This is intended to continue a trend and air some angst. I took this on an idle day in London while scouting for themes. Usually with my people pictures I know whether they've succeeded or not. With this one I'm stumped, but don't know why. There are obvious technical defects like the way the left edge of the alley disappears, and I don't like the way the little fat man's bald head prevents him from turning into a suitably anonymous silhouette, but I'd prefer comments on the composition rather than the execution. Is it worth going back for a re-shoot?

-- Struan Gray (struan.gray@sljus.lu.se), March 10, 2000

Answers

Great! Two things immediately strike me: This is very HCBish: This *is* the decisive moment for situation of catching a man in mid-stride exactly in the center of the slit. Secondly, this reminds me of a slit... a shutter. Moving across the film plane, making an exposure. Probably 1/500th or faster! I like that he is at the bottom of the frame. I like the wonderful details above him, and there is enough detail in the black region to his left that satisfies me. I like that he is not a total silhouette, that you can see some detail in his head. This also reminds me of an exclamation point (!) with the man being the dot.

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@alaska.net), March 10, 2000.

Ah, you finally found a scanner! Great. The baldness is not a problem for me (are you bald?).

It's the smokey detail in the blacks that presents an allegorical component and gives this image real clout. As if a curtain had been pulled aside and we peer from another world. The illusion of this man's ordered and grand life is revealed by the turbulent weather, black mechanics and unknown industry that surrounds him, and in fact is the reality of the financeers world. Self delusion and industrial magic creates a grand life that exists only in a bubble that contains and placates him.

Have you seen The Matrix? I'll like this image anywhere you post it... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), March 10, 2000.

are you bald?

I am.

Have you seen The Matrix?

Existenz was much better, same theme.

Back to the photo...I love this, it works perfectly, it has something to tell us, all of us. Great shot.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeffs@hyperreal.org), March 10, 2000.

beautiful...don't change a thing.. like I told tony r... I would love to see the print with my own eyes...I don't think I could resist doing a series at this location or maybe an entire books worth...

-- Trib (linhof6@hotmail.com), March 10, 2000.

You are definitely over-analyzing the technical minutiae of this shot. (If you are that concerned, then break out Photoshop and do whatever you like.) It's a good photo.

-- John Kantor (jkantor@mindspring.com), March 10, 2000.

Excellent! The image succeeds on several levels: composition, lighting, decisive moment, mood and exposure. HCB would be proud. It's kind of metaphorical, too - Man being squeezed by The City.

-- John McCormack (jpmccormac@aol.com), March 14, 2000.

Thanks for the reponses. I think my dissatisfaction with the picture stems from the fact that it has a more casual feel than the image I thought I was taking when I pushed the shutter. I was aiming for something more impersonal, geometric and formal.

I wanted the feel of someone pootling through their daily round, oblivious to the larger picture, and it's clear from your comments that that has come across. I also wanted a figure squeezed from the sides and towered over simultaneously, and I liked the frame-within-a-frame formed by the iron grill. The shadow detail is deliberate, and there's a lot more where that came from: the image is actually a testament to TMY's ability to soak up over-exposure.

I'm neither bald nor anti-bald, just looking for reasons why the image is not as stark as my original intent. The man is a person and not a symbol, which in the end is probably no bad thing.

I liked The Matrix on all sorts of levels. The heavy borrowings from the Gospel struck me as lazy and unimaginative, and it relied on the uncontentious cliche of opression by outsiders, but it was a visual treat, and the storyline and concept were much more thought provoking than the usual Hollywood tat.

-- Struan Gray (struan.gray@sljus.lu.se), March 15, 2000.

Good picture; with this type of picture I would be tempted to try cropping it in different ways and also making the side walls darker and lighter, just to see which one I liked better. I wouldn't know until i tried it (and it's your picture!). I like it- I'd even like it without the guy. It reminded me also of a slit shutter.

-- stuart phillips (stuart.phillips@umb.edu), March 16, 2000.