johncrosley

A hunchbacked (osteoporotic) old man walks painfully one way, and in the far background a sprightly young women lightly strides in another direction, for a symbolic view of life's contrasts. . Your ratings, critiques, and observations are invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly, very critically, or wish to make a remark, please submit a helpful and constructive comment; please share your photographic knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy! john

Helene, 78, had a house that burned recently so she is staying with a friend, but needs money for food, so she has turned to begging with a very polite hand lettered sign that begins 'dear people (loose translation) that explains her story. Your ratings, critiques, and observations are invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly, very critically, or wish to make a remark, please submit a helpful and constructive comment; please share your photographic knowledge to help improve my photography (I donated). Thanks! Enjoy! john

The editing window is closed. The word is 'flack' not 'black'. For clarity. john (Crosley)

Thank you so much on both counts. From time to time, I've got black on the 'discussions' but my message to those few who complain is to say 'just don't read', and that is that. I very much like your comment, and it's in the 90% majority of those who comment. Thanks again. john John (Crosley)

Your and my tastes seem to run in parallel. This was not so popular, and to me, there's no accounting for tastes. That you noticed has given me a boost. Thanks. john John (Crosley)

Your praise overwhelms me, and I thank you very much.   I think what is missing, and maybe is the key to success here is the (1) innate ability to 'see' and 'locate' a most interesting face, (2) 'decide instantaneously it has great photographic potential, then (3) act on it instantaneously with camera//lens combos already adjusted and prepared from every mm setting from 12 to 300 crop sensor (450 mm fx/film).   I am very, very quick simultaneously to process everything, and fast to get that camera and lens to my eye, frame the subject properly (drawing on over a decade of nearly 19,000 comments from able members like yourself, all internalized [minus my replies of course]), and like some sort of supercomputer turn a moment's view into a captured frame.   I get a lot of out of focus shots because I shoot in bad light, on moving vehicles where there is no light and jerky motion, etc., but if I see something that has a chance of being 'good to great', I'm not hesitant (so long as it's safe) to press that shutter.   I try to avoid stepping on people or being rude or a dolt, but I am out to get that shot, and people seem to respect that.  I often show off my work to bystanders who are wondering 'what the heck has got him so excited?' and my enthusiasm often is returned by ad hoc viewers on the street who are my first audience.   I'm curious, and when possible I can be very generous with my shooting, and if up close, one shot taken close up, and a subject treated well can turn into 5, 12 or even 30-40 shots until I"m out of ideas or the person is going to miss their bus, train or whatever.   I have wonderful, chance meetings, with my camera, when working 'up close' though in other situations the subject never knows about the capture, oat least until I approach him/her/them.   And it's wonderful that we get to have this conversation over who knows how many thousands of kilometers/miles in this day and age -- something that was not even possible 20 years ago, and now is the order of the day for the young set.   I embrace it.   I adjusted to it in an instant, and wish it had been around all my life.   You are my cyberfriend, critic, and fellow photographer with GREAT ideas about bokeh, and you an be sure I read them and that when I next work up this photo, I'll process your thoughts and those of Bela, above, and use them to help me make important decisions.   Your ideas are VERY MUCH appreciated, and I am so grateful.   Thanks so much.   john   John (Crosley)

