Roadside Entrepreneur

[RSL]

I might have posted this one on LuLa before, but if so it was a long time ago.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Another masterpiece, Sir!

I have to address you as Sir as the picture was made before I was born 

Gee, Russ Lewis, how did you manage to take any photographs at all without all those megazillion pixels, anti-reflex this, resistant that, fluoride elements, stitching, stacking, IS, VR, etc., etc.

Oh, you mean, you just saw it, guesstimated the exposure (probably in advance), guesstimated the distance (probably in advance as well) and snapped it? But look at that geometry, that triangular composition! And look at that bokeh (at the time when neither you nor anybody else used that word, I dare to say).

Then... it was a real life. Not those bored, blasé, young faux-hippies, nor past-due-date old ones that litter our streets today, sipping triple this, skinny that, soy-milk macchiato.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Pardon me for butchering your photo, but I just wanted to show kids what a good geometry and visceral composition is. There are two major triangular elements and both point to the main point of focus, the woman's face. The table, her arms and the cigarette thingy create one triangle, and two dark hut openings in the upper corners and her head scarf create another.

[RSL]

You made a pretty good guess about how I got the picture, Slobodan. I'm not even sure I had my Weston light meter at this point, so I probably was guessing, but that was one advantage in those days: you learned to guess. Later on, with my Leicas I got so I could guess pretty accurately, even under fairly dim artificial light. If you're gonna do street shots in a bar, you can't very well whip out your light meter and take a reading.

In any case, thanks for the encouraging words.