Five Urban Scenes

Richard · February 21, 2009

The winter has been awful here, but we finally got a break so I wandered around a bit and caught these:

1

2

3

4

5

Thanks for looking. C&C always welcome.

torags · February 21, 2009

Very nice. I gotta do some of those.

Rags

Arvan · February 21, 2009

Hm don´t really see these as " street " more like quick snaps. I like nr 4! The only one that i think has street feeling.

maby your perpouse was something else? if so, sorry i got it all wrong

Richard · February 22, 2009

Thanks for commenting, Rags and Arvan.

Arvan: I guess I don't understand what you mean by "street." I just walk the streets and try to grab whatever grabs me.

pathfinder · February 22, 2009

Richard, I see the H-CB inspiration in the first image.

Reflections have always been a staple of street shooters. Jay Maisel says to always shoot things on the other side of glass - whether from inside a telephone booth or within a vehicle.

The interaction of passersby with storefronts is classic street stuff. Always has been, Andy does this a lot.

Interesting group of shots, Richard!

NeilL · February 22, 2009

Richard, good to see something from you! I was thinking that you were really plaster-cast for history!

But no... happily!

I like #4, but there's a strange thing about it... only the steps in the doorway are horizontal, everything else, including the window frame and the white line on the wall, lists to starboard.

Now... which photographer superstar are you emulating there?

wink:D

BTW The yellow duds are dapper, no?

KED · February 22, 2009

NeilL wrote:

I like #4, but there's a strange thing about it... only the steps in the doorway are horizontal, everything else, including the window frame and the white line on the wall, lists to starboard.

No mystery to that. The street slopes downward. Notwithstanding which, humans expect their stairs to be perfectly horizontal, and who can blame them? In commercial real estate, we would call the ground level "half basement".

NeilL · February 23, 2009

KED wrote:

humans expect their stairs to be perfectly horizontal

Quite so!

But why paint the white line parallel to the slope of the ground and not horizontal?

And why was the window sill not made horizontal?

Oh well. Reminds me that the rain in Spain falls mainly...

Richard · February 23, 2009

pathfinder wrote:

Richard, I see the H-CB inspiration in the first image.

Reflections have always been a staple of street shooters. Jay Maisel says to always shoot things on the other side of glass - whether from inside a telephone booth or within a vehicle.

The interaction of passersby with storefronts is classic street stuff. Always has been, Andy does this a lot.

Interesting group of shots, Richard!

Thanks, Jim. Cartier-Bresson is one of my favorite photographers.

As for reflections, I find them rather difficult but fascinating. I am trying to train my eye to see them as the camera does, but my brain keeps trying to filter out what's on one side of the glass or the other. Maybe I'll find it easier after a few more brain cells have died.

Richard · February 23, 2009

NeilL wrote:

I like #4, but there's a strange thing about it... only the steps in the doorway are horizontal, everything else, including the window frame and the white line on the wall, lists to starboard.

Good catch, Neil. I hadn't noticed. I went back this morning and looked at the façade again. As KED says, the street is slightly inclined and the steps are level. The white trim is wildly inconsistent, sometimes parallel to the street, sometimes not. The window frame does not look truly aligned either. It is one of many low-cost, ugly buildings constructed after the Spanish Civil War in the neo-fascist style. The paint job is its only saving grace.

NeilL · February 23, 2009

Richard wrote:

It is one of many low-cost, ugly buildings constructed after the Spanish Civil War in the neo-fascist style.

Well, maybe we should call it deconstructionist

(if I knew what that meant

!).

And I applaud the happy ending accomplished by the white trim. Almost Wagnerian, don't you think? At least as metaphysical?

Richard · February 23, 2009

NeilL wrote:

Almost Wagnerian, don't you think? At least as metaphysical?

Hmm...closer to La Bohème than Siegfried, I think.

dlplumer · February 23, 2009

Great set Richard. I particularly like that first one

Tango · February 23, 2009

really enjoy your images here Richard, very interesting to me...

Richard · February 23, 2009

Many thanks, Dan and Aaron.

NeilL · February 23, 2009

Richard wrote:

Hmm...closer to La Bohème than Siegfried, I think.

Well, Carmen would be more geographically relevant . Are you inclined to agree?

KED · February 23, 2009

Richard wrote:

Good catch, Neil. I hadn't noticed. I went back this morning and looked at the façade again. As KED says, the street is slightly inclined and the steps are level. The white trim is wildly inconsistent, sometimes parallel to the street, sometimes not. The window frame does not look truly aligned either. It is one of many low-cost, ugly buildings constructed after the Spanish Civil War in the neo-fascist style. The paint job is its only saving grace.

Not to beat this to death, but the window itself IS horizontal (more or less -- you get what you pay for). The painter was either drinking on the job, or a diabolically clever illusionist.

Richard · February 24, 2009

NeilL wrote:

Well, Carmen would be more geographically relevant . Are you inclined to agree?

Yes, I lean in that direction.

KED wrote:

The painter was either drinking on the job, or a diabolically clever illusionist.

I'd bet on the former.

schmoo · February 25, 2009

Richard wrote:

Thanks, Jim. Cartier-Bresson is one of my favorite photographers.

As for reflections, I find them rather difficult but fascinating. I am trying to train my eye to see them as the camera does, but my brain keeps trying to filter out what's on one side of the glass or the other. Maybe I'll find it easier after a few more brain cells have died.

and

I love reflections in urban environments, and I can never get enough of street scenes. Great stuff Richard and glad that you got to get out and out to shoot a bit! You should find the chance to do that more

Richard · February 26, 2009

schmoo wrote:

and

I love reflections in urban environments, and I can never get enough of street scenes. Great stuff Richard and glad that you got to get out and out to shoot a bit! You should find the chance to do that more

Thanks, Steph.

Five Urban Scenes

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