SHORTY'S

Margarittaville? NOT!

i'm curious to see what this one looks like in color

Looks to me like Shorty's is long on character and short on customers. This is the kinda joint I seek out on my "walk-abouts" for fine dining and even more interesting atmosphere.....if they're still open for business, if not, then they make for wonderful photos....as in this one. Can't help but notice there's a hitch rail still out front. But David couldn't you have at least moved the garbage can?! Some really nice tones here with the conversion, works for me. Park the ponies and belly up to the Bar. The Jersey Lilly? Not!

Yes I could have and probably should have gotten the trash can out of the way. I could tell you that the garbage can and the cement block and trash on the left all add to the characterization of the place. It's a rough tough hangout, but not nice and early in the morning. But at least they're patriotic. See the American eagle up at the top. Nice touch.

You caught me this time. I did not save the original image. Downloaded it, and converted it, then saved the PSD conversion, but in black and white. So, I cannot show you the original color version. Sorry.

Makes one want to peek inside (real quick like)...Good capture, very rustic! Take care

Thanks. I don't think I'd go peeking in here when the bikers are drinking, but at nine in the morning I'd be good with that.

The cinder block and trash can add something to this fine documentary shot. Glad you didn't move them.

Thanks. It's a rundown dive in a rundown area of town. Just tried to reflect that.

I think you did a good job leaving the trash can in place. It adds to the image in more than one way. For me, street photography is showing a particular scene as it really is at a specific point in time, with all elements in place. The trash can certainly has its place here, it serves as an icon for the rest of the image.

 

Seeing that you shot this with your Sigma 10-20 I personally would have moved in closer and tried this from a different angle, probably a little to the left and lower to the ground. I think that would have added even more drama to the image, but then I'm an ultra-wide junkie. It's a good image by all means and it certainly fits your style and portfolio well. Well done.

this looks like a wild west scene recreated in a parking lot. The Shortys building nicely contrasts the rest of the photo, so it stands out well. That thing on the RH side is a trashcan? It looks like giant portable toilet (maybe for someone who's really fully of shit). Cheers, Micheal

Thanks to both of you. Frank, you are quite possibly right. I find that I often see something, quickly take a shot and move on. A more deliberative method would probably be a good idea.

 

Micheal, are you going to tell me they don't have trash cans in Canada? What do they do, send it to us?

Not much wrong with quickly taking an image of a specific scene. Usually when I spot an interesting subject, I can barely wait to point my camera at it, quickly compose and just fire away. Some advice given to me recently was to re-evaluate the subject after the initial shots were made, then approach the scene again from a different perspective, carefully taking my time to make a few extra photographs that complement the initial batch.

 

before this, I was often looking over my photographs and seeing small details of which I thought: "If I could shoot this subject again, I would have done this and that differently". I still have this feeling of 'regret' occasionally, but not nearly as often as before. And as I've said; it's certainly not a bad photograph. Not at all! But ultra-wide angle lenses like the Sigma are so much fun for drawing your audience's attention right into the image...

No argument there. Wise words for a youngster.

Another unique find by you, David. I love how Shorty hung the Christmas lights with great care. Of course one big gust of wind would turn this fine establishment into a big pile of rubble, it seems. But then again, it probably would all fit into the huge trash can on the right.

 

Barb :)

I've missed you of late. Thanks for viewing and commenting. Hope your holidays were terrific with a capital T. And, yeah, this place is the stereotypical dump. But note that they do have the American flag out front. At least it's a patriotic dump.

Do people even have nicknames anymore? Shorty, Lefty, Bozo? I can imagine the clientele, no college kids need apply. The photo smells of stale beer and shots of tequilla. Shorty's a mean SOB, too, but with a soft spot, as ewvidenced by the string of Christmas lights in a touching attempt to add a little class.

we do have trash cans here, but they don't look like maxi-toilets. And yes, Toronto sends their trash to you guys. Cheers, Micheal

 

Thanks. I'm already missing your images. Withdrawal is hell.

Well you damn nadians need to waste more, so you will need these size containers. Time to get with the program now that your dollar is worth more than ours.

I love this David. Everything about this says "HEY!!! SCREW YOU ALL"

I love the broken cinder block and trash bin.

 

I love the NO ONE UNDER 21 ALLOWED above the door is hard to see.

 

I Love the fact that they have decorated for Christmas.

 

I Love the fact that they have the American Flag waving in the still breeze.

 

I Love the fact that the newspaper is in the Mail Slot.

 

I Love the fact that the "O" in Shortys is smaller than the other letters.

