Hello everybody! I have been following this forum from the beginning, and found i most interesting. I like the images presented here, and I find it so good, that there is not so much talk about equipment. When I saw Mikes last image I could not resist sending this. (Please help me if I fail).

Season Greetings

-- Lars Hägglund (Lars.Hagglund@ljusdal.se), December 31, 2000

Answers

I knew it The picture is here http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display.tcl?photo_id=129737&size=lg

-- Lars Hägglund (lars.hagglund@ljusdal.se), December 31, 2000.

well, lars, i think it's great that you have joined in; but if i had to attempt to locate an image with that amazing line of symbols and numbers, i believe i would have to pass on the first viewing of a newly discovered print by brassai...

can some of the tekkies be of assistance?

-- wayne harrison (wayno@netmcr.com), December 31, 2000.

This is my first time posting on one of the greenspun.com forums, so there is a good chance I won't get the html correct.

-- Preston Wilson (preston_wilson@mail.com), December 31, 2000.

sorry, i just don't get the value of either this or the earlier image. for me, they are just one and a half mundane pictures.

-- wayne harrison (wayno@netmcr.com), January 01, 2001.

They are hardly mundane. I think they are an interesting look into the lives of strangers who share uncomfortably close proximity to one another everyday on the subway. Take a close look at the expressions before you call it mundane.

-- Altaf Shaikh (al@nyc.rr.com), January 02, 2001.

In the 1st picture the woman gives a great example of what we in Philadelphia call "the hairy eyeball", and the young man looks as if he's getting the full impact.

-- Jeff Polaski (polaski@acm.org), January 02, 2001.

I like this one better than I like mine.

It might be fair to say that they are pictures of mundane things, but that doesn't automatically make them mundane pictures. I agree that there's value in taking a closer look at things we often ignore.

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), January 02, 2001.

I think they´re terrific! So much tension in there. The countless forms of interaction between human beings will never be mundane. It also takes considerable skill/guts to even be able to capture this scene.

(I nearly got kicked out of a movie theatre the other day, and the last department store I took my camera to, now has a "no photos" sign on the front entrance...)

-- Christel Green (digimon@worldonline.dk), January 03, 2001.

mike and christel: obviously i failed to present my complaints regarding this and mike's last post with sufficient clarity. i completely agree that the daily activity of human beings, while "mundane" in a literal sense, can be the source for some of the greatest photography imaginable. please refer to my comments relevant to mike's image "back to the bar" for a response that reflects my feelings when i think praise for a particular image is justified.

my problem with these two images is that the only thing notable about their content is the "half double exposure" event itself. in mike's example, people are portrayed sitting around a table, simply existing. in the present image, no doubt that some interaction between the older lady and the young man center front had occurred or might have occurred; unfortunately, at the instant of exposure, the guy blinked. i find myself distracted by that. for the rest, we observe several people sitting on "the metro" in states of internalized demi-sleep. surely we would quickly tire of images of people looking out of windows, unless some added interest factor (beautiful or bizarre appearance, e.g.) were present.

of course i agree that actually taking *any* picture of people in public without asking their permission can be fraught with unpleasant consequences. try shooting inside a large american supermarket for an example of corporate tyranny; however, if i escape with a straight shot of a head of lettuce, i don't believe that would add to the inherent value of the image.

thanks for the opportunity to explain my position.

-- wayne harrison (wayno@netmcr.com), January 03, 2001.

Thank you all for your comments. It's something specal when you try to expess yourself, and find that others understand your thoughts and feelings. I think photography is especially suitable for this, when it comes to people with different backgrounds and mothertongue. You can never be sure that what you said is what you thought when you have to translate it. I also think that straight and honest critisim is the best way to improve your photgrapy

-- Lars Hägglund (lars.hagglund@ljusdal.se), January 04, 2001.

As a matter of fact, when I took this picture(s) we had known each other for a couple of hours. We came from different places to attend a photoexibition,and althou they did not notice me photgraphing, I don't think they have any objections.

-- Lars Hägglund (lars.hagglund@ljusdal.se), January 04, 2001.