Timing is Everything (Sometimes)

Sometimes in taking a photo timing can be everything, as it was here in

this particular photo. That is not always the case, but some photos are

entirely time dependant with a variation of plus or minus a fraction of a

second and the entire composition would be lost. 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

Hi John Timing yes but I think the colour also helps geat shot.

Yes, I should not have overlooked the obvious -- the colors were what had me standing there waiting.

 

Imagine a yellow poster above a yellow train -- both about the same hue of yellow.

 

It was an open invitation to this photographer to 'find' something to complete the composition, and soon enough the completion walked along.

 

I had the good timing to 'catch' him in just the proper attitude to compete the composition - just how good I didn't know until I reviewed the capture not once but again and again and marveled at how 'correct' everything felt.

 

Sometimes you don't know at first how 'good' a capture is until you begin the review process, and after returning again and again to an image trying to find fault with it, you become convinced it rises above the ordinary.

 

Thanks for the comment; I had overlooked commenting on the obvious, and I thank you for helping me by stating it.

 

John (Crosley)

but I agree with Danny, the main power of the photo is an unusual and clever connection of colors and the play with the colors here. I like the fact that there are only three colors here (your favourite number:)) plus a horizontal layer of blue which nicely divides the picture into as if two separate images. Imho the timing is not everything here:). Really well done, thank you for sharing, -wm

Of course you are right . . . I had never really figured this was ONLY a time-dependant photo, but figured that was one part of the photo's composition that was very, very important.

 

Without the man in THAT PARTICULAR POINT, as he strode by, the composition would have been for naught.

 

But all the other parts of the composition, previously established by me, were waiting and were well-planned, only hoping for a desirable passerby to complete the composition.

 

Fortunately there were several possibilities, but this guy almost was first, and with his face and long, pointed nose, he was ideal for the composition, AND I got him in precisely the best spot (and no others were so caught).

 

Yes, it's an unusual composition -- highly unusual. It's one of my oddball compositions. I was sitting on a bench, waiting for a train, just toying with my camera, playing with it, trying to see if I could 'see' anything and suddenly, as I worked with it, things 'came alive' first with the woman in the poster, then the train pulled into the platform and I moved a little to get the diagonal line in the right place and waited for a passerby to come by to complete the composition.

 

Soon enough he came, and I fired at just the right point. If I missed, there would be no photo worth posting.

 

As it was, it is a 'keeper' and one I'm proud of.

 

I'm glad you like it. It tended to get a poor reception here when I first posted it, and that surprised me, since it is really (to my mind) pretty good, if unusual.

 

Thanks for the accolade.

 

John (Crosley)

Taken at the right moment; Beautiful image John!

It almost could be a Dutch train, couldn't it?

 

However it was taken in a next door country -- but maybe headed for your home country; I didn't look at the departure board, though most bound for your homeland from this country are double and triple connections, I recall from having made the journey.

 

Thanks for the approval.

 

It's funny; this shot took no real effort -- I was just 'playing around' trying to make something from that woman's poster overhead (she was hawking some sort of candy), yet when I reviewed my captures, I kept coming back to this photo over and over, and saw that I indeed had 'made' something that was really unique and viewable.

 

You just never know . . . . where a good photo will come from, which is why there's always a camera (or two) around my neck.

 

(and the very few times there isn't, I always pay a huge price, in potentially 'great' photos I see but cannot record for lack of a camera.)

 

Thanks again.

 

John (Crosley)

it's true, but there must be a trained, smart eye behind the viewfinder to spot the geometry in the background and wait for the right moment. Luck is an important factor in these kind of shots, but it's not enough. Thank you, Giuseppe

is what American hillbillies and farmers used to say when they were complimented.

 

Even ordinary people often were shy about accepting a compliment.

 

It was seen as unworthy, in earlier American, for some to be so 'PROUD' as to take acceptance of a compliment. Pride was a venal sin. Like sloth and gluttony.

 

Not me.

 

I accept your compliment. I take great pride in what I do. I don't think it's sinful at all.

 

I didn't work too hard for this photo, however; but worked my ass off for some others that barely get mentioned or noticed.

 

It all evens out I guess.

 

And I really do like this photo; as oddball as it is.

 

It's my way of passing the time, waiting for a train.

 

Good photos come at you when you least expect them, I have found.

