Patience

rainbow

The_Fat_Zebra

Maybe a less tight crop, because I couldn't really tell they are waiting or what they are waiting for?

Richard

The first time I looked at this I didn't notice the dog . I must need more coffee. Once I noticed, it made me smile.

bdcolen

rainbow wrote:

I like the dog emerging from the chest. But I don't get the caption - or what we're looking at here.

rainbow

The_Fat_Zebra wrote:

Maybe a less tight crop, because I couldn't really tell they are waiting or what they are waiting for?

I did crop to square as the rest detracted from the final product. Shot with a 10mm on a 1.6 crop. I was standing there waiting with them...

rainbow

Richard wrote:

The first time I looked at this I didn't notice the dog . I must need more coffee. Once I noticed, it made me smile.

Getting your smile made it worthwhile. Thanks!

rainbow

bdcolen wrote:

I like the dog emerging from the chest. But I don't get the caption - or what we're looking at here.

Subjects are all waiting for the same thing -- probably the single thing that generates the most impatience in America. There is a hint in the upper right quadrant of the photo -- the signal light, though blurred, is clearly yellow... So I was standing there with them waiting for the green light to cross.

Thanks for looking and commenting.

bfjr

I like the shot, made me smile
and perhaps a caption more fitting might be:

"Will this Bus ever Move?"

rainbow

bfjr wrote:

I like the shot, made me smile
and perhaps a caption more fitting might be:

"Will this Bus ever Move?"

Glad you liked it. Thanks.

bdcolen

bfjr wrote:

I like the shot, made me smile
and perhaps a caption more fitting might be:

"Will this Bus ever Move?"

What bus?

bdcolen

rainbow wrote:

Subjects are all waiting for the same thing -- probably the single thing that generates the most impatience in America. There is a hint in the upper right quadrant of the photo -- the signal light, though blurred, is clearly yellow... So I was standing there with them waiting for the green light to cross.

Thanks for looking and commenting.

Back in senior year in high school our English class was divided into a couple different segments, one of which was poetry. I'll never forget something the teacher said after listening to endless adolescent blabber about "hidden meaning:"

"If a poem's meaning is hidden, the poet has failed."

If I have to look for a "hint" of something blurred in the upper right quadrant of the photo to figure out why the title is "waiting," and what sense that means, something is missing.

One of the things we all have to learn as photographers - and I have as much to learn about this as the next person - is that sometimes our best loved images simply don't work, at least not the way we think they do. And no amount of 'but if you look in the upper right corner,' or 'when I took this photo,' or 'what he said to me before I released the shutter' will change that. :ivar

rutt

bdcolen wrote:

One of the things we all have to learn as photographers - and I have as much to learn about this as the next person - is that sometimes our best loved images simply don't work, at least not the way we think they do. And no amount of 'but if you look in the upper right corner,' or 'when I took this photo,' or 'what he said to me before I released the shutter' will change that. :ivar

Wise words.

rainbow

bdcolen wrote:

Back in senior year in high school our English class was divided into a couple different segments, one of which was poetry. I'll never forget something the teacher said after listening to endless adolescent blabber about "hidden meaning:"

"If a poem's meaning is hidden, the poet has failed."

If I have to look for a "hint" of something blurred in the upper right quadrant of the photo to figure out why the title is "waiting," and what sense that means, something is missing.

One of the things we all have to learn as photographers - and I have as much to learn about this as the next person - is that sometimes our best loved images simply don't work, at least not the way we think they do. And no amount of 'but if you look in the upper right corner,' or 'when I took this photo,' or 'what he said to me before I released the shutter' will change that. :ivar

I wish I knew this in high school and college -- I could have argued with the instructors that the problem was not me as a student but that those revered poets hid their meaning way too well for me to understand... and so they failed, not me...

