What If They Had a Revolution and No One Came?

Ukraine's last government was formed as a result of protests over

what they said was a rigged election, causing a new vote, and a new

winner, followed by a new, reform government. This lone rabble

rouser seeks to drum up a crowd, with little success (in contrast to

events of two years prior, when crowds of hundreds of thousands

gathered nearby to hear speakers and succeeded in overturning their

government (The Orange Revolution) Your rating 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

Outstanding shot. To me this represents the spirit of outspokenness. He is alone in his quest for now, but who knows on what fertile grounds the seeds of his message will be planted. I like how you centered the subject with the lady on the left and the two young women on the right serving as audience. This triangular formation commands attention from the viewer. The ledge where he is standing points aggressively towards a large building that serves as background - perhaps representing bureaucracy.

This composition reminds me of this quote from "Germinale" by Emile Zola - a true masterpiece.

"Now the April sun, in the open sky, was shining in his glory, and warming the pregnant earth. From its fertile flanks life was leaping out, buds were bursting into green leaves, and the fields were quivering with the growth of the grass. On every side seeds were swelling, stretching out, cracking the plain, filled by the need of heat and light. An overflow of sap was mixed with whispering voices, the sound of the germs expanding in a great kiss. Again and again, more and more distinctly, as though they were approaching the soil, the mates were hammering. In the fiery rays of the sun on this youthful morning the country seemed full of that sound. Men were springing forth, a black avenging army, germinating slowly in the furrows, growing towards the harvests of the next century, and their germination would soon overturn the earth."

Never a dull moment with you John.

I'm in constant ferment, though I spend long periods alone, and with the television perpetually off -- it drives me crazy.

I note raters were not universal about this photo, and it was one I wanted very much to post, but each time I saw more than a thumbnail, I said to myself 'no, it just doesn't have it . . . '

But it does have something -- maybe some variant on the rule of threes or the 'golden' whatever it is.

I stumble across such things by accident sometimes in my shooting just because they appeal to me -- not because I've thought them out.

Here, the subject matter was of great interest to me, especially since this was taken before elections and while the government was paralyzed, but Ukrainians, faced with a government that semi-functioned and a with their major distrust of the last government they hounded out of office, greeted this guy with a shrug of the shoulder -- even on the main rabble-rousing street in Kyiv -- Kreschatyk Avenue (Stalin's masterpiece, which he had his personal architect design after destruction in WWII).

It's an extremely pedestrian-friendly street with broad esplanades for walking, park benches aplenty and one of the most friendly streets I've ever walked, however short, and on weekends (as here) and holidays, they block auto/vehicular traffic so one can walk on its eight lanes of avenue (four lanes each direction).

This is just a few quartos (blocks) from where the Orange Revolution toppled the previous government with massive demonstrations and even not longer before there were massive demonstrations by activists from two warring factions -- each seeking control of Ukraine's government -- one lead by the previous guy who was the winner of the corrupt election (or so they say) and the other by the winners of the re-run election after the results of the first were thrown out for being obtained corruptly.

But Ukrainian suspicion of politicians and things political runs deeply; they distrust all politicians.

In neighboring Russia, this guy would not have a chance unless he were a 'longhair for Putin' in which case he'd be welcomed at the top echelon, as Russia is currently purging opponents of Putin.

The loser of the last election (on re-run) is seen as somewhat of a Putin proxy - he at least opposes NATO, whereas the others seem to want NATO.

It's also a Russian-Ukrainian sort of thing. Russia, it is said, in Soviet times did some tricky little things to dilute Ukrainian blood, such as a holocaust-like program called Holodomar, which the Ukrainians say diverted grain during famine away from their country causing massive deaths, followed by the Soviets sending in Russian settlers (Catherine the Great settled the country for Russia in order to secure the borders for Russia and the Soviets were doing the same it is supposed, only in a more sophisticated manner.)

Even in late Soviet times, large parts of what were Western Russia were ceded to Ukraine under the Soviet Union, but it was seen as largely a paper transaction, since the Ukrainian government had little authority and all was part of the larger and all-encompassing Soviet Union.

But when the Soviet Union fell in 1991, those who were in Ukraine and had Ukrainian papers became Ukrainian citizens and residents; even if of Russian heritage.

Many of my models are either Ukrainian or Russian but a lot of them have mixed blood/parentage.

Orten I can tell them which is which, which absolutely amazes them -- even they cannot spot their subracial characteristics as easily as I can spot them.

(There are exceptions of course, and of course some parents/grandparents simply lied to their offspring, I think, as well as the occasional bastard child kept as one's own even if the legal father was not the 'natural' father.)

Pro-Russian sentiment runs largely from the Eastern part of the nation where there is a common border with Russia; sentiment for Ukraine (and Ukrainian language exclusively, comes from Ukraine's far West, where it meets with Hungary and Poland, among other nations.

It's an interesting country -- in some cases the people can be very salty and coarse, and in others there can be great intellectual curiosity and ferment and great opportunity for young people since the older people are often caught up in the past.

Adan W.

There's something I like about the composition of this picture, but it seems to defy conventional analysis, and it's hard to say it's 'wonderful', but I still like it (not as much as you, perhaps, but still I like it, and always was going to post it.)

Thanks for the contribution - I read it with great interest.

John (Crosley)

Very powerful....

bryan

Graphically or politically? You don't say, or both, as in a 'statement?'

John (Crosley)