The Dental Appointment

Please view larger. Slow shutter motion study. Thanks for any

constructive suggestions or feedback, I am most appreciative.

Amazing! You surely set new reference for motion blur shooting with this wizardy masterpiece. Those distorted faces gave me good healthy laugh, thanks for that, so I'm ready for bed. Good Night!

 

It's beyond my head how you do this... maybe it's better to have it that way. ;-)

Wonderful shot. I'd be curious to know if it is simply camera motion that is involved here. Given the stability of banks these days, perhaps the building (assuming it's a bank) should be blurred. One other little nagging question I'm finding hard to let go of, is are they coming or going to that appointment?

Markku;

 

Nice to see your name here stranger. I am going to guess that you have that fancy new computer up and running now. I will drop by and see what you've been up to.

The best happy accident in this photo at least to my eye is that they were both wearing sunglasses and this left them looming like some sort of alien insects.

 

Dave;

 

You sure do ask a lot of questions, which is yet another reason I always enjoy your visits. Inquiring minds are so much more interesting to engage.

I do not know if that was a bank. All I do know is there was a sign in the second story window that read " dentist ".

Other than some perspective adjustment and burning in the window with the sign, this out of camera.

These two, mother and daughter I assume, just happened to be heading down the road. I don't think they were coming or going. They would seem more in need of a plastic surgeon than a Dentist. I had staked out this small area of sidewalk and took several frames of passers-by.

 

As for the stability of banks; our Canadian banks, which are considerably more regulated than your banks, were not having any troubles until the US banks dragged us all into the crapper. Something as absurd as the sub-prime melt down, could never happen in Canada, or most places in the civilized world.We had already deduced some time ago that the sort of, completely over the top unregulated greed, which fueled the current economic disaster, tends to destabilize the marketplace. Hopefully a new day is dawning south of the border.

 

I was in Toronto for a few days last week and all the huge office towers from the major banks were doing their usually rock solid job of blotting out the sun.

You are quite right to excoriate the U.S. for its many excesses. It's not that I think you folks are one hundred percent better, because I can foresee that given the right circumstances Canadians, or anybody else for that matter might take the same path. But we are a bunch of clueless idiots when it comes to living on the planet, and we are a sad lot when one considers what we could have been and what we've become. People here have the frontier mentality that government is always wrong and always to be avoided. Taxes and regulations are a bane. Sometimes that is justified by the acts of people in government who have had their personal motives as a higher priority than doing their job. And, so many are so easily stampeded into group think. Say the word "socialism" and you will immediately think there is an elephant in the room. It is a catch phrase that scares the hell out of the average U.S. citizen. All because it has been brainwashed by those who rape the system and use propaganda to control the minds of the masses. It's a sad state of affairs, and one that we have brought upon ourselves. I've lived through the golden ages, but I fear for what my grandchildren are inheriting.

" It's not that I think you folks are one hundred percent better, "

 

I would never suggest that we are better, not that I'm implying that you said I would. As for folks on either side of the border, I have found that beyond the differing brands of brainwashing our respective governments dole out to us, there are few significant differences in our cultures.

Canadians are generally proud to think of our way of life as a social democracy patterned after some of the more forward thinking European models. We see socialism and democracy as not only compatible but intrinsically connected. I do agree with you and have noted myself that in the US, and particularly in the southern US, socialism of any kind is consider pure evil. In one of the forums Lex made reference to communist states and lumped Canada in with Cuba. He could have been being facetious but he's from Texas so it is hard to say. One of my very dear friends lives in Houston and many of my long time friends are from your fine country. From this side of the fence it sometimes looks like your government is misguided but then our is not much better, mainly it is just different. As Canadians it can be frustrating sometimes because despite having approximately equal landmasses our economic and cultural influence is nearly non existence by comparison. We are basically the wart on the ass of an elephant. Sometimes that annoys us despite the fact it is through no fault of Americas that we are as such.

The Dentist side is stable.....!! ;-)) reminds me a work of mine in the Moma some years ago(http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=1875420), very different but still, I like it so much .

I saw this one and again you made me smile, it is so goood! The technic is perfect( no news here ;-)) and the funny women, passers by ,would have "killed" you seeing how they look in your mind....lol . I like the sun glases effect makes them even more funny and bizarre.

 

About the economic situation,, we know that power corrupt, and greed has no grid... and is part of human nature.Banks, governments, richness that don't know satiety ,prersonal interest , all are reasons that did that falling dominoes effect, no one is clean! ( some more some less though). and world situation is ominous and scary for many.

Pnina;

 

Dentists are one group who are universally well off financially and universally unpopular people to have to visit. I had to see my dentist last week and my jaw is still sore.

 

I agree that greed and lack of foresight got us all into the current mess. I also agree that greed is a part of human nature. In fact it is a part of all nature. A squirrel will keeping stashing nuts even if it already has enough to get through the winter, so long as the supply lasts it will just keep digging holes and burying. Not all that different than the US banks giving out mortgages, they knew would not likely be payable. For humans, greed is both good and bad, it is part of what motivates us to rise above our current station in life. I think the hard part is to contain the limits of greed. The failure to do this causes much of the grief the world is currently and has been historically, racked with.

