"I know he can get the job, but can he do the job?"

That is the famous line Mr. Wutari repeats over and over in the movie, Joe Versus the Volcano. For some reason I thought about this because of my failure to get a good shot. I had the story, or at least I knew what I wanted the image to convey. I shot eight images. Shouldn't that be enough? Don't I just need a box with a pin hole and a story to tell? But, I got stuck post processing the images. I felt like I was trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip - trying to get something out of a photo that I just may not have captured. I will post my best shot here, and let us discuss it. You can hurt my feelings - otherwise I would not be posting on social media.




Staying at home

Mrdavie said:

I had the story, or at least I knew what I wanted the image to convey.

Click to expand...

I don't see a story in the photo, or even much to look at.

Maybe describe the story you had in mind.

Mrdavie said:

That is the famous line Mr. Wutari repeats over and over in the movie, Joe Versus the Volcano. For some reason I thought about this because of my failure to get a good shot. I had the story, or at least I knew what I wanted the image to convey. I shot eight images. Shouldn't that be enough? Don't I just need a box with a pin hole and a story to tell? But, I got stuck post processing the images. I felt like I was trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip - trying to get something out of a photo that I just may not have captured. I will post my best shot here, and let us discuss it. You can hurt my feelings - otherwise I would not be posting on social media.


Staying at home

Click to expand...

"I don't get it."

Sorry!

Take care & Happy Shooting!




--
My Personal Flickr Favs . . .

[FL][RP][LS][GC][51][ML][TMPM][ExifTool]

I'm not seeing the story

I think that I can infer what you are trying to communicate here.

Nobody to be seen...

Another setting might have driven the message home? For example: An ordinarily busy urban intersection with no traffic, no people... Maybe some trash blowing across the street?

Try, try again.

I don't know what this is, why you took it, or what your trying to say. The image itself, doesn't appear to be brilliantly well composed. I can't stop looking at the bollard in the foreground.

sybersitizen said:

Mrdavie said:

I had the story, or at least I knew what I wanted the image to convey.

Click to expand...

I don't see a story in the photo, or even much to look at.

Maybe describe the story you had in mind.

Click to expand...

Empty movie poster marquees; overgrown landscape - signs of the effect of pandemic on movie theaters.

What the blazing farg are you on about?

I would at least make it recognizable as a theater then... maybe a different composition. I also find the tonality lacking contrast.

Mrdavie said:

sybersitizen said:

Mrdavie said:

I had the story, or at least I knew what I wanted the image to convey.

Click to expand...

I don't see a story in the photo, or even much to look at.

Maybe describe the story you had in mind.

Click to expand...

Empty movie poster marquees; overgrown landscape - signs of the effect of pandemic on movie theaters.

Click to expand...

I had no idea that's a movie theater, or how well the landscape is normally maintained.

I guess I also should say that the dozens - maybe hundreds - of 'lockdown' shots of empty streets and such that I've seen on the web over the last few months don't interest me, even when I know they're places that are normally busy. I'm just not a fan of the genre.

Mrdavie said:

That is the famous line Mr. Wutari repeats over and over in the movie, Joe Versus the Volcano. For some reason I thought about this because of my failure to get a good shot. I had the story, or at least I knew what I wanted the image to convey. I shot eight images. Shouldn't that be enough? Don't I just need a box with a pin hole and a story to tell? But, I got stuck post processing the images. I felt like I was trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip - trying to get something out of a photo that I just may not have captured. I will post my best shot here, and let us discuss it. You can hurt my feelings - otherwise I would not be posting on social media.


Staying at home

Click to expand...

A 'before and after' might ram the message home, if you can find a relevant 'before' shot (it doesn't even need to be the same scene, but good if it is).

You yourself know that this is a 'fail', and I agree, as have others. The connection between the picture and the message is too tenuous. Viewers are going to miss it. And if they get it, the photo by itself doesn't have a strong interest to it.

If it is about human activity and cinemas, then take the camera to the point where humans interact with cinemas:

• the entrance doors
• the ticket booth
• the chairs in a cinema

Then the obvious lack of human participation is clear. A small number of people, where a larger mob is normal, tells more story than zero people, and the people themselves are points of interest.

cheers

Bob said:

I don't know what this is, why you took it, or what your trying to say. The image itself, doesn't appear to be brilliantly well composed. I can't stop looking at the bollard in the foreground.

Click to expand...

After you mentioned the bollard. I can't stop looking at it as well.

It doesn't tell me anything. Sorry.

If you are seeking to tell the story of deserted normal life then it may make more sense to set up a shot at midday or obviously near it (via an obvious sun/shadow angle) at some large neighbourhood carpark at a shopping mall or some other usually busy venue parking area that now happens to be mostly empty. Lack of cars seems to mean more these days than lack of people.

Removing people from any scene is relatively easy with stacking methods but parked cars or lack of them are a different problem, so blank car park shots tend to be real.

