'New Year Night Surrealism' - Limited Edition 1 of 20 Photograph

This capture was made the evening after the New Year was heralded in. While making my way through a vast underground complex leading to Kiev, Ukraine's wonderful Metro, I spied these men the night after the coming of New Year, but still on Jan. 1. Intent on revelry, these men were drinking together. The wheelchair seated man was a regular in Kiev, Ukraine's park-like superwide sidewalk next to its 'main street'. I often had encountered the wheelchair man, almost always surrounded by well wishers similar to those with him in in the background here. For them he may well have been charismatic. In that vast underground complex next to the entrance of a world class metro which serves this city of maybe 4-1/2 million at near impossibly low fares, they were drinking and cajoling. Wheelchair man believed we had some sort of 'bond' since he had chatted with me before, and I had sized him up for a possible street capture. That capture never took place, and I think his ego was a little bruised but he seemed to held no dark feelings of regret or hostility toward me. He sent the masked man reeling toward me, with half empty booze bottle in one hand\s outreach. Wheelchair man may have well have instructed this masked guy to put on some sort of display. As masked man, bottle in one hand approached me I realized photographing him would be hugely challenging There was not adequate light for any sort of capture at all Photographing this moving subject appeared unattainable, as it would require almost a full second's exposure, and as a moving subject, he would be one big blur. I shot anyway as he gregariously lurched toward me. I try to take every potentially good shot, no matter the odds, so I shot away and after each shutter release, there was a long delay, as the cameras auto meter kept the shutter open to gather enough light.. I expected only blurs from 1. subject movement, and 2. my own shivering and other body and hand movements as I tried mightily to hold the camera rock steady without a tripod or other support. There was no additional aperture opening possible, and since the situation happened without warning,I would not have had opportunity to 'open up' to a higher aperture IF one had been available. I just fired and fired; Captures were almost one second long,some longer. For some the shutter opened what seemed an interminable time. There I was trying to capture an incredible scene under the poorest circumstances imaginable. It would be impossible I thought, to be as rock steady as needed to make any of the captures successful under such poor light, let alone preventing camera movement and blurs from long exposure time. Then the man lumged his face and mask toward me and held the pose it seemed forever. Instinctively, I fired and simultaneously 'froze' my body. Almost miraculously, I was almost rock-like steady for one frame only -- this one. I had moveed almost impercentibly; this one frame was acceptably sharp. The long shutter speed is revealed by the blurs across the middle ground. Those are the images of people walking through this scene that I never intend to 'edit out'. The blurs of passersby walking through the middle ground also seem to add an eery evanescence to the scene, further militating keeping the blurs intact. I had felt I could not again emulate this steadiness, though I consider myself a steady holder.risingly the asked man was acceptably sharp in this one capture, This is possibly the longest hand held capture of a moving situation involving people I ever have completed successfully. I had one longer very good hand held capture. In my '20s in the Sierra, I used a telephoto to capture the rushing water of a very tiny stream waterfall for full two second exposure.. The waterfall appeared in the transparency as a blur with great color and 'movement'. However, for that capture I had leaned backward, standing and pressing against my car for steadiness then pressed my elbow into my chest to steady my camera hand -- all with such success the frame compares with any I have taken using a tripod or other support. I was rewarded by this image. It is an image which shows successfully in both blacdk and white and color. The color version has to be fiewed for its excellent, unexpected colors. But this black and white version fits very well into my "classical humanistic 'street' images ' of which I am quite proud and which to my judgment pleases me greatly The color version may be edited and also sold as a different edition entirely at some future point. This edition is for black and white only. jc It appeared to me that they sometimes were on Kiev's main street superwide and parklike sidewalks. They often were drinking. At this moment the group was encounterd in the concourse leading to the Metro entrance and even though the New Year had been welcomed 21 hours previously, these men were celebrating. The masked man carried a bottle and clearly was drunk. The wheelchair man seemed to 'feel' some sort of affinity with me since we once talked briefly as I had then considered him a possible subject. The wheelchair man, the group's leader, sent the masked man to meet me, and the man first wheeled around to approach me, then drunkenly moved toward me with erratic and unbalanced steps, a bottle of vodka in his hand. I had been set up for a possible photo capture by wheelchair man, but he had not taken into account almost nonexistent light and that I do not take flash photos on the street. Many of my flash-equipped cameras never had their flash test fired, let alone used for a capture.

Photography:Digital on Paper

Artist Produced Limited Edition of:1

Size:36 W x 23.9 H x 0.1 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.