What has become of us all?

[pbromaghin]

Not mine, but one of many of Paris taken by a good friend, Jean-François Cléroux.
Somewhat ironically, it is rather on-topic for this thread!
Borrowed from his currently work in progress website, found here: https://www.cleroux.com/

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Which reminds me - I need to phone Francois to talk to him about his latest website tweaks.

What a wonderful print.

 

[MattKing]

What a wonderful print.

I'll mention your comment to him.
He is mostly working with digital now - like that one- but he did buy my old 6x7 Beseler enlarger because his Beseler 4x5 enlargers were too big for his place ....

 

[loccdor]

On a very nice afternoon, golden hour, I was walking through the streets in the village of Chamonix, when I see this bridge with a beautiful railing and a gorgeous landscape, just behind it. I had to stop and take a picture.

But there was this girl and her boyfriend, right in the middle of the frame I wanted to shoot. She was posing like a model and he was taking pictures of her. She would go and look into the phone every two or three clicks. Then she would try a different pose. Then without the jacket. Then with a hat. And another pose… I was just patiently waiting for around 15 minutes. And they wouldn’t quit.

I've been in similar situations where I had to abandon my choice of photograph, but the truth is they have as much right to be taking pictures there as you do. If it's a small number of people and they move around enough, taking two images and compositing them can be a solution.

All of modern photography was built on snapshot photography with cheap cameras and film processing to encourage film sales. This migrated to vacation slides, slide shows, and Polaroids.

For nearly a century, everyman capturing the days of their lives photographically was a staple that built Kodak, especially, into the monster they were.

Cell phones are just the latest instrument in an unbroken chain that started with Brownies and ended with SLRs.

It is an idealized fiction that the Good Old Days were better and that people on holidays were more engaged with the environment. Then-, as now, it depends a whole lot on the person and the venue.

The only thing that is almost unarguably worse today, is the larger society's lack of decorum, politeness, and mannered behaviour which is really what underlies the obnoxious habits noted in this thread...

Yes I very much agree with what you wrote. A few other things have changed - easier ability to include yourself in a photo without carrying a tripod, cheaper and more disposable clothing and outfits for those that wish to be the model, faster and wider sharing of what you have made. Plus the lower cost of air travel, and the fact that a much lower percentage of the world is in material poverty than in the past.

 

[fdonadio]

I’ll take the bitching every time over the patronizing, sickly-sweet all-sidesing goo.

I forgot to mention I do bitch a whole effing lot…

 

[fdonadio]

I've been in similar situations where I had to abandon my choice of photograph, but the truth is they have as much right to be taking pictures there as you do.

What I’m talking about here is the lack of respect. They [should] know that place is desirable for other tourists. They are not entitled to stay there for half an hour (or more, as they were already there when I got there), getting in the way of other people that want to take a picture there.

 

[Tel]

Not mine, but one of many of Paris taken by a good friend, Jean-François Cléroux.
Somewhat ironically, it is rather on-topic for this thread!
Borrowed from his currently work in progress website, found here: https://www.cleroux.com/

View attachment 419873

Which reminds me - I need to phone Francois to talk to him about his latest website tweaks.

Some wonderful street photography in his portfolio. It amounts to a nice commentary on Parisian life. I like what he's done with the Eiffel Tower shot: by choosing a long exposure he's turned the tourists who would have been obstructing his shot into semi-transparent ghosts who just add texture and focus to the real subject.

Edit: every time I see a photo of the Eiffel Tower it reminds me of the De Maupassant quote

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I am prepared to die.

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You're lucky. I like the shot.

 

[snusmumriken]

I am prepared to die.

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That's wonderful! Lingerie is a French word, after all.

I expect to be slaughtered too:

 

[jeffreyg]

On a trip to Italy some time ago while we did go to see the "David" which was packed with people photographing it, I happened to spot this in a dimly lit hallway and found it more interesting although a challenge to photograph ( Bronica S2A with 75 mm lens and Tri-x 400). I braced myself against the opposite wall and hand held wide open at pr0bably a 1/15th and hoped for the best. It was only film and I probably wasn't supposed to be in the hallway any ways. Always good to get lucky. It made a very nice pt/pd print from an enlarged negative. I never bothered to photograph David.

Unfinished Pieta attributed to Michelangelo or possibly one of his contemporaries.

@snusmumriken. I'll join you at the slaughter house life's too short not to have fun at least at my age