Hachoo Pivo Pazhalsta? (Wanna Beer?)

These three happy teenage youths while having a brew in summer's

heat, offer the photographer a beer while showing their approval of

his work. Your 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

original composition, and decisive moment.

I truly appreciate the relation between subject and photographer.

 

Thanks for this really good shoot.

There's another in this folder (or a related folder) with these same guys, same night. They were fun to be with and enjoying themselves very much.

 

In general, I get alone very well with young and old alike; especially if there's a promise they'll make a great photo.

 

I get offered beer a lot in Ukraine -- it's the national drink, I think, and it may be rude to refuse, but I carry expensive cameras, and it's impossible to shoot and drink beer at the same time -- and being inebriated also would be the worst -- I'd be a sitting duck for a thief or thieves.

 

So, I refuse, as I did to these guys, but they still like me, very much.

 

It's a lot different than being an advocat (which I was long ago -- many, many moons ago, as American Indians once were supposed to have said in relation to the passage of time).

 

Actually, many winters (or summers) ago -- about two decades.

 

These guys consider me their sometimes friend, and vice versa.

 

But they also are tomorrow's alcoholics, I think, which is part of the Ukraine's sorrow.

 

Thanks for the attachment; I like it (the man has interesting eyes and so does the second woman from right . . .).

 

I'm glad you appreciated this one; some didn't, for reasons I can't fathom, personally.

 

Thanks for a nice comment. Please come back; I like your photography.

 

John (Crosley)

 

Copyright notice: This image is Copyright 2007, John Crosley, All rights Reserved.

Catchy trio in their effervescent happiness. The way that the middle guy is framed by his two fingers is an interesting touch. The way that he looks right at you establishes a direct link that makes this picture more intimate.

Dynamic picture, indeed!

What about the focus more on the face than on the bottle. Things where going fast, I suppose.

Nice picture.

The trick when presented with fast-moving events is to avoid getting the subjects shut out and to keep shooting.

 

Thus the hand frames the face because I struggled to keep everything in view.

 

That's the most important thing, I think, to keep everything interesting in the frame (and keep all the unimportant stuff out, as I keep saying).

 

Here, the photo is very tightly framed, though I am beginning to recall it has a slight right/left crop (or one or the other based solely on examination of its aspect ratio, but little matter, since most cameras don't accommodate two aspect ratios -- they now make one or two that do, however in the '35 mm' context, even though nothing digital is really 35 mm at all.

 

In fact, it's one of the most tightly-framed photos I could imagine. I can now think and work quickly -- thank goodness.

 

Thanks for the comment; are you over jet lag?

 

John (Crosley)

I think your comment is a little labarynthine in its wording: do you mean what about making the focus more on the face than the bottle?

 

I had a millisecond or two to make this photo, and one takes what one can get, with an autofocus focus point set wherever it was (usually to the left or right when I approach such a scene, since I seldom shoot with subjects dead center, and it's easier to center autofocus than switch from right to left or left to right and from either side to center, in my view).

 

And it's either manual, with preset focus, or focus points.

 

And if the face were in focus, the hand would be a total blur, ruining the photo, but the beer is in perfect focus. What more can you ask for? The hand and beer are the subjects.

 

With a D300, everything could have been in focus as the ISO could have been set sky-high to attain better image quality (less noise), as depth of field would have been far deeper.

 

I'm very glad you liked this photo so much; I'm proud of it -- it called for thinking on my feet (and with an inebriated hand being shoved in my face, along with a beer by boistrous youths, but I kept my cool and even was a bit jovial to keep with the mood and not off-put these youths.).

 

That's the true test, I think of shooting 'street' -- not just shooting a 'street' scene, but keeping cool when things are being shoved in your face (or threatened to you, as occasionally happens).

 

Best to you, Philippe.

 

John (Crosley)

Your pictures revived me. ;) Thanks for asking John.

Adan W.

 

I have been getting out on a limited basis -- what with other things to do taht are time-consuming, change in time zones (still), the crush of business, and all, but I do get out.

 

And when I do go out, I always take a camera. People ask me 'what do you take pictures of' and I say 'anything I see that is interesting to me'.

 

And they ask me why I have cameras with me . . . even photographers who have a camera 'in the car' and I say 'I'll get that photo, while you're thinking to yourself, 'I wish I had taken my camera out of the car'.

 

Even a lens cap on the lens, I tell them, can make the difference between getting the capture and nothing. (I seldom know where my lens caps are - they go to the bottom of my camera bags and just stay there, only to be dredged up if I'm organizing.)

 

I also have found that lens hoods make great lens protectors -- far better than lens caps, because they'll shield a lens from rain and/or snow, as well as the odd hand that occasionally tries to push against a lens, maybe to say 'go away' or just in a crowd.

 

Once, a lens hood also saved the day when I dropped a nearly $2,000 lens that customs had loosened from its mounting but forgot to tell me, so I was in an elevator after clearing customs and the lens went crashing to the floor of the elevator; it suffered damage to the mount of the large, industrial-strength plastic lens hood but absolutely no damage to the lens at all. I had it tested by Nikon and they could find nothing wrong with it, and it has functioned perfectly ever since. (The large hood was a total loss, but it cost about $16.00 to replace, and I learned a lesson).

 

Despite the awkward appearance, if I think my cameras will be seen anyway, I have lens hoods in place -- after all, if they're huge lenses, the hoods make them look huger, and actually, I think, deter thieves, because who wants to try to conceal as one runs away, a very large lens and a huge lens hood -- one assumes the lens and hood are one thing and can't be taken apart - albeit wrongly, but thieves don't know that.

