Talking About "Good Times Ahead"
It is really easy for me to misunderstand the written word. I speculate that I have a reading disability. It was kind of obvious to me, for example, that it was going to be easier to get a degree in mathematics, than say, history, in order to minimize the college reading requirement. Things have not changed in the 50 years since college, so I guess it is not surprising that I misunderstood a message sent to all members of SNAP, the Society of Nashville’s Artistic Photographers. My understanding was that in the February SNAP meeting we would have to talk about our own photos that had been in the Gordon JCC December gallery exhibit since the judge, who was supposed to talk about them, had to cancel. Let me just say that no one else apparently interpreted the email the way that I did. It did seem like a pretty tall order, as we say colloquially in the US. It sure helped that a CHEAT SHEET for talking about work was included in the email. I got permission to publish it in last week’s blog.
First of all, I had to decide what it meant to “talk about your work” in this context. While talking about work can, in general, include critique, I definitely decided against that. When a judge talks about the individual photos that were chosen for exhibition, he or she certainly does not include critique. It is my understanding that the Cheat Sheet document was developed in the context of giving critique, but I found it works quite adequately outside of a critique environment. If it is being used to talk about someone else’s work certain points are not relevant. For example, a photographer who I admire observed that if we are talking about someone else’s work, it is pretty presumptuous to speculate on their intent. Because I am privy to my own thoughts, the Intent part of the document was relevant.
Now, that CHEAT SHEET is quite robust. By that I mean, when I started to use it, it was somewhat overwhelming. What I decided to do was read through the printed document and check off the points that seemed the easiest to comment on. I have checks, notes and diagrams all through the document. But once I started to write, it went really fast.
I do not expect to have a lot of requirements to talk about my work in public. However, it is an exercise that I want to practice up on. I plan to do some more talking about photos in future blogs, perhaps some of my own and, for sure, some photos from other photographers. I hope I do not have to print out the Cheat Sheet every time to use it, but I probably will in the beginning.
This photo was taken at the Assembly Food Hall on 5th and Broadway. I go there about twice a week when I am in Nashville to take street photography. Usually, I am there to get a cup of coffee for my half time rest stop. Half time comes earlier and earlier these days! I admired this piece of street art and how it paired with the geometry of the escalator. It took a lot of visits to the location before I got this photo. There were a number of hurdles to get over. There is not a lot of light and my camera, the Ricoh GR 3, performs only medium well in a reduced lighting condition. In particular, the camera’s slow auto focus slows down even more when light is restricted. That forced me to use a fixed focus, which entails some guesswork on my part. After a lot of trial and error over weeks of visiting the site, I settled on ISO 3200, 1/320th of second shutter speed and an f/2.8 aperture.
Initially, I had it in my mind that I wanted a photo where the up and down escalators meet symmetrically. I wanted people on both escalators at the same level. Week after week, I tried and failed to get that particular composition. Finally, in frustration, I gave up and moved to a position where just the up escalator was in the scene. That simplified things a lot. I got several images that met my compositional criteria.
I believe it is easy to find my subjects, which I like to refer to as heroes. For one thing, they are at the right 1/3rd line, which is where a human eye naturally lands. I had to do this for a technical reason. This was where I had fixed the focus for the camera. I was shooting from above. Fortunately, the photography gods smiled when the child turned her head upwards. A human face also pulls the viewer’s attention. Finally, the escalator rails serve as a frame for the family, which helps to get the viewer focused there.
The color palette is approximately a jewel tone color palette. The artist who created this street art chose well. I was happy that my three heroes color matched with red and otherwise neutral colors on their clothing.
The younger child is looking at her older sister with what I call side eyes. That gaze causes the viewer’s eye to move from her to her sister. From there the eye can travel up the father’s arm and then back to the top of the head of the young child with the help of a brown color match between his vest and her hair. That creates what I like to call a “triangle of heroes”, albeit a small one.
There is a reasonably good tonal range. There are two spikes on the bright end of the histogram, but important detail is not lost.
There is some noise in the image because I was shooting at ISO 3200. Fortunately, when it was printed as an 18” by 12”, the noise was not noticeable. I have recently purchased Noise Reduction software, which I have not tried out yet. Perhaps the problem of noise is a thing of the past.
There is geometry and repeating patterns throughout the image. It has particularly strong, dynamic diagonal lines. The lower triangle in the right-hand corner fits incredibly well into the scene.
I believe that it can be argued that the composition has Golden Ratios. If you look at the Golden Triangle grid placed on it, you will see that the lower triangle contains the family. The upper triangle contains the significant graphics. The right side triangle contains text. The lines of the elevator steps are almost parallel to its left side.
Finally, for me there is some story. In these pandemic times, I want to believe there are good times ahead. I speculate that message was a significant reason this image was chosen for exhibition. I also believe the two girls in the photo have a real chance for happiness, because they have a father who loves them and enjoys their company.
Now for a little color theory.
Green
Green is an emotionally positive color. Because of our association between it and spring, we see it as the color of growth and new opportunity.
Green is associated with:
Generosity
Hope
Prosperity, luck, health
Nature, freshness
Wisdom
Give the green light.
Green thumb.
Greenback
The flip side:
Judgmental
Materialism
Inexperience
Envy
Green with envy
Green around the gills.
Greenhorn.