andy e

Excellent image, Frederic. It feels like a hybrid of compositional elements of Cartier-Bresson and Garry Winogrand...not an easy thing to do by any means. The wonderful triangle created by the boy, the man on the bench and the dog (?) in the doorway is outstanding. Very nice work. I must get to your part of the world one day.

Excellent use of the contrast. It looks like you did this as a wet print, but I may be wrong. In any event, the composition is excellent and the rendering is even better. Very nicely done.

Is that guy a rodeo clown? I thought they usually just went in their pants out of fear when a bull charged at them. I don't blame him for his hesitancy, though. I've see some pretty horrifying things in those porta-potties.

 

Excellent image, Jenna.

Nice work pal. The magic element in this image is perhaps the most subtle, namely, the cat in the window. For whatever reason, it brings this whole scene to life for me.

 

I'm thinking I need to get some tutelage from you in the near future. Believe it or not, I'm headed off to Springfield for good in the next month, so its gonna be a whole photographic vista for me. One thing I know for sure, Springfield sure ain't Chicago. :)

 

Hope you're doing well.

 

(By the way, this is Andy.)

Have you ever found it ironic that people can live in crowded cities and still be utterly oblivious to the world around them? That irony screams out here. You're doing well, Jenna, by catching relationships between disparate people and things, which makes for a good compositional foundation. The magic will grow when you find the even more subtle points of connection. That's not to criticize the use of the street lady at the right, rather to encourage you to keep looking for those relationship in more subtle ways and, most importantly, in ways that resonate with you.

 

I know you've looked at Balaji's stuff before. Have a look at it again. His sense and presentation of those relationships, not only between elements in the frame, but also between himself those same elements, is absolute magic.

I agree with Yuri's assessment. To say anything more would be a waste of time.

When I was in London this past July, I got a pack of Marlboros with this warning while in a pub in Richmond, and almost had a stroke from laughing. I think my London pal and I may have offended a few of the locals with our sophomoric jokes about this warning.

 

Damn, no wonder I haven't fathered any children yet. I must go cold turkey...one day.

The Bird analogy is a good one. Bird and Diz played the "flatted-fifth" and all most people heard was chaos (or heard poetry as Allan Ginsburg interpreted it (wrongly) for them). People who understand street see the rhythms and the relationships and all most people see is a haphazard snapshot.

 

Vox populi = vox stupidity.

John:

 

Thanks for the thoughtful response. Very cool that you got to know Davidson as well. I confess I'm not a huge fan of his but I do love selected things he's done. Oh, and in referencing Davidson with this image, I'm certainly referencing the category of Davidson images I love.

 

I appreciate what you've said, but I think I'll decline the offer to post my work on here, save for a few for laughs on the Leica forum. Yep, I am bitter, no question about it. I'm angry as hell, in fact, because I'm tired of watching the forces at work in photography destroy it as an art form. Between art schools, effete gallery owners and the masses with their digital cameras, photography is becoming a joke as an artform. And it kills me, not for anything I can contribute, but because there remain bright lights out there in the field that are being swamped in the growing darkness of affected art geeks and boneheads who think that because they have a Canon Powershot and a copy of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Photography", they've become the new Ansel Adamses of the world. I've gotten acquainted with some talented people over the last couple of years who have given their lives (i.e., decades of hard effort and constant vigilance) to this discipline only to be scoffed at by someone moron with a raspy voice and stained teeth who thinks that a blurry inkjet photo of a fat naked woman with chocolate sauce on her tits is art. Conversely, and as you said, there's another vein that only wants "pretty things" that serve as nothing more than a prophylactic to shield these morons from the real world. I know the saying is "to each his own" but the fact is that its a joke. Nobody wants to look at life anymore.

 

Sorry for the rant. However, I simply can't deal anymore on this site with dipsticks who took a community college course on the rule of thirds and now think they're artistes just because they know how to manipulate eight filters on Photoshop to make over-saturated meaningless crap. I'm rooting for you, John. Folks like you, Balaji and others leave room for a tiny glimmer of hope.

Its a great photo, John. I'm reminded of some of the portraiture Bruce Davidson did in Spanish Harlem in the late 60s and early 70s as I view this. In light of the wonderful story you told, the rendering of the image is given a lot more meaning to me. I think the strong contrasts help portray the character of her even more strongly. Is it a Karsh portrait? No. But is it a portrait that gives us a sense of life and character in this woman? Absolutely.

 

The ratings on this are an atrocity. The thick-headed dopes on this site make me sick.