You are one of the very few true 'star' shooters of Photo.net with great standards, and to please you with a capture is the epitome of my craft and art. You are correct, I did not tune this photo, as you have. That's for two reasons: If I 'tuned' or 'fine tuned' every photo posted, there'd be little left to comment on, as all the decisions to be made, I'd already have made them, then what would there be to discuss? I leave my posted photos a little 'raw' just for that reason. I also LOVE the contributions of experts such as yourself -- the contributions that have helped me so much have come almost exclusively from Photo.net members, especially its expert shooters and processors, and also one man, a Lucie Award winner in printing for the firmament of photographic stars. (now retired). He took on the task himself gratis because he said he LOVED my work, and called it 'fantastic'. We worked long and hard together, as he taught me the gallery/curator world and introduced me to the LA gallery/scene introduced me to a few high powered photographers and a gallery owner here and there of highest standing, then was disappointed when I said I wanted to shoot more, before I exhibited. I see that you have worked mostly on the background, lessening mostly the bright spots, which draw the eye, and that is not wrong, as they compete with the subject, but I'd do so less, though I do like your version. I'd modify your efforts and tone them down a bit, but still take down the lights just a little, as I am aware that a 'white' has great power in a black and white photo to draw the viewer's eye and distract. Thank you for going to such an effort -- it's great work to do so, and speaks more than volumes about how much you think this is a worthy effort and also of your generosity. Thank you for that; I am most grateful. I'm now much more aware of the background, its light spaces and how to 'control' the parts that draw the eye, as well as other adjustments it appears you may have made. You have given me a very high compliment. And left without proper words to express my gratitude. john John (Crosley)

I saw this man, standing in a plaza all alone with only far-away people around, all walking mostly away from him, so with my long tele zoom I had a clear shot at him (55-300 mm at nearly full extension), that promised not only some pretty good bokeh, but he had, as you note, the visage. That's why I was drawn to take his photo in the first place -- a GREAT face. The lighting was good, ample to stop down somewhat (and still get that bokeh and hold steady enough with my VR lens) so I just fired away, recomposing with each shot (no 'C' drive stuff, but fast single shots, as such moments tend to deconstruct fast. The secret was in instantaneously being able to see this man, process all the above information instantaneously and fire within a second or two for several frames before the conditions changed completely. If I'd had to adjust anything, this photo never would have been possible -- he'd have been gone, or displaced from the proper circumstance before I even changed the ISO or any of numerous very fast adjustments. I just aimed, fixed my focus point and fired as any adjustment would have killed my chances of framing and capturing him as he was far away. This is a crop; in the original he was at frame's center, and I felt some better composition would be in order, and if you look carefully for 'balance', I think you'll find it. Although a centered image also has great balance, it's horribly 'static' and therefore less interesting than this crop. I seldom crop, but when I do, I do for best reasons, and here it has been very successful. I also got three or four other good to great shots that I could have posted, but somehow I liked this one. Thanks again for the compliment; hope you like the 'story' of how it came about. john John (Crosley)

Thanks for the very nice compliment. I always enjoy finding that you've been lurking around because invariably you comment on the best, as I think this one is from my recent work. Best to you, and thanks again. john (Crosley)

Henri Cartier-Bresson famously said of older people who complained of their againg facial features that 'you get the face that you deserve'. Who is this man, what does this face indicate, and does he deserve it? Your ratings, critics, and observations are invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly, very critically, or wish to make a remark, please submit a helpful and constructive comment, please share your photographic knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy! john

There is no such 'machine' but algorithms about 'thoughts' and 'inclination to act criminally' already are embedded in programs used by a huge number of courts nationwide to help them make the decision whether to release prisoners pretrial or release them on promise they would appear at time of trial. And reporters for ProPubica (I think) the investigative reporting organization, has determined that the algorithms were highly biased against blacks, Hispanics and the poor, and judges were relying on programs in which the algorithms were implanted without knowing it and indiscriminately keeping in jail people jailed for minor offenses, often just for failure to make a fine payment on time or other economic failure stemming from poverty. So, I was not actually so prescient; such algorithms rely on biased data and biased data processing (garbage in -- garbage out, I think) and it had never been known by the public before last month or the month before. More to come in the field of 'prescience' in the vein I was writing of above. And there will (and i think have been) films and maybe TV programs based on the idea that one can predict behavior (and go back in time and 'fix' it). One can just think 'balderdash, except it's going to become prevalent (and already has in criminal court), and since it 'sounds' scientific, people will give it extra wide berth.

