Sunday, September 10, 2006
a Meyerowitz moment
I rather enjoyed watching the video linked to on Auspicious' site for 8th September: Joel Meyerowitz telling us how to do street photography. One of his 'targets' was a dog-walker. I had only seen that before in Buenos Aires (before the peso collapse) but here it was in Neal Street, London (2005). Believe it or not but I was pretty well unseen! In hindsight a lower view point would have been more fun but then I always like to get context, which is perhaps why I'll never go for 'full-frontal' street photography - I always want to get in as much about the background and surroundings as possible.
Permalink / posted by and copyright of John Ellis : 7:27 AM
Comments:
That is certainly a lot of dog.
You've forestalled my first thoughts by what you've said in the commentary. This isn't a 'moment'; it isn't a dramatic composition; and it isn't from a dog's eye view.
I guess this photo is mostly about you, the photographer. An experiment in being invisible. My guess is that if you had hung on and got lover the dogs would have seen you before the humans did.
That is not as much dog as one sees in the Americas. In Buenos Aires, I have seen up to 20 being handled by one person; albeit they looked slimmer and I think that they were greyhounds.
Auspicious - I'm sure you're right about the dogs becoming aware first. I think I'll quibble over 'moment': this is a 1/125 moment! I think I'm after a 'state' - a state of activity, which is not dependent on a moment. In other words, recording. It is a comment on London's West End - a boutique street - at that time.
Matt - NY's Times Square it is not.
I just love the look on the faces of the watching people. The woman over the dog walker's left shoulder seems amazed and the smile on the woman holding the brown paper bag is great. I think you've caught an out of the ordinary scene here John, and the attention the main subjects are getting seems to support this.
BTW, the dog walker should be ashamed of himself. His top clashes terribly with the dogs.
I enjoyed looking at Joel's site and I find it difficult to use my camera in situations like this.
The dogs are big but the perspective seems to push them forward.
I assume the black plastic bag is full of the stuff that dog owners seem to enjoy collecting.
Some of those pedestrians are looking in strange places.
I'm wondering what the dogwalker is actually looking at because his gaze leads me infront (and to their left) of them. There's nothing on the pavement to confirm this (perhaps something from the 'bag' may have added a certain social commentary to the shot).
The dogs' dark faces need to be brought out of the shadows a tad. It also seems quite compressed so I assume this was taken at a longer focal length. It This compression leaves the dogs with no room to walk in to at the bottom.
I'm working on an ongoing series of One Man and His Dog(s). I'll put a few up on my site over the coming weeks and post one for your critique later on today when I get home from work.
Rex - I returned to the original to check the focal length for Guy and have ascertained that the black object is a handbag and, unless Gucci is into recycling dog poo, not related to the aforementioned activity!
Guy - I took two shots: one on the port quarter at max wide angle (28mm) and this one at max tele (108mm). I can see what you mean about the space to walk into but I think this is a reasonably valid option although not the best. I would probably lighten the dogs' faces for a print but maybe my monitor is brighter, leading me to think that it is OK for others.
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You've forestalled my first thoughts by what you've said in the commentary. This isn't a 'moment'; it isn't a dramatic composition; and it isn't from a dog's eye view.
I guess this photo is mostly about you, the photographer. An experiment in being invisible. My guess is that if you had hung on and got lover the dogs would have seen you before the humans did.
Auspicious - I'm sure you're right about the dogs becoming aware first. I think I'll quibble over 'moment': this is a 1/125 moment! I think I'm after a 'state' - a state of activity, which is not dependent on a moment. In other words, recording. It is a comment on London's West End - a boutique street - at that time.
Matt - NY's Times Square it is not.
BTW, the dog walker should be ashamed of himself. His top clashes terribly with the dogs.
The dogs are big but the perspective seems to push them forward.
I assume the black plastic bag is full of the stuff that dog owners seem to enjoy collecting.
I'm wondering what the dogwalker is actually looking at because his gaze leads me infront (and to their left) of them. There's nothing on the pavement to confirm this (perhaps something from the 'bag' may have added a certain social commentary to the shot).
The dogs' dark faces need to be brought out of the shadows a tad. It also seems quite compressed so I assume this was taken at a longer focal length. It This compression leaves the dogs with no room to walk in to at the bottom.
I'm working on an ongoing series of One Man and His Dog(s). I'll put a few up on my site over the coming weeks and post one for your critique later on today when I get home from work.
Guy - I took two shots: one on the port quarter at max wide angle (28mm) and this one at max tele (108mm). I can see what you mean about the space to walk into but I think this is a reasonably valid option although not the best. I would probably lighten the dogs' faces for a print but maybe my monitor is brighter, leading me to think that it is OK for others.