This is the strongest of the three highway shots, in my opinion. The strong geometry of the off-ramp sign and the contrasting colors of both signs against the sky is excellent. I'd try to see if you can a little more detail out of the shadows on the underside of the ramp, but its definitely nice work.

I guess it has something to do with the setting, because the rich textures on the walls and the door really make the space work well here. The capper for me are the little icons lined up next to her. Very powerful stuff. Good job.

I'd love to know the reasoning for the 1/1 rating given by one bonehead on this shot. Ah well...the depths of human stupidity are unbounded.

 

Very nice shot Beau. The legs make a wonderful device for drawing the eye up and down through the whole image. Nice job with getting ample detail inside the subway car while keeping the light through the window and door under control.

 

Its good to know that something other than the Chicago Transit Authority moves slowly...

Man, is this nice. I love the strong lines running throughout the image as well as the relative prominence of the crucifix in the frame. A very quiet, but very visually interesting image.

Colin's definitely correct. The textures are wonderful and the presence of the cat really is a remarkable compositional element. To write this off as simply a cutesy cat shot is to miss what a striking composition this is. This would be a fantastic print if you ask me.

I agree with the previous comments. I like the energy you conveyed here. Excellent work.

I swear, Phil, the gods of street photography continue to bless you in the most amazing ways. This is, in a word, priceless. Its pure banality in all of life's rich hues. Martin Parr ain't got nothin' on you, my man.

 

I hope the owner of the scooter didn't arrive to find a splattered gift on his rear view mirror.

I'm of limited PS skill but I do know this, don't use the dodging and burning tools to make adjustments, except for very small tweaks. I find the dodging and burning tools lousy because they are too heavy-handed. What I've done is tweak the curves and then also play with the curves in the duotones or tritones to handle certain larger areas of the images. However, its all feel and no science in my case.

 

I'm gonna watch your work from the State Fair with interest. I'm soon to be moving to a land where state and county fairs are about all I'll have to shoot unless I travel. I'm doomed to move from Chicago in a couple of months and soon all I'll have is corn and barns to photograph. Yeck.

Hey, Jenna, looks like the turn out in Albuquerque was almost as pathetic as it was in Chicago. I guess everyone high-tailed it to NYC. I like the three shots, but this one is the standout to me. The decision to go color is the way to go here. I also like the semi-stiff pose, which creates this warped, American Gothic, kind of feel to the image.

 

Your street stuff is beginning to come together nicely. I think, if you can, you ought to look at some of the masters: Winogrand, Frank, Friedlander, etc. Start looking at how they saw things, not to follow a pattern but simply to train your eye.

 

Keep at it. You're going down the right path.

Nice one, Audrey. The use of the DOF here makes this really work. The implied lines created by some of the droplets are nicely counterbalanced by some more random arrangements of the droplets at lower right and upper left. Good eye for seeing this one. I'm curious if this reflects the influence of Jeanne Wells because its got a little flavor of her work, but your individual style still remains.

More than lovely, its a flat-out masterpiece. The whole interplay between the men's/boy's faces and the Holy Mother is utterly fantastic. This is hands-down one of the very best pieces of candid portraiture I've seen.

 

I've stumbled across your work just by accident and its singly the best accident I've had on this site. I guess there is something good to be said for Photo.net.

 

Thanks for sharing these brilliant images.

Man, this one's SO nice, Phil. There are kinds of little oppositions in this one that make it a very rich photo: the light curtains and the dark arches, the standing woman with her umbrella and the sitting one with hers. I could go on and on. Suffice it to say this is an excellent shot. The Delta was just the right film to use here too.

 

By the way, did you hear about Ilford's woes? I think we might be having to scramble to buy up some rolls of the ol' Delta soon...

What an excellent texture study, Jenna. Good eye for seeing this one. You definitely made the right choice doing this one in color. The color adds another element of depth to the image.

This is awesome work. You deserve kudos for being able to get out of bed at that hour, but you deserve even more credit for having the ability to execute the shot to perfection. The colors are great and the composition is superb. Well done.

Jenna, you are my hero. Anyone who can quote a title from one of the greatest hardcore punk albums of all time is alright in my book. My personal favorite from the album is "Camarillo" but this title sure fits here. The composition is quite good using the kid in the foreground to play off the latter-day punkers in the back. This has a flavor very reminiscent of my youth...acting like an idiot hanging behind a liquor store and acting like there was nothing cooler than being a social misfit. Funny some things never change, even when you're staring straight down the barrel of becoming 40 years old. Excellent work. This is a gem.