THIS is a street photo and so is THIS and THIS

RSL

Sorry, BD, I tried to resist but couldn't do it.

bfjr

Last one for me but all nice.

Hey wait I was going to use that "Title" !!

and Yes they are

Islandcrow

Yeah, that last one absolutely perfect. I love that we only see half the adult, and the symmetry of the photo couldn't have been better if you posed them yourself. #1 I like quite a bit as well. Those two especially are great examples of "telling a story". Thanks for these. I find them inspiring.

Richard

The last one is great.

D3Sshooter

Nice, would be better if the eyes were open.
for also 3

torags

Nice stuff Russ, well shot

these people don't understand how difficult it is to capture blinks....

bdcolen

They all are, in a technical sense - but # 3 is definitely in a different league from the other two. Very nice.

rainbow

Adding my kudos to #3 with questions for you.

My impression is you rarely crop and certainly give thought to your shots before you snap the shutter. In this case, when you see the possibility here, how do you see and figure out the shot? Most impressive to me is the cutoff of the adult with his hands on his hips. And yet, the moment can be easily lost if you wait too long.

Would be curious to hear your approach to shots such as these.

RSL

Thanks, all. Thanks especially to BD who summed it up very well. Since BD didn't explain why he evaluated these three photographs the way he did, a very accurate, if abbreviated, evaluation by the way, I'll do the details and I'll bet BD will agree:

#1 caught interesting expressions on a pair of kids (I get to call them kids) flirting in a shoe store. There's a story there, though it's a pretty superficial, even mundane story. As BD pointed out, technically it's a street shot, but there's far too much clutter. It's not a failure, but it needs to be simpler to be stronger.

#2 caught interesting expressions on a pair of older folks who almost look as if they're flirting. The composition is simple enough and there's not much clutter, though the bright window above the man's head tends to distract, though that technical problem could be fixed pretty well in post processing. The problem with this picture is an absence of place. There aren't enough surrounding clues to tell the observer what kind of situation this is. Unfortunately, when I framed the picture the surroundings were cluttered and contradictory enough that I cut them out with tight framing.

#3 is good because it catches a situation every parent in the world would recognize instantly, and react in a predictable way. Those kids are pooped and grumpy. The man's guarding his wife's purchases and waiting for her to return. The kids probably are saying "When's mom coming back? -- whine, whine." The whole thing is simple, and the graphics are strong.

By the way, #3's in my portfolio. #1 and #2 aren't, though, if I remember correctly, they're posted on my personal web.

Rainbow, to answer your questions: You're right. I rarely crop, though I'm not a fanatic the way HCB was. In other words I don't insist my pictures be printed with the transparent edges of the film showing as black lines. In general I adhere to HCB's aphorism: "Photographing is nothing. Looking is everything." So I'm not out there to test my equipment, and I'm always looking. When I saw these guys I had two options: I could have shot a vertical with the two kids and the full length of the dad, or I could have shot what I shot -- just the kids, with the few clues that explain the situation. I elected to keep it simple. But this kind of thing isn't a thought process. You see it and you react. This was on St. George street in St. Augustine, where everybody's carrying a camera, so I could get away with using a D3 with a 50mm prime. I love that combination, but sometimes it's too intimidating to people around me.