Now this is not an earthshaking shot, but I like it enough with the sense that all the subjects, including the dog are "waiting" (BTW, the title is "Patience"). It was not my intent that you knew what they were waiting for. My explanation was in response to your post (I assumed it was not a rhetorical question). They could have been waiting of a bus just as well... So I titled it because they were simply waiting and looked like they were patiently waiting. I know we have had discussions on titling and captions and I lean toward something suggestive, but also slightly cryptic.

Now my question is, where does your quote from Leonard Free (""The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is...") fit in to shots such as these. While I think the photo stands by itself without the yellow light, can it not add to it for someone to look for more clues such as that light and the blurry peds almost across the street in the other direction? I look as that part as a fortuitous addition to the context of the shot, even though it is a minor part.

rainbow

rutt wrote:

Wise words.

I agree that these are wise words and certainly have applied to other of my shots that B. D. and others have commented on. But I disagree that in this specific shot it applies because I did not need someone to notice the "clue" to judge this shot (whether positive or not).

Further explanation in preceding response to B. D.

And BTW, I do weigh heavily any and all comments by certain posters including B. D. and you. Even while appearing to disagree or reject the comments, they are absorbed and part of my learning process (eg -- the # of my b & w posts have increased dramatically). Thanks!

Richard

I assumed from the beginning that they were waiting to cross the street. So I don't see any hidden meaning in the title.

bdcolen

rainbow wrote:

I wish I knew this in high school and college -- I could have argued with the instructors that the problem was not me as a student but that those revered poets hid their meaning way too well for me to understand... and so they failed, not me...

Now this is not an earthshaking shot, but I like it enough with the sense that all the subjects, including the dog are "waiting" (BTW, the title is "Patience"). It was not my intent that you knew what they were waiting for. My explanation was in response to your post (I assumed it was not a rhetorical question). They could have been waiting of a bus just as well... So I titled it because they were simply waiting and looked like they were patiently waiting. I know we have had discussions on titling and captions and I lean toward something suggestive, but also slightly cryptic.

Now my question is, where does your quote from Leonard Free (""The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is...") fit in to shots such as these. While I think the photo stands by itself without the yellow light, can it not add to it for someone to look for more clues such as that light and the blurry peds almost across the street in the other direction? I look as that part as a fortuitous addition to the context of the shot, even though it is a minor part.

Ambiguity is terrific. Ambiguity is, in fact, the key to the success of much successful street photography. But to me, ambiguity translates to "WTF?!?!," not to "huh?" It makes you want to know what's really happening. 'Why is he looking at her like that?' 'What is with that guy who looks like a pirate popping out of the manhole cover, and is that woman walking down the street toward him in danger?!' 'Wait?! Is there really a chimp in that car?! Is this real?!'

When I look at this image, I see a group of people. That's it. I don't see people waiting. I don't see people who are patient. I just see a group of people, and there's nothing in the photo that makes me, as a viewer, want to think about them. I look at the image and, to be brutally honest, my reaction is, 'Nicely composed; nicely exposed; nicely converted to black and white. I sure wish there was something worth all this niceness.'

And back to the poetry for a second - and this obviously applies to photos as well. Certainly understanding some poetry requires work, and there can be multiple levels of meaning - in a poem, or in a photo.

bfjr

bdcolen wrote:

What bus?

'what you don't see the bus ??

Geeezz

rainbow

bdcolen wrote:

When I look at this image, I see a group of people. That's it. I don't see people waiting. I don't see people who are patient. I just see a group of people, and there's nothing in the photo that makes me, as a viewer, want to think about them. I look at the image and, to be brutally honest, my reaction is, 'Nicely composed; nicely exposed; nicely converted to black and white. I sure wish there was something worth all this niceness.'

And the dog! ("I like the dog emerging from the chest.") That is why I shot it and posted it.

It is maybe a "huh" instead of a "WTF?!?!". I turned left and said "Whoa, whoa" and snapped the shot. And liked it. And wondered if I should post it.... And thought, WTF, why not...

rainbow

bfjr wrote:

'what you don't see the bus ??

Geeezz

... the dog AND the bus..