That is one of the most thoughtful and flattering critiques I have ever received. Thank you so much. Best wishes (thanks again). john John (Crosley)

I'm somewhat of a 'futurist', and I believe that someone in private industry, the Russians and the US (and probably the British and other governments) are funding research on predictive mind control; reading thoughts with an idea to figuring out who is disposed to acting on those thoughts. Imagine the lines at immigration then, coming into the US, especially for those with fertile imaginations who otherwise are timid, and people paid to 'think of ideas' such as authors, screenwriters, and just people who like to let their imaginations run wild. I'd love to kill him' is a phrase uttered by some, and other threats and epithets and some people think such thoughts without actually voicing them, and now imagine the government armed with poorly calibrated thought probes able to 'penetrate' such thoughts without the use of mind altering drugs just by putting each airline passenger into a scanning booth much as they do now in a search for foreign objects such as explosives or firearms -- imagine the havoc, and of course, then the terrorists win. Spouses sometimes voice such thoughts and even think them but seldom act on them and various other threatening ideas, but imagine a machine that can literally 'read' such thoughts and memories of such thought and/or utterances being used by our (the US) government, or even the Russians (you'd expect that of them, right?) And oh, the mistakes that would be made like putting the wrong prisoners into Guantanamo has apparently happened -- 'set up' bystanders who were 'told on' to distract the American intelligence from getting to the real bad guys . . . . taxi drivers, etc., who never did anything though they may have wished harm and been devout. So, no harm if not acted on; well that's for today, and outside of the Guantanamo context, but if Orson Welles had lived he'd have written more and scarier books than '1984'. It's already getting pretty scary out there, all in the name of security, but then security is very, very important, and I can't sell it short, and am no civil libertarian ideologue when the going gets tough -- I'd have to be a pragmatist and examine the situation and hope that Trump is not president --- and someone as preternaturally cool as Obama is in charge. Compare Obama and Trump, the target and the racist who challenged the birth in some sort of claim that Obama was 'set up' as an African Muslim to run our country - something that 75% of hard core Republicans believe, thanks mostly to the press of Trump in years past. I don't write about Eastern European politics; I'm an American, and seldom write about US politics, and I think this is it for the year. (unless Trump were to win). Best wishes to you (hope I didn't offend a candidate you're pinning your hopes on.) john John (Crosley)

Thanks for the compliment and analysis. If you analyse this photo, actually, it has a great deal of balance, with the 'dark' and the 'light' I think. Any 'halo' comes from Adobe contrast adjustment artifacts and/or sharpening, so small I hadn't even noticed it and even at first look I couldn't find but now I can zero in on it, but find it hardly detracts if at all. -1 if this were a diving competition, but this is a gestaltist presentation and the right of the man's head is the last place an eye should be looking. I did not 'select' this man or his head, as I recall, or cut and paste or any of that, as that's beyond my skill set and why not just take another photo rather than go to such troubles unless one is on assignment and has an 'emergency' with the client liking a photo 'IF . . . . ' certain adjustments are made or certain 'flaws' disappear. I'm not in that category of photographers, though. I always appreciate your eagle eye and good taste. john John (Crosley)

That sounds very antisocial, like the man in New York City, fed up with selfie sticks who's targeted those using selfie sticks to take individual and group photos who attacks the selfie stick with a branch cutter (lopper), cuts the selfie stick in two, and lets the selfie stick and the camera phone/and/or camera fall to the ground, while his cohort makes (in my opinion) obscene videos that they post -- ruining the fun of people who don't 'get the point. I'd never do that. And besides, maybe this guy is a purchaser trying to keep everything straight in his mind so he can remember which exhibit to return to so he can consummate a purchase, or he's a gallery rep from far away who also wants to rep the artist and not compete with a local gallery. There'd be no point in making a fuss, and worse making a tragic mistake that hurts the photographer and/or the gallery. My critique was purely speculative and meant to 'make a point', but there are more innocent points that are not at all culpable and also quite possible, and it would be horrible to screw up. Besides, I NEVER assault anybody for anything short of stopping a crime in progress (which I've done and been shot for my reward). Almost lost my leg and had to drop out of university and lost five years before I could return and finish my degree. That's the price of what newspapers called being a 'good Samaritan'. It all worked out in the end; I had a pretty good life, just different than if I hadn't been shot. I went into an 'alternate universe' of possibilities, and recognize that every once in a while a situation develops that is life altering -- no use complaining, because that's just how it is. I never even wonder 'what if'. I once had a woman friend who got stuck suddenly wondering 'what if' she had done things differently with her life, and she literally went crazy, and became disabled for life after living a relatively happy and carefree existence. That's a road best not explored. Thanks Jim. Perhaps you were being facetious? I'll bet you were. john John (Crosley)

