The Waiter

This man does not necessarily work in a restaurant; he has earned his

name, 'the waiter' by patiently waiting at a main entrance to an

underground arcade and boulevard crossing in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine.

Your ratings 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

This is a feature of downtown Kyiv's Kreschatyk Boulevard, THE main throroughfare in all of Kyiv.

 

This thoroughfare was designed after major destruction of Kyiv in World War II (The Great Patriotic War for Russians/Ukrainians) by the Nazis, and Stalin devoted his best architect(s) to reconstructing the city.

 

Unlike Moscow which also has broad boulevards and big buildings, this main street, although relatively short, is designed not only to showcase the vast relative size of the 'state' and therefore the 'insignificance' of one single man, but it also was designed to be people friendly -- somewhat of a rarity in Russian building to that time. (Ukraine once was part of the former Soviet Union; its onetime leader, Brezhnev, was a Ukrainian, a fact he went to considerable lengths to conceal).

 

Although this boulevard has six or eight lanes of traffic, it has more than an equal width devoted to pedestrian walkways (three just on one side) and hundreds and hundreds of park benches. It is closed to traffic on weekends and holidays and becomes a vast park and pedestiran mall.

 

In one sense, this boulevard's side is a true park and the place where many Kyiv residents head with their beer bottle or their friends and lovers to while away a balmy weekend afternoon in Spring through Fall and also in warm nighttimes, it is filled with people, including Kyiv's many demonstrative lovers.

 

PDA (Public Display of Affection) is a commonplace occurrence in Kyiv; love is in the air sometimes and most often in the Spring through summer months, with couples holding hands, doing horseplay, kissing and sometimes petting heavily as the crowds mingle by.

 

All in all, it's one of the more pleasant streets in the world to stroll along, and is a destination for many visitors to and residents of Kyiv alike.

 

Here, in this feature, a 'subway' underneath the broad boulevard, the Soviet-style architecture can be seen in its massive features without detail. But, unlike in Moscow, where such features belittle the pedestrian, in Kyiv, they are mainly overlooked by the many pedestrians, often numbering in the thousands, who stroll for pleasure - something that seldom is done on Moscow's streets and boulevards.

 

In effect, it may also be a tribute to the difference between the people of Russia and the people of Ukraine -- with the latter being somewhat more 'laid back', with less crime, less aggressiveness, and fewer allegations of major corruption. (I don't know from personal experience, as no one has ever solicited me for a bribe, and I've never paid one.)

 

John (Crosley)

his stillness is the stillness of the marble, and your sharp, balanced, photo conveys this sense of "flesh and stones". I don't know why, but his pose, the general mood, they make me think about those big statues of soviet heroes, and yes, how things have changed and are changing. Thank you: it's not the first time one of your photos makes me stop and think, and I hope you will share others. Ciao. G.

In part for your fine play on words -- 'flesh and stone' is a new phrase to me, and I hope you coined it, but if not, you used it well.

 

Yes, that's exactly what Stalinist architecture was -- stone, and indeed this man stood there literally for the longest time.

 

My great trouble in capturing him was to find frames in which the autos and other vehicles behind him on that six-lane (or more) boulevard did not interfere with the photo I wanted, which was more balanced and symmetrical and in my mind did not have autos.

 

But it was a busy day for autos; on the other hand he was very obliging, and he stayed there for a long time. In fact, he migrated from the stair entrance to the side/top of the stairwell for this 'subway' (underground way under the boulevard -- not a metro, as that is nearby, but not reachable by this entrance. I could use the British word 'subway' to describe this entrance, as the British call a 'subway' anything that takes you under a road or thoroughfare, while 'the tube' is their Metro. Metro, as you probably know, is short for the Parisian system, which has arches over most entrances (original at least) with the word 'Metropolitan' and the word 'Metro' is short for 'Paris Metropolitan'.

 

In any case, you can look for lots more photos from me; I took 1,000 to 1,500 in just a couple of hours of daylight in Vienna on an unexpected stopover (call it a misconnection that my airline screwed up on me, and I'm having a beer in their bierstube at their expense and steak dinner and room too, and probably will get a free roundtrip ticket anywhere in the world for my inconvenience (their fault).

 

But this is the one time I didn't put spare batteries in my pocket for my two D200s and my D300, which are better than the D2X and D2Xs series for lower light that I expected, especially the mother of all smaller cameras, the D300 -- a street shooter's delight, with the best quality screen AND in-the-camera manipulations, which I thought I would never use, but in fact use all the time -- what a boon for wonderful desaturation into a large JPEG (if you accept the contrast/brightness the camera gives you or can accept the one D-Lighting correction the D300 also offers. Like Model 'T' Fords, Henry Ford said they come in all the colors you could want, so long as you want black.

 

Well, Nikon D300 has all the contrast/brightness adjustments you might want for desaturation, so long as you accept the one they give you (or apply their D-Light formula - not curve - to the photo before desaturating. Then you can crop in camera -- I never thought I'd use THAT, but I use it all the time.

 

I want two more of the D300s; and who knows about the D3, as it costs $5,000 but is destined to be outmoded in a year or two; about the life expectancy of a D200, and then the value will probably plunge on the D3.

 

Just like they plunged on the D2X and D2Xs cameras, which are built to last and last, but don't do as well in low light as the D200 and especially the D300; they're great for landscape/studio shooting, and daylight 'street' though, and the build quality of the D2X (s) series is unsurpassed, and as soon as I get my hands on a D3, I am sure it will match.

 

Look for new photos within one week; I've literally tens of good ones to choose from once I get them processed, but I'm preparing a book for galleries and that comes first.

 

I will try to feed the Photo.net maw, however, just as you requested; it is my pleasure.

 

Thanks for the kind word(s).

 

John (Crosley)