Mevagissey Fishermen

[John R Smith]

This is something a little different for me. It really was instinctive - I saw the shot coming as I walked past, turned around, focused, framed and hit the shutter, then carried on. No thinking involved (honest, Russ).

These chaps are fishermen at Mevagissey, and they are watching the tourists, who outnumber them probably 100 to one.

Let me know if you like it or hate it 

John

[Patricia Sheley]

Well John, you can likely discount most of my sentiment as I am clearly biased when it comes to scent of the sea, and plight of the working waterfront juxtaposed to survival based on tourism...My son and wife sent me lovely pictures for a week Aug past from here, and I wanted to board a plane...from their rental cottage they got to know a bit of the realities that have struck ...it is there palpably in your shot...the vacant resignation overlaid by end of day exhale overlaid by subtle headshaking amusement...the complete release into relaxation of every tissue and ligament in the foreground fisherman and the information cast by shadow on the background fisherman make this, for me, a deliciously complete moment in their story, while clearly the aura of their history has a presence...I personally love it and wish I could be there crouched off to the side in contemplation, study and appreciation...

That element of remembering to turn and look behind has worked wonderfully for you here...

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Pat said it beautifully.

A very fine shot indeed. (Thinking is sometimes vastly overrated.)

Eric

[RSL]

John, I like it too. Keep working this way and keep avoiding thought (and landscape). If you do enough of this kind of shooting you'll find you've gotten to the point where you can shoot people from the front, or at least the side. Elliott Erwitt even used to carry a little bicycle horn that he'd blow to make people turn around so he could shoot them face on. Of course he also used to bark at dogs to get them to turn around. Kidding aside, street photography can become a remarkably fulfilling thing, but it takes practice.

[John R Smith]

Thank you very much for your input, folks.

Patricia’s analysis is very much spot-on. This type of picture is not really my usual thing at all, so I was pretty uncertain about posting it, as I find it very hard to judge (well, it’s actually rather hard to take this kind of picture with a ‘Blad 500 and WLF. Not perhaps the most suitable tool). I was walking towards a different sort of shot altogether, which was the next frame, again taken with the 150mm Sonnar. This, of course, is a totally predictable and cliché-ridden concept – if you live down here you will have seen this sort of thing a million times before. And I have taken loads of very similar things over the past thirty years. But this time I was rather enamoured of the light, and the “Fresh Fish” sign in the background, and the reflections of course. If we put the two pictures together, you have a flavour of Mevagissey on a Sunday afternoon.

John

[DickKirkley]

Well John I don't find this picture fits the category of a cliche. Perhaps it is the fresh fish sign but I think not. It is the light and the reflections and the way you have captured the tones.
Cheers
Dick K.

[John R Smith]

Thanks, Dick, I'm pleased you liked it. Perhaps it's one of my own cliches, then, but it is probably the best one I've done in this particular genre.

The interesting thing is, that of the two pictures, it is the boat one that I would be able to sell.

John

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

The interesting thing is, that of the two pictures, it is the boat one that I would be able to sell.

John

They're both excellent. I can see that the second would be more saleable, but the first is a finer, much more expressive image, IMHO.

Eric

[John R Smith]

They're both excellent. I can see that the second would be more saleable, but the first is a finer, much more expressive image, IMHO.

Eric

I agree with you Eric, but the Cornish glossy magazines (where I can sell articles about Cornish places and history) have now got this insane policy for photographs. If there is anyone in the picture who is recognisable, you must have a model release for publication. So the magazines are full of very pretty pictures with not a soul in sight. You would think that Cornwall was uninhabited.

John

[DickKirkley]

John (or anyone). I am fairly new to this forum but have commented on several posts, mostly favourably.

However, I have a question. My last post, Upper Gap Bay of Quinte, is just 3 slots below this one. It has been viewed 58 time but no one has commented. So my question is " What am I doing wrong?"

I post a link rather than the image itself because my hosting service Zenfolio makes that so easy to do. Is that a problem? Also if my picture has problems I would appreciate any advice. That is why I posted it, to learn and improve.

I also find LuLa the most interesting of the sites I visit as most of the regulars do speak their minds and that is refreshing.

Cheers
Dick K.

[michswiss]

I agree with you Eric, but the Cornish glossy magazines (where I can sell articles about Cornish places and history) have now got this insane policy for photographs. If there is anyone in the picture who is recognisable, you must have a model release for publication. So the magazines are full of very pretty pictures with not a soul in sight. You would think that Cornwall was uninhabited.

John

Any idea why they've adopted that policy?  Your first of shot would normally be considered editorial and thus exempt from needing releases.  Seems awfully conservative and ultimately boring.

[Riaan van Wyk]

I like it John. I wish I could walk around where I live and do this style of shooting, problem is, the subjects usually don't want to have their pictures taken.