 

I love the fact that they have a public telephone inside.

 

I Love the triangle stop sign(a rare find)and the stove pipe make an arrow pointing straight to hell.

 

I REALLY LOVE the fact the little sign by the door says "EMPLOYEeS ONLY"

 

I could spend minutes infont of this place befor running like hell.

What a great find Boss.

Kudos

As always, I have my own two cents to throw in on the interesting matters you're discussing about street shooting and reality. My impression is that we are not capturing reality, we are expressing our perspective. There is, in my opinion, no objective reality to any scene. Anyone looking will see it from his or her own perspective, will immediately bring their own influences and prejudices to the scene, will see it from a certain angle with a certain personal history greatly affecting what they see and feel when coming upon a scene. A biker, for instance, might see this place very differently than a rich, old widow out for a walk with her poodle (unlikely, to be sure, to come across this scene to begin with).

 

I say, a good street shooter is as likely to remove a trash can as anyone else. A good street shooter has already chosen his angle, his lense, his depth of field and what he wants in the frame. I'm not sure what the difference is between cropping out a garbage can by moving your camera over a couple of degrees to avoid getting it in the frame or by walking over and moving the garbage can out of the frame. (This, of course, assumes you are not a forensic photographer needing to preserve the integrity of a crime scene or something).

 

Really, the only way I could get close to a reality of this scene would be to make it my own reality by going there myself, in which case I'm sure I would see it and feel about it very differently than David. So, what I figure I'm seeing when a look at a photo by David is David's impression of a scene, not any kind of "the real scene." I think the act of framing something in a lens is one of the most drastic manipulations on the world we can perform. In isolating what we frame from all the rest of our peripheral vision, we have drastically transformed what is actually before us. That's why I love my camera so much. Think about how we often use the term "framed" as in "he's been framed." That means an entire story has been fabricated about someone. Well, I think that's just what we're doing when we pick up the camera.

 

Anyway, for me, the trash can works fine in the frame and it would be fine if it were not there too. I think it's a good David shot, taken in a straightforward manner, with a bleakness that that straightforwardness has already added. Had he taken this on some kind of strange angle, say like Hitchcock might have, where he tilted the camera and set some sort of strangely moody exposure, I'd have gotten a very different feeling, yet from the very same "reality," all done supposedly without manipulation. Had he taken this same shot from this same angle and left it in color (converting to black and white is a big choice one makes and quite an imposition on the original scene), I would get a very different feel. I would imagine, as a matter of fact, that keeping this in color would make a much bigger difference to the reality of the photo than cloning out the trash can in photoshop.

 

The real world can be a strange place indeed, not always likeable. David's photos, on the other hand . . . very likeable.

> The real world can be a strange place indeed, not always likeable. David's photos, on the other hand . . . very likeable.

 

Fred, I couldn't agree more with these words!

 

I *love* David's photos and this is no exception. I just love playing around with wide angle lenses and seeing that David shot this with a Sigma 10-20 immediately sets my mind into overdrive as what different perspectives could do for this kind of image. But I have to admit that that kind of play doesn't always work out well; sometimes it does, but there are numerous occasions where a (seemingly) simple, straight shot would have worked much, much better.

 

And I must say: this is a typical 'David Meyer' kind of image. There's much, much more going on than the casual observer would notice. Shane's observations prove that. This is a classic example where an image says more than a thousands words, no doubt about that!

 

Now I'm disappointed in you. I thought you were one of those balls to the floor types that would have just strode right in there, shoved your way through the biker boys giving them a disdainful f you look, and ordered a boilermaker. I shall stick with that impression of you my gutty amigo.

 

All that aside, thanks for taking a close (and it must have been a very close look if you could see that employees only sign) and detailed look. Incidentally, the mail in the mail box is a voter pamphlet. Is that great or what? Peace

Your "two cents" is often worth a bundle. And that's not even taking inflation into account! Of course you are so customarily correct about the subjective nature of taking an image. I guess my intention (which is really quite secondary) was to just present the reality as close to reality as I SAW IT. No real tricks here. Straight forward. And Frank's suggestion was his concept of how the image might have been more dramatic or dynamic. As you well know neither is "right." They are just us. The thing that's so good about this is the way it makes me think more about motives. I'll have to admit that I did not consciously sit there and reflect on what I was going for. There may have been some subconscious or intuitive process going on. I don't really know. Only thing I know is I thought it an interesting little spot and stopped my vehicle and snapped. But, I guess taking images is just like life. When reflected upon, we see far more possibility in hindsight than in the present. As always, I'm indebted for your thoughts.