 

Actually, I feel much safer with expensive large cameras than a small, expensive point and shoot, which is so small thieves can readily conceal it.

 

When I practiced law, I had my clients sign everything with one 18-carat gold Cross pen. I had that pen for 10 to 12 years and it never went missing on me, even though I left clients with the worst histories in my office alone with that pen.

 

Reason: They'd steal an ordinary pen, but an 18-carat gold pen was such a treasure it probably as very expsensive and surely would be missed immediately and they'd probably be arrested.

 

I learned from that experience.

 

So, although I wear long coats and conceal cameras under neath coats in winter, fall and spring if I think anything untoward is going to happen, or if it appears that I need to conceal that I am photographing, in general, it doesn't hurt to advertise.

 

Even so in Ukraine, too, because people there are so astonished by such a lavish display, they know if they ripped those cameras off, they'd immediately be found out -- who in Ukraine has such large and fancy Nikon equipment, except a few photographers most of whom know each other or know of each other.

 

And the police, I hear tell, can be a little harsh with thieves, though if somebody has nothing to lose, that won't deter a thief.

 

But in general, the Ukrainians are used to authority figures, and the police don't ever handcuff anybody who's out of line. They quietly talk to the arrestee, point out the necessity of cooperation, and then one cop gets in front and one gets in back and they walk single file to the (usually little) squad car.

 

Just like that.

 

No fighting, no resisting, no back talk.

 

Nothing.

 

Just one cop in front and one cop in back.

 

And if there are large rock concerts, etc., there is almost never any fighting or disruptions; and cops quickly descend and stop things if they start, but I've never seen an arrest (at least in Dnipropetrovsk or Kyiv). The young people get drunk and occasionally out of line and occasionally nerves grate on each other and there are problems, but most men have a pretty woman and they act as mediators and persons who cool down their men; they are not Mafia style wives who egg their guys on.

 

Instead, the women are looking to get married at an early age, and they can promise certain uh-huh, rewards, if the guy goes home quietly and peaceably, and there is much uh-hunh, 'rewarding' going on among the young people -- the Ukrainian young people are not exactly all celibate, and anyway, they're looking to get married in their late teens, early '20s, so they need the experience (or at least almost always have plenty).

 

These guys are pretty young - no one is over 18, I think, even now, a half year later.

 

And at least one of them will be a future alcholic if he doesn't reform, as liquor and imbibing seem to dominate his thought patterns.

 

But the Ukrainians are a varied lot; some drink - others never have had a sip of alcohol.

 

But in general, the nation has a serious drinking problem, just as does neighboring Russia.

 

The saving grace is they're not all drivers as not too many young people have cars, but there is a serious problem with drunk driving among those who do, and it is rumored that if one is caught drining and driving, one does not necessarily have to go to jail . . . .

 

(read between the lines)

 

Personally, I have no experience with such matters, and hope never to.

 

And my only encounters with Ukraine police have been that they have gone overboard to be helpful to me, at least so far, despite persistent instructions from nearly everybody to avoid them at all costs.

 

I try to get along with nearly everybody; after all, I could be an easy target. That's one reason I have chosen an almost impregnable flat -- double security doors (inner and outer) of steel, with a remote lock front door security system armed by a herd of grandmothers who mostly like me very much and whom I respect greatly.

 

They watch over me.

 

And I enjoy them.

 

Pardon the digression; this just seems like a appropriate place for these remarks - I am not sure why -- maybe because these guys remind me of a place where I sometimes live.

 

And I'm not there this New Years.

 

Happy New Year to you, Adan W.

 

John (Crosley)

No need to apologize for digressions. You tell the most interesting stories and it is always a pleasure to read. I better purchase a hood one of these days. Thanks for the advice John. Have a healthy, peaceful and fruitful 2008.

Hey John,

As always, your great at finding metaphysical, visions and accident. You are so agile and bright. Great spirit in all your work.

Love to see more.

Your Friend,

Lee

I saw your movie set photo and was duly impressed -- at least you're making a living at it -- I am not, at least yet.

 

Thank you for the fine compliments -- I was thinking pretty much on the same lines with your photos as you expressed to me, and your work and presence have been missing.

 

Are you in Transylvania or someplace related -- say other parts of Romania?

 

I understood at one time you were going near Ukraine -- and Romania is next door, but I didn't think it was anytime so late.

 

Besides, you're more at home on a movie set in Hollywood or on the West Coast at least, I think.

 

But there's a writer's strike, with picket lines and everything, though all very genteel - some lady whose 'castle' burned down apparently sends lunch to the picketers, according to the L.A. Times, and I understand it may be a hot lunch -- who knows where she gets her money, but somehow her father was connected to Iran's Oil Ministry, I think I recall from the article, before being driven into exile. She plans to build a new 'castle', she says, based on one of France's most extravagant castles. She can buy me a lunch any day.

 

Beats, I am sure, the $.99 spicy chicken special at Carl's Junior.

 

This photo depicts indeed one of those serendipitous moments -- trying to dodge the offer of a free beer in part so both my hands will be free to photograph, trying not to offend, AND get the photograph, all at the same time.

 

It was -- how to say -- a juggling act.

 

Beer, hands thrust in my face, two cameras, two hands on camera shutter, lens rings and camera dials, and guys (and a girl) moving about rapidly (and some kindly old grandmothers at my left side watching everything, maybe even lusting for my body, as I'm not much younger than they, though my girlfriend is between 1/2 to 1/3 my age (and a full adult).

 

Now all that hubub is what I call living.

 

And I got a great photo out of it.

 

Some days it just all comes together on the front stoop, after trudging all over.

 

You just never know.

 

Welcome back.

 

You've been missed.

 

John (Crosley)