Mrdavie said:

That is the famous line Mr. Wutari repeats over and over in the movie, Joe Versus the Volcano. For some reason I thought about this because of my failure to get a good shot. I had the story, or at least I knew what I wanted the image to convey. I shot eight images. Shouldn't that be enough? Don't I just need a box with a pin hole and a story to tell? But, I got stuck post processing the images. I felt like I was trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip - trying to get something out of a photo that I just may not have captured. I will post my best shot here, and let us discuss it. You can hurt my feelings - otherwise I would not be posting on social media.


Staying at home

Click to expand...

O.K. I, and everyone else so far, didn't know what the story was/is until you told us. In other words, your picture isn't telling us enough.

Use your imagination, or creativity to help tell your story. Is there a 'closed until further notice' sign, or something like it?

For starters, modern movie theaters are pretty mundane to begin with. Most are just big square boxy things, so without any help, or signage, we don't know what it is. Could be warehouses, storage units, or a hydro station. Signage helps.

Furthermore, I wouldn't have taken this shot from this perspective, or at this time of day. The light here isn't really helping you out.

Go back and try again. This time, try to give the viewer some clues what they're looking at, and why.

Mrdavie said:

That is the famous line Mr. Wutari repeats over and over in the movie, Joe Versus the Volcano. For some reason I thought about this because of my failure to get a good shot. I had the story, or at least I knew what I wanted the image to convey. I shot eight images. Shouldn't that be enough? Don't I just need a box with a pin hole and a story to tell? But, I got stuck post processing the images. I felt like I was trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip - trying to get something out of a photo that I just may not have captured. I will post my best shot here, and let us discuss it. You can hurt my feelings - otherwise I would not be posting on social media.


Staying at home

Click to expand...

I don't want to pile on so I'll add what may be some suggestions:

I think the image could convey more of the story you wanted to tell if there was a single person maybe walking away somewhere in the frame. At least the viewer may start asking themselves what's going on, who is that person, why are they walking by the building? etc.



If you're trying to tell a "COVID-19" story, try to include something in the photo that makes that obvious. Maybe a person reading the "closed due to COVID" sign on the window and showing the empty movie theater lobby through the other side of the glass?



I've seen a plethora of "COVID" photos over the past couple months. Honestly, most leave me cold. Honestly, I think it is too early to appreciate any of them while we're in the middle of this mess. Kind of like war photos while the war is raging have a much different emotional impact than those same photos 10 years after the war has ended. During a war, the photos communicate a sense of horror and anger. A decade later, the photo still has a sense of horror but also can communicate a story of how much we need to ensure it doesn't happen again.



Maybe a bad way to explain it, but I think the COVID-19 impact photos right now in the middle of the impact don't tell a story as well as they will a year or two from now after we come out the other side of this awful mess.

Mrdavie said:

sybersitizen said:

Mrdavie said:

I had the story, or at least I knew what I wanted the image to convey.

Click to expand...

I don't see a story in the photo, or even much to look at.

Maybe describe the story you had in mind.

Click to expand...

Empty movie poster marquees; overgrown landscape - signs of the effect of pandemic on movie theaters.

Click to expand...

If you are being serious about this, as opposed to sardonically making a point about hiring non-professionals, you might want to look at the work of Paul Hester in this portfolio published by the Price Design Alliance: https://www.ricedesignalliance.org/...pdfs/cite-articles/Cite 100 Houston As Is.pdf
Paul's work is formally simple and straightforward documentary photography of architecture around the Houston area (I know you are in Sugarland, TX) but I find it to be pretty rich and amusing. He also has a great sense of light, colors, and composition.

--
Ellis Vener
To see my work, please visit http://www.ellisvener.com
Or on Instagram @EllisVenerStudio

William Loney said:

Mrdavie said:

That is the famous line Mr. Wutari repeats over and over in the movie, Joe Versus the Volcano. For some reason I thought about this because of my failure to get a good shot. I had the story, or at least I knew what I wanted the image to convey. I shot eight images. Shouldn't that be enough? Don't I just need a box with a pin hole and a story to tell? But, I got stuck post processing the images. I felt like I was trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip - trying to get something out of a photo that I just may not have captured. I will post my best shot here, and let us discuss it. You can hurt my feelings - otherwise I would not be posting on social media.


Staying at home

Click to expand...

O.K. I, and everyone else so far, didn't know what the story was/is until you told us. In other words, your picture isn't telling us enough.

Use your imagination, or creativity to help tell your story. Is there a 'closed until further notice' sign, or something like it?

For starters, modern movie theaters are pretty mundane to begin with. Most are just big square boxy things, so without any help, or signage, we don't know what it is. Could be warehouses, storage units, or a hydro station. Signage helps.

Furthermore, I wouldn't have taken this shot from this perspective, or at this time of day. The light here isn't really helping you out.

Go back and try again. This time, try to give the viewer some clues what they're looking at, and why.

Click to expand...

Agree. If someone is trying to convey the message in one image about deserted street or similar, they need to pick a location that the viewer can imagine, or has seen to be very crowded. Something like Times Square empty in a single image is much easier to pull off, as all of us have seen Times Square at its busiest.



Here we had to be told that this is a movie theater, and even after being told this, it still doesn't look like a movie theater or convey that it was once a busy place. I just see it as a poor choice for a subject.