Thanks first of all for getting my point. Second, for letting me know your feelings, and going to effort to do so; that's an investment you didn't have to go to. I appreciate it. For me, choosing a photo for critique is often a difficult process, as I often have thousands of photos from which to choose. Often in the scanning of my files, I'll suddenly see relevance or worth in a photo I took 8 or 12 years ago or maybe yesterday, post it, and then it may soar in ratings and critiques, or maybe not, but I'll be proud nevertheless, because the photo 'means something' to the most important critic of all -- me. I troll the 'critique' requests and look at all the pretty pictures and wonder if I devoted my photography just to taking 'pretty pictures' if I'd be famous for that, but I prefer a photo to 'say something', like this one does aided by the critique request, and believe it or not, the point of it all only occurred to me at the last minute, and the moment it did,I posted it instead of far prettier and even more intricate and/or complex photos. However, this photo also has some interesting geometry (composition) that may be overlooked by those who rush by looking for 'pretty photos' or disdaining a photo with 'meaning'. It's also a 'rare bird' - a picture within a picture, which is a distinct classification of photos that's fairly rare. I shoot for myself, and often, like you, there are a select number of wonderful critics who happen along to validate my choices, and Holger, your response is wonderful icing on the cake. Again, thank you and best wishes. john John (Crosley)

Why learn to take a good photograph when you can just copy the good work you find in galleries, exhibitions, or museums with your little point and shoot, or perhaps put another way, why even bother to go on expensive vacations like Yellowstone National Park, depicted, when in fact you can just appropriate someone else's very good photo? A web service has audited the web and reported to me that they have identified well over 10,000 of my own photos that have been 'appropriated' and web published without permission and without notice or remuneration dispute my prominent copyright notification and warning not to reproducer or otherwise use. 'It's the land of the 'free if you can get away with it', and soon time to pay the piper, for that unlawful misuse think. If you rate harshly, very critically, or wish to make a remark, please submit a helpful and constructive comment; please share your photographic knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy! john

