrangement' of the elements that I found of interest.

 

They didn't exist when I went by this particular corner (it is on a corner), so I just waited and willed 'something to happen', for 'passersby to come', and for the 'traffic to break' so I could photograph it.

 

Sometimes that 'willing' of mine works, and sometimes it doesn't. I've stood long periods on street sides waiting and nothing would happen at all, and I have felt foolish sometimes, but sometimes it 'pays off'.

 

This time traffic blocked many good shots, and even in ths one a car (right) blocks a view of their feet/the guy's bicycle and his peddling, but maybe that's for the best.

 

This is a photo about interrelating various elements into a whole, and about also the interspersal of elements separated by semi-negative or blank space -- to allow spacing between the individuals.

 

The wall was important to me because its peeling paint created texture to keep the 'negative' space from being totally 'negative'.

 

Since this particular part of this street is on a road that bridges across a large number of railroad tracks from Gare de l'Est less than a block away and with no appreciable businesses, I think it just gets passersby rather than the panoply of other things one might expect on a residential or mixed use street, but I like the depth of your thoughts.

 

My best wishes.

 

John (Crosley)

... probably good that we didn't meet in Paris because otherwise you wouldn't have spent the 45 minutes camped out here waiting to get this shot. I love the fact that the walker's right hand is out parallel to his body, intersecting perfectly at right angles with the vertical crack in the background wall. The only diagonal in the entire shot is the biker himself. One of my recent favorites of yours!

You're probably right, and the outstretched hand of the man wearing the coat is in my eye simply 'fabulous' -- he was walking with a head of steam, and literally threw his arm out there.

 

At the same time the bicyclist was speeding in the opposite direction.

 

Catching them in a good circumstance, exactly like I would have sketched it in for cinema is simply too fabulous for words. Sometimes life is like that, but for every one of these there are 100 to 300 of the others -- the 'failures'.

 

Though I took many photos during that 45 minutes, including one alternate post, which I'll probably put up in Black and White, maybe on an alternate service, my mouth fell open when I saw this.

 

I was waiting for something good and frustrated by traffic (see car windshield, lower right, of moving auto) which interfered with my ability to view the 'scene', and many times likely subjects passed but my view or ability to shoot them was blocked by this seemingly interminable traffic.

 

I'm glad it's a favorite of yours.

 

I suppose I actually could just 'camp out' across this street here and take photos and even make a book of them. But I'm too antsy to do something like that.

 

Still I suppose it would be an interesting project.

 

Another project in mind, is shooting people at bus stops (buses come and go every five to 30 minutes and the crowds that gather are entirely different each time, and capturing their interaction and their similarities and dissimilarities throughout the world would be an interesting experiment.

 

If I had a grant, that might be part of something I would tackle . . . but alas, I'm self-financed and rapidly depleting.

 

So, I'll await word from the southland -- I have a call in.

 

I'll be sending you an e-mail within an hour (just returned), but my phone may not be 'ringing' although it does have v-mail. I'm working on getting it to work properly.

 

Best to you and yours,

 

John (Crosley)

 

Dennis, please notice that the overcoat guy with the outstretched hand/arm fits within a rectangular 'box' created by lines in the building behind him.

 

At the same time the bicyclist is roughly equidistant between the two metal stanchions that protect the sidewalk from being parked on and also protect pedestrians from those who would drive on the sidewalk.

 

And the bike rider also is similarly compartmentalized.

 

(This photo may have some relationship to Bill Clinton's way of thinking, do you suppose?)

 

Some capture, hunh?

 

Best again,

 

John (Crosley)

Very good capture very well composed and executed. Congrats !

Thanks for the compliment.

 

Some captures occur in less than a second, others in 45 minutes or longer; this is a longer wait, but I think worth it.

 

Thanks again.

 

John (Crosley)