BTW I do see some similarity with your Andy Warhol photo which I have always loved.

It's always a treat to drop by and see what sort of new lunacy you're up to. Only you would connect that tiny blurred sign up in the window with the passing wide-jawed characters in shades below. You are a spin-master of the truly eccentric. Really a trip to The Far Side.

Borders! ( or levels) is the word I think of ,when looking at the world's economic situation.Only if I'm again, not knowing exactly the other meaning of the word "greed.".( satyr? ). I think that it is different from what motivate human being to raise above their life situation, and develop life standarts. The squirrle analogy is a good one.... even though people are said to have a brain for thinking ,and evaluating.....

 

I hope you feel better Gord, Dentists are the worst and needed.....;-))

" Only if I'm again, not knowing exactly the other meaning of the word "greed."

 

:-)))) Some words in English only have one meaning, I believe greed is one of those words.

Gord, this is one cool image. The faces seem like aliens to me and the "Dentist" is comic relief. Now about those political thoughts: I have watched all the crap, and heard all the crappers, and I believe there is tons of blame all around, not the least of whom is people who can't stop trying to get something for nothing. I'm anxious for Obama to deliver, and fast.

Being a long time Larson fan, I take that as a great compliment. I enjoy making up little scenarios for images. Your photos often send me off on involved little dramas with multiple subplots, which is one of the many reasons I enjoy visiting your pages so much.

I arrived the same feeling as you did. Those sunglasses and the good fortune that they were both wearing such similar sunglasses is what gives them that alien creature look. The mother's throat looking like it is sprouting gills also helps some :-)

 

 

" people who can't stop trying to get something for nothing."

 

 

Well Liz, you certainly cut through all the crap and went straight to the heart of the matter with that one. That bizarre expectation of " something for nothing " seems universal and cuts across all borders. I am trying to be optimistic that Obama will turn some things around but I also acknowledge that he has inherited one heck of a mess to sort out.

This is a very clever picture, never seen anything like it, i think it would look really great as a B&W also, very Sci -Fi.

 

You know this people taking advantage of the system nonscence really does hold back change in America, there are so many world systems that operate and have done for a very long time very successfully on a so called Socialist existance.

 

I get sick and tired of the word Socialist being dragged through the mud by some Americans, if you don't pay any taxes, you don't get anything back, healthcare is a joke and way too expensive, every country should provide healthcare for its citizens at an affordable cost, i really don't mind paying taxes for this, its a good thing.

Thanks for the suggestion I had not tried this in B&W but I believe it would have possibilities.

 

In Canada we pay quite high taxes however we do get a lot of social services for those taxes. Our health care system is not perfect but I do know that if I become ill I will be able to see specialists and receive any treatments or surgery that I may need. My mum had cancer three separate times during her life, when you've got stuff like that to deal with you don't want to be worrying about losing your house to pay the hospital bills.

 

Years ago, I remember an American tourist in a tobacco shop in Denmark having a complete fit at the proprietor about the cost of cigarettes. He told the shopkeeper he could get the same package of smokes for a fraction of the cost in the US. The shopkeeper said, well yes that may be so, but in Denmark when those cigarettes give you cancer you will get free medical treatment.

Just that everything in the picture is hostile, from the eerie people, the fence, the sign and the big brother colums, funny how your subjects have put a twist on everything else in the picture, i could think up many names for this The Arrival or how about Numb Gum after the dental injection heh heh.

 

The uk healthcare system has never let me or anyone i know down, if you have back pain you might be better off going private. We pay a for the NHS through national insurance direct from our wages, its not a fortune. Why is my neighbour aged 67 still working? For her healthcare, its a ridiculous system that does this to people, in the uk children and people over 60 get free medicine, who wants to burn up all their savings because you got ill, lose your house you could end up in poverty, do you know that if you can't pay all the bill it goes over to your children.

 

The insurance only covers 80% of the costs anyway. Pfff

Simon;

 

I liked that " big brother column " remark. It really nailed down the feeling I got from those pillars but I had not put a proper description to it in my mind. It does have an Orwellian ministry of truth ring about it.

 

In my province seniors do not pay for medications, the government picks up the tab with tax dollars. Seniors have available a good number of subsidized or free services. My mother in-law who is in her seventies has a nurse calling weekly to check up on her, she has home care come and take care of her personal need. A women comes weekly and helps with house cleaning and runs errands for her. She goes out to gov't supported social clubs and gets free rides to and from. All of this comes out of us working peoples taxes and I think it is great. If I last that long, I figure I will have earned the right to grow old with dignity with the help and support of my community. I believe that an affluent civilized society has an obligation to take care of the young and the old as well as the sick and the poor.

It has a Sci Fi look to it; like having taken a photo of a time-warp ;)

Juan;

 

More of time lag than a time warp :-)

I get the same sci-fi feel from these two insect women from outer space.