It is rare that I sell a photo, so the idea that I'm a 'pro' involves some interpretation. I'd say step off the 'farm' and get out there and take photos 'in town', at the granary, of friends, at the sports field, at stores (but not trying to do so inside shopping centers as 'security' rules in those centers forbids it and the losers hired as security guards often have the least tact and are often overaggressive so just don't bother until you get it together), at restaurants while you dine, especially coffee shops and fast food restaurants, and of construction crews and people working 'on the job' where you can' and learn to deal with people. You'll hear all sorts of objections why you shouldn't be taking someone's photos, but start with a long zoom telephoto such as Nikon's 55-300 zoom and you can take a portrait that shows face fuzz from about a convention floor away -- on a crop sensor camera it has an effective range of a 450 mm lens on a full frame or film camera. Once you've used that to get in close for the strangers, use your wiles and friendships to get in close -- say at little league games. People will say "I'm not photogenic' and you say, 'that's what you think' but I don't want models from an agency, 'I want real people, like yourself doing real things not something someone cooked up on Madison Avenue or in some big city. Tell them you are shooting now a little more 'fresh' to the art but you have big ambitions and you need their help by putting up with you, then shoot fast, make your adjustments fast and GET OUT OF THE WAY, or work with friends who will give you the time to make your adjustments. In other words, don't be a bother. With police, fire, etc., learn to get out of the way, but you have a right to photograph so long as 'lines' are not thrown up -- it's maybe a citizen's duty to do so, even if they don't like it (e.g., Ferguson, MO), no matter what the circumstance. I cut my teeth on a ferry boat (first roll) and within weeks was covering demonstrations (friendly) and within a couple of months, riots and the student takeover of my university. Just be sure to separate yourself from those who would be seen to be troublemakers which doesn't mean 'stay away' but just don't go backslapping them, as inevitably police are watching beforehand. Act professionally, and you'll end up quite safe, not only from others who make trouble but from the authoritiies. Explain that you're a JOURNALIST and publish on a site called Photo.net where the world sees your photos -- even if you're just starting. Act as if you know what you're doing, and pretty soon you will, and you'll ensure that others treat you with respect, and of course act respectfully towards all people and classes at all times, usually addressing people by MR. and Mrs. or MS. unless they say 'use my first name. It engenders respect. Read the 120 pages of comments (the part by me) in reply to my commenters under my portfolio -- there's a book-length tutorial on how to take candid photos of people and 'street' photos (and almost always with NO danger). Then read the 19,000 (minus 100) comments under my photos for the same sort of info - distill it out and it's another book. You can learn more than that for free than reading any book you can buy from Amazon or Barnes and Noble or I think that has been published on how to approach people and how to behave to NOT get into trouble or have danger. And stop worrying. Go out and take wonderful photos. I sometimes meet someone and within one or two minutes have my 12 millimeter lens within 5 inches of their nose firing away with their total agreement and approval, and theiy feel 'lucky' to be singled out by someone so professional with such professional gear (any gear is professional to the cameraphone crowd -- new or oold it it's weighty enough. Act like a pro and you'll get respect like one, and you'll never (well not guaranteed, but no more than any citizen and maybe lesss) have any danger). After all, you're constantly scanning as you look for photos to take and you can spot troublemakers, and with experience, you'll learn to spot them from a distance and just walk the other way or disregaard them as necessary. There's a wonderful world of people photography, and it challenges the skills as people move around and your job is to catch them 'on the fly' in interesting situations and juxtapositions applying best geometry and/or composition. It gets easier as you go. You might have a look at my huge Presentation: Photographers: Watch Your Background' if you have not already. Best wishes. Be safe out there. And get wonderful people photos. It can bring unequaled pleasure. john John (Crosley)

Thanks for the compliment. This has some age on it, and I passed it over some time ago for a technical issue, but just corrected that with new software. As to the guy, he was just a little 'interested, and maybe the least bit startled' but not at all unhappy. Most people, in fact the vast majority are NOT unhappy, but if they are, I bring them into confidence, and treat them as friends and confidants if I can get to them, share with them when able, and try to win them over, at which I'm pretty good. There's some skills on 'street' which don't show in the photos -- the ability to get close to and among among people of all sorts without getting harmed or being castigated (but watch out behind you for the unexpected crazy person who takes offense that you're taking someone else's photo as an unwanted and unwelcome enforcer'. Your eyes are always on the subject so the latter is always the most dangerous. You can spot anyone who's potentially dangerous as you're watching carefully, being a trained observer, looking for 'the photo', but behind you, that's your vulnerability. Best to both of you. john John (Crosley)

Thanks. Best wishes to the land of the rising sun. I live for seeing things like this and capturing them AND with good compositional features. (I'll leave it to others to comment.) And if you look at the guy, you know why I don't always believe in being clandestine. john John (Crosley)

The caption (title) just about says all for this photo taken on the Paris Metro. Your ratings, critiques and observations are invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly, very critically, or wish to make a remark, please submit a helpful and constructive comment; please share your photographic knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy! john (Crosley)