Uptown only?

[Leorooster]

While subway riders can go uptown only......the messager can go anywhere he wants with his bike.........

[Leorooster]

I like this pic because it has two contrasting ideas (automation vs. manpower), but I think it's just me. Comment please.

[dkord]

Yeah and the irony is that the manpower idea is off the bike and taking a break.

Looking at the pic without your caption I don't think that idea would of come to me. By the expression he has, you think the entrance has a "no bicycle" sign.

How does it look with a tighter crop? Crop out the cups and the light bulb?

[jfrancho]

I was thinking about freedom, organization, anarchy, structure, convention, expression. Irony is definitely a theme in this picture. Very good. The cups and light bulb were important to my interpretation.

[Leorooster]

Yeah and the irony is that the manpower idea is off the bike and taking a break.

Looking at the pic without your caption I don't think that idea would of come to me. By the expression he has, you think the entrance has a "no bicycle" sign.

How does it look with a tighter crop? Crop out the cups and the light bulb?

Dkord, thanks for your kind comments. I think you are right that the tilte might be a little off. I should have named it something like "Manpower vs Automation". I will try harder to think of a more suitable title next time.:) :)

As to your comment related to a tighter crop, I actually tried that before I posted. I found that without the coffee cups, the whole composition seemed like missing something. In other words, it looks a little off balance. Anyway, here is a tighter one, let me know what you think:

[Leorooster]

I was thinking about freedom, organization, anarchy, structure, convention, expression. Irony is definitely a theme in this picture. Very good. The cups and light bulb were important to my interpretation.

Thanks jfrancho. To me the cups add to the picture some sort of uniqueness......Also, as I mentioned in my response to dkord above, I feel the cups and light bulb keep the composition in balance, but it's just me.

Thanks again for your kind words.

[dkord]

This your pic, only you know which really works but to me the cropped image gave it more focus.
Now your eye sees the sign and the man with his bike who's not going anywhere so Uptown is not his direction.
To me the original had too many elements in the shot: jFrancho had all those ideas, but none of them were the message you wanted to convey.
It's easy to make a snap and have a multitude of ideas in it; that's basic word storming. Eventually the person viewing the pic will come up with an idea, you get credit.
It's a bit harder for a photographer to create an image that conveys his own ideas.

Anyway, that's my approach but to each his own.

I do applaud your effort

[Leorooster]

dkord, thanks for your comments. I think you are right, the key here is "focus". The more I look at the cropped one, the more I found it more focus as compared to the original one. As jfrancho mentioned, there are many ideas in the original pic.

Sometimes it's just not easy to convey what you want to express in pics.

Thanks for your comments.

[BottomBracket]

I can't believe I missed this. Great shot, Leo - I enjoy street photography and bicycles, so it's a pleasure to see them together in one pic. Great capture.

[Leorooster]

Thanks BB! I'm glad that you like it. I too enjoy street shots, but just never have enough time for photography in this fast pace city:( :( :( .

[bigun]

I'm not a very good critic but I like the original better to me it shows the kind of stuff you would expect to see on a wall in the city, the cups and the messenger. For me all the elements work together to make a complete picture good job!

[Leorooster]

Thanks Bigun for your kind words. I very much love the original, but I think it's just that different people have different taste and preferences. I can see also why others prefer the cropped one. At the end of the day, photography is an art -- meaning it's subjective. Thanks again!

[exposingmyself]

Leorooster you should read No Rules Street Photography by Nitsta http://www.skylightweb.com/imagine/about.html. Just get out there and shoot.

I LOVE this image as is. The cups and protuding water pipes balance the biker.

[Leorooster]

Exposingmyself, thanks for your kind words and comments, as well as the website. It's definitely an interesting read.

[exposingmyself]

well, since you're a neighboring photography nuyawkuh like me here's another site of interest
http://nyc.photobloggers.org/

[jfrancho]

Eventually the person viewing the pic will come up with an idea, you get credit.
It's a bit harder for a photographer to create an image that conveys his own ideas.What about photogs that have passed, and never stated their photographic intentions? Are the viewers' interpretations still discounted, and if not, is the death of the photog a prerequisite for them to be relevent? I don't think so.

[Leorooster]

Thanks again Exposingmyself for the link:D

[dkord]

What about photogs that have passed, and never stated their photographic intentions? Are the viewers' interpretations still discounted, and if not, is the death of the photog a prerequisite for them to be relevent? I don't think so.

No, viewers interpretations are not discounted. An artist's death should not matter, but once he's gone, no one defends his original ideas do they?
Look at art history and see how over time interpretations do change because culture and ideas change.
Look at all that stuff about the DaVinci Code.
Look at music and how an artist gets sued because some kid killed himself listening to a record.
Look at the NEA and politics.
Anyone who pins himself an authority and/or a moral officer just needs find people who will listen can change any thing to his own purposes: Even the interpretation of the artist.
You ask yourself, would you care if your work is always thought off as " too abstract to be appreciable" and it's always met with indifference? Or to immoral for the public good? What if your intentions were to enlighten the very same public?

But, if the work is good, no great, the truth about the work will always withstand the test of time and outlive the critism.

There are photographers and there are artists. I try to be the latter in the discipline of photography.
As I said before; my approach is to try and guide the viewer with light and composition. Hopefully the emotions and/or ideas I felt or am trying to convey shows through.
Do I do this on all my photos, sadly no. Am I successful all the time, again no :(
I find it harder than throwing a photo on the wall and letting the audience arbitarily decide. Too me that's way too easy and not challanging.