The Electroblog
Platform anticipation
Posted by Damon Schreiber (Toronto, Canada) on 4 January 2007 in Transportation and Portfolio.
[St. Clair West Station, Toronto]
@Kheoh Yee Wei: Thanks, Kheoh! (Or is it Yee Wei?)
jc from Ireland
love the contrasts in this, shape and direction wise, horizontals, verticlas, diagonals, his stance, her stance. cool shot
4 Jan 2007 2:33pm
@jc: Thank you, jc!
drew from Toronto, Canada
i like this one quite a bit damon. there's a compelling frission in it : something between the two figures, but mostly from her: as direct in her stare as you were across the tracks and behind the camera. i'm especially charmed by some of the image's littlest details: the grip of her left hand on that bag and the way, ever so gently, that her right foot turns inward. strange to think, though, that walker evans waited years and years to publish his subway photos and now we get images like these within days or hours.
4 Jan 2007 4:51pm
@drew: Thanks, Drew! I appreciate your perceptive comments. And thanks for the tip about Walker Evans' subway photos. I'll have to look that book up. Anyway, if it's good enough for Walker Evans...
JS from Brookline, United States
"Oh God - could that be Julie? What's it been - 25 years since that crazy summer on the beach? She's put on a little weight - maybe it's just the coat ... She doesn't recognize me. Should I go up to her? No - who needs the complication? But yet ..."
4 Jan 2007 6:34pm
@JS: "Ricardo? Is that really you? How could I ever forget that summer when you taught me to be a woman? Oh, I could fall back into his arms in a heartbeat; I really could. But what about Brad and the kids? No, I must be strong. I won't look his way or betray the slightest hint of recognition. If I just stare straight ahead and think about Brad, all will be well. Yes, that's it: Brad and the kids...
"Hey, that guy with the camera looks familiar..."
Nick Chase from Santa Rosa, California, United States
The woman's expression is very engaging, the blue diaganal leads us right to her head, and for a bonus it seems to draw the man to her too. It has an interesting dinamic in the relationship between the three of us (almost a 3dimentional triangular composition of lines of vision...cool!
4 Jan 2007 6:37pm
@Nick Chase: Thanks, Nick! Great interpretattion, I'd say!
Sylvia from Milano, Italy
VERY cool composition, the humor is great--the pink scarf, blue line of the stair/escalator-- fantastic eye, quick reflexes you have. By the time I would have shot that (ack! my conditional tenses are running amuck!) the train would have left.....
4 Jan 2007 7:43pm
@Sylvia: Thanks, Sylvia! As it happened, I was on the other platform and their train arrived a second or two after I snapped. There's another one where both of them are looking down, but I liked her piercing eyes in this one better.
Zach Siebert from Bologna, Italy
i remember that foto you made at the parade where you got everyone to look at you as you waved 'hello' and snapped simultaneously. that technique would have made this perfect. the expression on the woman's face is wonderful.
4 Jan 2007 8:30pm
@Zach Siebert: Ha! I think people are more likely to enjoy being photographed during a parade than while waiting for the subway. Her expression speaks volumes. Thanks, Zach!
Kelvin Chan from New York City, United States
busted! but the expressions are very nicely captured. have you tried converting this to b&w? because colors are not the main point of this picture, making it monotone might bring out more contrast and details.
4 Jan 2007 11:34pm
@Kelvin Chan: Yes, perhaps so. I never was certain since the train arrived just after. The colours certainly aren't the main point, although some commentators above have enjoyed them. You're quite right, though that it might look nice in black and white. I kind of like the dowdy tone that the mostly brown colours provide, but I'll give it a try and see how it goes. Thanks for the thoughts, Kelvin!
@Craig Persel: Thanks, Craig! I wasn't sure if I should have been terrified or not.
@Martine Lapointe: Merci bien, Martine!
@H.O: ありがとうひろさん！おもしろいですね？
@M.E.: Thanks, ME! It's funny how these are such ordinary expressions, and yet when captured in a photographic image, they achieve a certain impact that they lack otherwise.
Duncan Galbraith from kyoto, Japan
HEy Damon, late for the party again due to 'the man' forcing me back to the grindstone yet again. oh well, its been a nice 2 weeks off. Love the expression and indeed it looks like you were busted! Thats all part and parcel of the subway gig though! Love the tones, expression, and the geometry in this, what with the woman being the only subject going against the left to right movement through the image (tiles, diagonal, gentlemans left to right gaze). Fine stuff.
5 Jan 2007 11:13am
@Duncan Galbraith: Thanks so much, Duncan! One never knows for sure what's going through people's minds. Some people happen to have very intense faces even when they're not thinking anything in particular. I hope the "man" eases up on the grindstone once in awhile.
Aidan from Seoul, South Korea
Great composition here, as has been said. Such anticipation in the man's body.
6 Jan 2007 10:59am
@Aidan: Thank you Aidan! He really wants to get to work I think.
Camera Dan from Brookeville, United States
I love this picture. great candid shot.
12 Jan 2007 4:00pm
@Camera Dan: Thanks, Dan! More to come...
shutterbug from barcelona, Spain
more than anticipation, what i see in the woman is the possibilty that she might miss the subway because you've distracted her. she looks taken aback and ready to run, completely oblivious of the approaching train. i like that tension, the uncertainty of what she might do next
20 Feb 2007 10:31am
@shutterbug: Thanks, Shutterbug! I think what happened next was... she got on the train:-)
Canon PowerShot G3
1/20 second
F/3.0
ISO 200
29 mm