I entirely agree about the hands. The photo misses the "decisive moment" by about a week. And, yes, it is a genuine barber shop. Something that is disappearing in the US being mostly replaced by Unisex Styling Salons.
I do have a lot of emotional involvement with this photo, but it has nothing to do with its artistic merit. Those who have been following my journal will realize it is the cumulation of nearly a years odyssey trying to get a darkroom to do 4x5's together, and then finding the shutter had gone off to la-la land on the Graphic and hving to fix that. It is the first shot that I have done since then that was not just a test shot, so for me it is a big landmark.
I really only posted it as a sample of a competently done flash photo from a 1000% manual camera which tied into the discussion about your photos, Boris. Somehow, we got into a long artistic discussion about it. My excuse is I was huddling inside out of the snow with nothing better to do.
Actually, the fact that some saw enough artistic merit in the photo to bother discussing it, is I realize quite a complement to me. Thanks folks.
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Boris Liberman wrote:
Hi!
I looked at this photo once and couldn't make up my mind about the sink. Then I read some of the comments and returned to the photo. Then I noticed that both the barber and his customer are of considerable age. At least for Israel. It is rare to find such a pair in local barber shops. Hmmm, is barber shop proper name for it?
Anyway, I don't see any problems except the sink here. I think it could be cropped or shot vertically. I even think that by cropping just the sink the certain symmetry would be achieved as it would seem that the wall just on the left of the customer and the reflection in the mirror are about to intersect beyond the frame. The shot would all tilt a little to the left and this would fit the direction - from the barber who's leaning somewhat to its customer...
Also, I don't know about the rules, but I'd like to see more of the barber's hands and see what he is actually doing...
Just my cents... Don't shoot me on sight, will you?
Boris
-- graywolf http://graywolfphoto.com
"You might as well accept people as they are, you are not going to be able to change them anyway."
