Thursday, April 20, 2006
Hair Gel?
Hello everyone. Flattered to have been invited to join this select band of individuals and looking forward to the experience.
First up, a little photography background. I've been shooting seriously since 1998. My initial foray was in the world of bird photography. I will eventually get round to scanning some of the slides I have from that period for viewing. A move to Singapore in 2002 lead me to the digital path and the big learning curve of the digital darkroom. Since returning to Japan in 2004 I have changed tack and shoot 'street'. Shooting with a Bessa, 40mm lens and Ilford XP2 Super I've been out most weekends over the winter and spring trying to capture the Tokyo scene. Avoiding the predictable standard western eye shots and trying to delve a little deeper. I've had one small exhibition of my work (the Nishihara Blue Sign Project which you can find on my website). Currently trying to get a couple of portfolios put together of my past 6 month's work with a view for further public shows or publication in magazines/books.
The above was taken at the back of Takashimaya department store in Shinjuku.
Permalink / posted by and copyright of akikana : 10:50 PM
Comments:
What a superb bit of observation.
There I was looking at the interplay between the two girls, their position in the image between the street furniture, admiring the simplicity, studying the lines in the image keeping me looking at the human subject and then I read the title.
Hair Gel?
Hair Gel??
Oh Hair Gel!
That's clever, that's made me think, see more, look less.
Welcome.
This photo raised a smile, and then as Rex says, you read the title.......and it raises an even bigger one.
An inspirational photo. Look; see; think.
Apart from the title, which adds to the humour of the picture, I think the timing of the picture, catching the two between the seats, is excellent. There is a nice balance in the background, with the plant, giving a great composition. The figures have been well caught together. A picture with many stories to interpret.
welcome.
seeing further ;)
great shot. not only because of the hair gel. the whole compo works very well. u pushed the release button just in the right moment. great urban scene.
Well, I'm going to put my hand up and admit that I don't get the hair gel reference. I've looked all over, tried to make letters from the items in the shot, everything and drawn a blank. Someone please put me out of my misery.
Having said all that I enjoy the composition. Great timing producing a beautifully balanced image. There are lots of lines in shot too which add interest, the floor, the walls....Erm, is the hair gel title a reference to the rubbed out graffiti?
The image does leave me wondering if there is another of those plant pot things somewhere on the right. If there was then including that would have been the perfect closing parenthesis.
johnjo
The stains above the seats are from people's hair preparations - including gel. That's solved your concern.
Mine is going to have to wait until the weekend. Not sure if there was another flower decoration to the right of the seats. Your comment is spot one. There's nothing on the right to counter-balance. Thanks for the pointer and I'll check the location and revert!
I think what you are visualising as rubbed out graffiti we are seeing as dirty marks created by greasy hair. The dark patches align to the seating positions.
When I got back late last night, I looked at e-mails before looking at 'Stills' and, being fairly tired, my brain had difficulty reconciling the comments with the image! Mainly because I was so struck by the clean lines of the picture that I didn't want to explore what 'hair gel' may have meant. As someone who has never been to Japan, I feel that this is very descriptive of Japanese culture: traditional furniture, clean lines and western dress. The hair gel really does lift it from being a good photo to a higher plane! The hair gel is also the one discordant note: on the one hand it is reasonable to suppose that with all those hair-dos marks would be left and yet one also supposes that the marks would have been cleaned up. Fascinating.
Sorry John-Jo but I disagree about the flower pots: I think that one to the right would have killed the picture. Having only one gives impetus to the two girls walking along. It is a necessary asymmetry.
I'm glad that you have joined the group - a welcome from me too. By the way, I went to your site this morning (BST) and there is no access to the galleries (unless I'm doing something wrong).
Symmetry? That would make it a different photo. The way it is my mind adds something to the right. Putting a real object there in the frame would spoil the tension.
I was thinking about these comments on the plant and symmetry last night in bed. Yes, I really am that sad ;) Something was bugging me a little about the differing opinions and why I had thought that the plant was a good idea. Here are my thoughts. Please take them for what they are, a critique on my thinking, not a suggestion that the plant is in reality a good idea.
The existing symmetry in the image is already very strong. Indeed I am going to suggest that symmetry is the image's strongest component. The two people dead centre of the two seats. The two lines in the wall disecting the seats in virtually the same place. Parallel lines, same sized squares, even the hair gell on the wall is a repeat. There is harmony and balance everywhere. Except that plant. Perhaps that is the tension and that is the necessary asymetry. It's certainly why my mind wanted the plant.
I have changed my 'view' of this image because of the comments and the title. I do see it differently now.
My first comment does describe how I perceived the image on first look.
The comments about symmetry/asymmetry for me are a part of the image that helps in its composition but are not the main feature or the purpose. (I'd have wanted the wall to be squared up to the image sides if pattern/symmetry were the main purpose of the image)
So now my view is the hair gel is not a witty observation, it tells us a lot about this bench and these people. This is normally a busy place, lots of folk sit at this bench, it is an unusual time/day that these two are walking through. Are the hair gel ghosts watching them?
I've run out of time and must think more..............
This is serious stuff …….
just a few additional words on the (a)symmetry of the not pictured flower pot on the right. for me it would have been to static if there was one. its just the asymmetrically compo that makes it interesting (despite of the hair gel ;).
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There I was looking at the interplay between the two girls, their position in the image between the street furniture, admiring the simplicity, studying the lines in the image keeping me looking at the human subject and then I read the title.
Hair Gel?
Hair Gel??
Oh Hair Gel!
That's clever, that's made me think, see more, look less.
This photo raised a smile, and then as Rex says, you read the title.......and it raises an even bigger one.
An inspirational photo. Look; see; think.
seeing further ;)
great shot. not only because of the hair gel. the whole compo works very well. u pushed the release button just in the right moment. great urban scene.
Having said all that I enjoy the composition. Great timing producing a beautifully balanced image. There are lots of lines in shot too which add interest, the floor, the walls....Erm, is the hair gel title a reference to the rubbed out graffiti?
The image does leave me wondering if there is another of those plant pot things somewhere on the right. If there was then including that would have been the perfect closing parenthesis.
The stains above the seats are from people's hair preparations - including gel. That's solved your concern.
Mine is going to have to wait until the weekend. Not sure if there was another flower decoration to the right of the seats. Your comment is spot one. There's nothing on the right to counter-balance. Thanks for the pointer and I'll check the location and revert!
Sorry John-Jo but I disagree about the flower pots: I think that one to the right would have killed the picture. Having only one gives impetus to the two girls walking along. It is a necessary asymmetry.
I'm glad that you have joined the group - a welcome from me too. By the way, I went to your site this morning (BST) and there is no access to the galleries (unless I'm doing something wrong).
The existing symmetry in the image is already very strong. Indeed I am going to suggest that symmetry is the image's strongest component. The two people dead centre of the two seats. The two lines in the wall disecting the seats in virtually the same place. Parallel lines, same sized squares, even the hair gell on the wall is a repeat. There is harmony and balance everywhere. Except that plant. Perhaps that is the tension and that is the necessary asymetry. It's certainly why my mind wanted the plant.
My first comment does describe how I perceived the image on first look.
The comments about symmetry/asymmetry for me are a part of the image that helps in its composition but are not the main feature or the purpose. (I'd have wanted the wall to be squared up to the image sides if pattern/symmetry were the main purpose of the image)
So now my view is the hair gel is not a witty observation, it tells us a lot about this bench and these people. This is normally a busy place, lots of folk sit at this bench, it is an unusual time/day that these two are walking through. Are the hair gel ghosts watching them?
I've run out of time and must think more..............
This is serious stuff …….