 

The 'trick' is to be ready to 'take advantage' of scarce situations; that's the key to my high productivity.

 

Now, Giuseppe, since you're employed full time, what's they key to your high productivity? You don't have my excuses such as indolence and lack of anything better to do.

 

(Actually photography has become a main part of my raison d'etre; has it become yours also?)

 

John (Crosley)

the secret is simple: I have always a camera with me - wherever I go, whatever I do; and I walk a lot, God only knows how many roads my eyes have seen. Due to my actual employment I have to restrict my walks to Saturday and Sundays only (and some rare afternoons too) so - in these days - you could call me a Sunday photographer and I wouldn't take offence :-))) Photography is one of my main interests and - as you said with better words - a main part of my raison d'etre. Thank you, Giuseppe

It seems one of the main ingredients for success for a 'street' photographer is just to carry a camera at all times, then to have the gumption (intestinal fortitude) to break away from whatever else is pressing, to use the camera when the opportunity for a good capture presents itself.

 

Of course, having studied lots of photography AND lots of great art does not hurt at all -- it helps to recognize those situations which are fertile grounds for a capture, and to alert the photographer. I can tell, though you have never told me explicitly, from your work, that you have studied classical art, because of its influence on your photography. It is clear, and I'd be surprised if it were otherwise. And of course, where you live you have many opportunities to view such art . . . almost on a daily basis.

 

A capture such as this would have been very difficult, even impossible for me to contemplate a few years ago -- it required such a confluence of events, and I had not thought out my photography to such an extent as I have now.

 

But preparing the giant Presentation 'Photographers: Watch Your Background' helped me to see the fertile circumstances of the train with its yellow together with the poster. I moved lower down so the advertising message at the bottom of the poster would not show and only the portrait of the smiling woman would, then I waited for passersby, hoping to 'nail' one at just the precise moment.

 

If I hadn't, this would just be another 'also ran' or 'failure', or just plain 'attempt' which clutter my hard drives. But I keep trying, and the more I try, the better my success rate. That is the great thing about photography -- one improves generally with practice. Even if you have nothing to capture, it helps just to exercise one's camera, taking photos of 'nothing' just to keep the controls and the body in synchronization, so one does not miss that all-important moment.

 

I think this moment was caught with 'C' drive, (continuous servo which is the modern-day equivalent of 'motor' drive) but it is inconsequential except for those who are looking into technical things. The important thing is that it is the capture I was looking for. It might have been harder if I were looking for a single 'click' but I could have done it, I am sure. 'C' drive just made it easier, and I am not against that.

 

What really helps is that he has a strong face with a very, very strong nose, which contrasts excellently with the somewhat impish face of the poster woman (and her small, feminine nose). Although his face is small in the capture, he looms large in the photo because of his features. I couldn't have sent to 'Central Casting' for a better fellow for my passerby, I think.

 

Thanks for commenting on this photo -- a genuinely different photo, and one that surely is unique.

 

Some of my photos stand for something -- tell stories and for that they often have strong contrasts. Here, there is just a photo with a strong contrast just for the sake of the contrast and the art that underlies it.

 

That is its raison d'etre.

 

My best to you.

 

;~))

 

John (Crosley)

Thank you so much for the nice compliment.

 

I just take a camera (or two or three) wherever I go.

 

Here, I was waiting for a train from Hamburg to Bremerhaven, and on a platform in Hamburg Hbf (hauptbahnhof -- central train station to those who are not familiar)

 

I spied the woman on the reclamen (advertising poster, and noticed her colors.

 

The train pulled in and I noticed its colors and moved a little bit, seeing if there was something I could 'do' with the nice synchronicity.

 

I decided it called for a passerby, and soon enough along came this man.

 

He walked by.

 

I fired.

 

I caught him 'just so'.

 

That's how such a photo is made.

 

Cartier-Bresson's critics (and analysts) would have called this one a 'waiter', meaning the 'setup' was there, and all one had to do was 'wait', but my patience is not always so long, my train was soon to arrive, there was a crowd, and that being Germany, I can assure you the yellow and white ICE train was not long on the platform there at the station.

 

One has to 'take what one can get' and often it's 'drek.'

 

Occasionally it's magnificent, which is why I lug all that equipment all over creation, because just as much as you (or more so) I enjoy the heck out of the good ones.

 

Thank you so much again for the kind compliment.

 

Happy browsing.

 

John (Crosley)