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Hey, this I like. Its got a very cool art deco feel to it. What I'm really liking is your sense of tone in this and a lot of other stuff you've been posting lately. When I compare this to the stuff you were doing as little as six months ago, the progress is really mind-blowing. You're really honing your eye and pulling out some awesome images as a result. Good work.

The comments have been made, so I'll simply echo them. The restraint on the color is what makes this work so well. Just a gorgeous piece of work, Mike. You made that hellish snowstorm look gorgeous. Ah, the illusion of photography...

Having personally witnessed Phil at work with his XA-2, I can attest that he is maestro when using this little instrument. After seeing it and the results Phil has produced, I sometimes wonder why I spent a king's ransom to purchase a Leica. I love images such as these, which capture the fleeting fragments of life one can only find in a good watering hole such as this place. It's lovely work Phil.

John, this is yet another example of your sensitivity to the theater of the absurd that gets played out before us on a daily basis. I take mild issue with the earlier comment that characterizes this as a "capture". Being a street photographer (and hopefully not an erstwhile one), the term rings false because any street photographer worth his or her salt will tell you that each image (well at least 98% of them) are acts of intention and visualization. The only variable is how close the actual shot comes to achieving that visualization. My guess is that, in the larger context of your work, this one comes pretty close to the visualization. The juxtaposition is brilliant in an Erwitt vein. Well done.

Will do, John. This has made a great start for both research and ideas. Many thanks.

No problem. Hope you don't think I'm being too picky. By the way, I'm glad to see you posting some stuff in the w/nw threads on the Leica forum. I find those threads, along with the similar one in "Street and Documentary" to be a great way of getting a handle on your stuff.

Don, I think you're partly right about the ratings issue, but I also think there's a fundamental problem with how many people on PN approach the genre. I believe many street photographers on here don't solicit critiques and ratings because many of the critiques that they get (along with very mediocre ratings) betray a fundamental lack of understanding of street by the people who make them. I gave up soliciting critiques after months of listening to absolutely banal statements about the rule of thirds or "too chaotic" and the like. Often the little exposure people have to street work is isolated to the two or three images of Cartier-Bresson that they've seen in passing. Thus, if the style of the street photographer doesn't conform to the Cartier-Bresson model, it doesn't work. Personally, I'm far more influenced by artists such as Garry Winogrand and Robert Frank, whose approach is of an entirely different kind to that of Cartier-Bresson. Street challenges the viewer to look carefully and to perceive things that aren't the stock in trade of your typical flower shot or landscape. Thus, I think the lazy mind dismisses it as poor or sloppy because he or she won't take the time to try and really see it.

 

Just my view of things.

 

Still no question, Frederic, this is an excellent image by any measure.

Very nice, Jenna. Don't what you did, but keeping doing it with your B/W renderings. The tones I've seen in your last few posts have been outstanding. Compositionally, this works very nicely but I have two small quibbles. First, the little spots of light in the window and, second, the little sliver of the balcony (?) that you see about 2/3 the way up the right hand edge. I'd either try getting the whole corner of the balcony in or shave a little more off the right side. But still a nice image all the way round.

Having lost plenty of feet in my own photos, I can't take too much issue with the crop. I think people really don't appreciate how difficult it is to make sure everything in just right in a composition when you often have less a second to take the shot. Its excellent work, Frederic. The DOF keeps my primary attention on the old gentleman but allows for the "atmospheric element" of the whole place to be understood, especially through the inclusion of the three guys in the background. Very nicely done.

 

And yes, quite nice to actually see a real and well-done street image amongst the top photos. Too bad more good street photographers, of which there are many on this site, don't get similar notice.

John, that's awesome about the sink. It's really a dream come true. I have a few plans I've accumulated on how to build one for under $100 US with basically 1/4 inch plywood and marine paint, but it still seems a daunting task.

 

One thing I didn't see was ventilation. What are you using? Do you have one of those window-mount units with the built-in light baffle?

 

Oh one other thing, lighting. I see the safelight above the enlargers. Is that the only one in the space? What's been the best color of safelight to minimize the fogging risk?

 

Sorry for so many questions.

Umm...seven grand? Well...back to the drawing board...

Now I'm completely intimidated at the prospect of having to set up my own space once I'm moved. Just kidding, but the wet sink area is the thing that really does have me a bit intimidated. The place I'm moving into has a pretty lame little slop sink in the basement that I think I'm going to try and jury rig for a little while at least. Sans enlargers, what's your ballpark about what it cost to get the wet and dry sides set up as we see them here?

 

Mind you, this is a fantastic space. If I ever get down your way, please allow me to make a pilgrimage to this hallowed place.

I remember a number of those fellows when I was there in July. I think I need to pull my photos from there out of mothballs and post them again. What a fantastic place it was.

Are you familiar with any of the work of William Eggleston? If not, you should have a look. He's does a lot strange street images but they are interleaved with surreal images not unlike your work here. This is utterly brilliant. A wonderful metaphor about innocence and experience and its conflict as we plow through life as adults. Just fantastic.

John, many thanks. That's a high compliment coming from a master such as yourself. Its good to be seeing your gorgeous work as well. How's the printing going these days? I may need to pick your brain soon as I'm faced with having to set up my own darkroom within the next couple of months.

Gorgeous. The stark contrast between your face and the withered flowers is a master stroke. Methinks the withered flowers are a metaphor for your own perceptions of yourself, but I may be wrong. Its an excellent image.

This might be one of the more convoluted threads on PN. Still I like the image. Keep the horse or tapir or hephelump or whatever it is in the image.

 

To maintain the convoluted nature of the thread, let's have a trivia quiz:

 

What feature-length cartoon featured animals called hephelumps and woozels? (Not too sure on the spelling of the first critters.)

Fan-friggin-tastic, Bobby! That guy is absolutely priceless. Dynamite shot.

I would bet that Ms. Lees would also consign a number of works by Erwitt into the flames as well. I think its a pretty interesting shot. Personally, there are others of yours that I prefer but, as you say, it holds its own just fine.

Glad to see you posted this one, Jenna. As I told you before, it's excellent in every respect.

I definitely like it. Its got a street photography feel to it that's very appealing. On top of that, the subtle graininess is an element I really like as well. Nice one.

I think Phil's point is right and would help make the image "pop" just a little more. Compositionally, though, I think this very cool with its competing lines and all. I think it was worth the effort taking the picture of this.

Yeah! This is awesome! All that space does so much for the elements kept in the frame. This is most assuredly one of the strongest images you've done since I started seeing your work. Brilliant job.

What a weird and wonderful sculpture. Looks like its made out of neon and screen material. I think the tight crop is exactly the way to do this. Nice job also with the exposure as you don't let the lighted outlines of the figures get out of control. Nice job.

Leigh is absolutely right about the B/W and its ability to draw out the abstraction. It's subjects like this that convince me why B/W film is still such a magnificent thing. The ability of the film here to emphasize the lines with such wonderful tonal rendition is breathtaking.

 

Nice to be drinking in the lovely details of a Class-A Morris once again.