This is a post to go with #WednesdayWalk challenge by @tattoodjay.
A lot of St.Petersburg streetphoto in this post.
This shadow attracted my attention, it was so captivating that I could not resist! After 3 seconds (fast! isnt it?) of doubts, I stepped back and took a picture, in a very-very speedy manner. I named it 'listen to your shadow', and I think album format suits it really well! This was my entry to #shadowhunt contest this week.
I'm taking photos everyday alot, as its Indian Summer and I have short walks 4 times a day (accompany my own pupil on her way to school). Sometimes I dont aim and take a blind shot, so some of the images go straightly to the dust-in, hehe. But some turn out amazingly well, totally unstaged and unaware of the process. This one is my fave: technically it is blurry, not artsy and nothing intresting / exclusive to it at all, but look what a funny eye-contact I've got!!!
I tried to take a capture of two ladies playing with their smartphones simultaneously walking down the street, and this is what it turned into. Recently I find myself focusing a lot on folks drowning into their smartphones on the streets, as my photographic objects. I consider them to display some spirit of time, to be the essence, something like that. Besides that, they do not notice they are being papped -- double profit!
This is an exaggeration, on one hand... but on another, I guess, its quite typical thing, maybe even a quint-eccence... modern generation are drowning in their smartphones, instead of tasting the real life. Phantomats are all around, and they take up more and more room in our lives than life itself. Stanislaw Lem have predicted this twist in his 'Futurology' already back in the 1960-es.
A young man chooses which rose to pick up for his lasse, from a public flower bed of roses growing on the city lawn. Cheap, fast, efficient. The main thing is attention, isn't it?
The elder boy gets used to the role of dad - he is driving his 'daughter's' stroller (and the stroller has - this is not visible in the photo - collected acorns).
Telefoto lens do help to take pictures of wild straykats.
I pass this alley 4 times a day, walking my child to school and taking her back home. (Exactly so - 4 times a day! thats why I am having a lot of non-pretentious casual streetphoto to share recently). These alleys decorated with golden yellow leaves is a pure pleasure to walk, especially when the sun is on! But...
...the janitors already have begun to fight the fallen autumn leaves long ago. We can not do anything with it. This removal of every fallen leaf from the city lawns, it simply kills the soil ...
It comes to ridiculousness! Leaves are raked even with the help of vacuum cleaners ... In the next photo, just such a specially trained woman - and her vacuum cleaner for fallen leaves. Unfortunately, I was unable to photograph her in action (she was lazy, preferring to chat with someone on the phone for 20 minutes instead of doing her job).
Дворники давно уже начали борьбу с опавшими осенними листьями. Мы ничего не можем с этим поделать. Это убирание с городских газонов каждого упавшего листочка, просто напросто убивает почву... Дело доходит до смешного! Листья сгребают даже при помощи пылесосов... На следующей фотографии как раз такая специально обученная женщина - и ее пылесос для опавших листьев. К сожалению, я не смог сфотографировать ее в действии (она ленилась, предпочитая болтать с кем-то по телефону 20 минут, вместо того чтобы делать свою работу).
This is her special portable anti-autumn vacuum cleaner...
And the janitor lady.
And this is a cropped close-up version of above foto.
Look what she's got! The image was shot at 10 o'clock, its early for the lunch but maybe too late for late breakfast?.. Anyway, she is definitely having her tea break, and She Doing It All Right: a teapot and ceramic piala, and a proper tea leaves inside of it -- even if she's doing it naturally, on the ground! not a shitty paper recyclable cap with instant shitbag of tea dust, instead of real tea. #NOWAY
I didnt notice that when I was shooting... I try doing it totally unnoticed and unstaged, without people having questions (but sometimes they still notice my paparazzi job, and I have an amazing eye-contact! or not amazing, most of the times...) Anyway, I was amazed to discover this little touchy detail, when watching today's harvest on my display.
I have met a girl from Soprano family! Well, maybe not Soprano but Missio, judging by her coat? Never heard of this one. She wasnt waiting till I get my paparazzi shit done, and my macro telephoto lens (unfortunately) didnt provide a sharp detailed capture of object-on-the-run 8-)
Here is the end of this story; it began in front of my eyes: a grandfather took two his grandchildren - pupils - from school, took them home, I saw how they dismounted from their bicycles in front of the house entrance. I walked by, thinking next thing will be them dragging bicycles home. Imagine my surprise when Grandpa overtook me transporting BOTH BIKES in such a wonderful manner! I don't often see such scenes on the street, frankly I was lucky to have time to photograph her. I took one frame, no doubles.
Вот вам конец этой истории. Она началась у меня на глазах: дедушка забрал из школы двух учеников - его внуков, проводил домой, я видел как они спешились с велосипедов перед подъездом дома, и прошел мимо, думая что они будут затаскивать свои велосипеды в дом. Представьте себе мое удивление, когда дедушка обогнал меня, транспортируя ОБА ВЕЛОСИПЕДА таким замечательным способом! Я не часто вижу такие сцены на улице, мне откровенно повезло успеть ее сфотографировать.
Clever primary school girls receive ice-cream after their lessons - definitely a nice bonus motivation for laborious education work!
:=)
Yes, I love to shoot children, especially ones which are younger then teenagers. They are just 'accessible foto victims', as they never ask in response: "Why are you photographing me, Big Hooman?' They have not learned yet to snarl at the world around them all the time ...
And I have found some strawberries! Autumn strawberries. A Late September Strawberries, to be precise. I like my unassuming picture, snatched from the everyday life of the city, for its contrasts: the contrast of the indispensable beauty that is usually sought out for photographing, the contrast of monochrome and color, the contrast between the modern consumer society and classical forms, and in general).
Я нашел в городе немного клубники! Поздней Осенней Клубники, специальный сорт, хехе. Моя непритязательная, выхваченная из будничной жизни города картинка нравится мне своими контрастами: контраст непременной красивости, которую обычно выискивают для фотографирования, контраст монохрома и цвета, контраст между современным обществом потребления и классическими формами, ну и вообще.
Let me round up my post on this tasty teasing note. Of course it is not all my crop for today; I captured a lot of mushrooms maturing on the lawns of the city (including the ones that I already have posted in my previous 'September Mushrooms' posts, and I will post more and more). It is so curious and fun to watch them aging. Some mushrooms may age in a totally beautiful and foto-friendly manner and please not only maggots, but photographers, as well. But I thought I'd better not embarrass myself by including them in my post. Lets not mix streetphoto with biodivercity stuff, probably it saves me possible egg on my face.
:P
| location: | St.Petersburg, Russia | September 2020 | natural light |
| camera/lens: | Canon 5D | Sigma 150mm | raw-conv |
world map: pinmapple (wednesday walk at SPb)
[//]:# (!pinmapple 59.875928 lat 30.396882 long september wednesdaywalk at St.Petersburg, d3scr)
tags: wednesdaywalk streetphoto ru photography
