"PDA -- Public Display of Affection' - Limited Edition of 15 Photograph

'The Direct Descendant of My First Successful Image' This image of a Ukrainian couple in a restaurant publicly displaying their affection is a direct descendant of my first successful image, three men on a ferry boat, among the first ten images I ever took and also on display i this gallery. The 'ferry boat passenger image was taken an hour to three affer I purchased my first camera in 1968. one of the firstg ten images I evere took, back in 1968. Here is the story. I bought my first camera in January 1968. I bought it from a Jewish 'discount' camera merchant in a downmarket family 'discount' camera shop on a seedy lower Manhattan commercial street. I paid a price lower then anywhere else, a slight discount, say $10.00 savings, then a princely saving for this impecunious Columbia student on a price of less than $300 body and lens. It was a very expensive cameera and buyig it on a whim that I wanted to photograph seemed absurd to anhy observer. I knew I wanted to photograph. In 1968 and later, manufacturers lawfully could set retail prices for their branded merchandise that bound all retail sellers in the USA Selling at a price lower than what the manufacturer allowed under 'Fair Trade' laws not only was a civil violation, but also a crime. Just getting teh camerfa was a crime I wilingly committed. As I left his shop that Friday late afternoon the Jewish man shuttered his shop and with his wife, an assistant, both went home to celebrate Shabat. My friend and I went to the subway for a short ride to South Ferry station at Manhattan's lower tip to take a nickel one way ferry ride to Staten Island aboard the storied Staten Island ferry, one of several boats which plied the route.to the far off suburban New york City borough. That was a cheapskage tour of the lower New York harbor, past the Statue of Liberty, to Staten island which wascloser to the blight of smog-producing industrial New Jersey than any other part of New York City. It was a dime apiece for the round trip which -- with waiting in Staten Island -- ate more than three hours total. Even I could afford that. That trip was a favorite of money-starved Columbia students for decades. At the first subway station and on the short subway trip there I read the illustrated Nikon instruction book. I learned in minutes how to use 'match needle' exposure metering by changing shutter speed and/or aperture. which one changed with a twisting movement to the aperture ring of the 50 mm lens.. I learned how to focus and practiced focusing using the camera's pentaprism through the special screen which produced a bright, crisp image only when the subject was 'in focus'. . That was not hard, especially compared to today's digital cameras where insructioon books can sometimes run nearly nearly novel length. The lens was 'auto' meaning not 'auto focus' but that the lens automatically would reduce its iris diameter to the one chosen for the actual exposure then opened the iris (aperture) again to widest aperture for more light and a brighter view for focusing. When the photographer tripped the shutter, the aperture automatically reduced the lens opening or iris to match the one of gthe chosen aperture, say f8, the shutter curtain then opened to expose the film, and when the image was captured on the film, the reverse happened. Tthe iris (an aperture or opening) again expanded to maximum to await the next photo) This did not work when a lens was 'wide open' as the aperture stayed at its brightest when 'wide open'. I immediately understood there were inherent flaws in the recommended formula but it was a good starting place. Any shorter shutter speed supposedly resulted often in blurry photos from operator/camera movement. As I soon learned, the suggested 1/50th sec. minimum shutter speed was merely 'suggested' for producing small risk of operator motion blur, but if one could hold the camera steady, longer exposures were possible I had to reduce from that speed and use a shorter lens to photograph for many situations even that evening's first use on that ferry. The ferry shuddered and groaned when it shoved off the pier at Lower Manhattan;Iworried more about the blur that mighjt cause and had no guide. No one told me ferries shuddered and vibrated. What to do?. I took a few photos of ferry equipment My carefulness was rewarded with proper exposures. After fewer than seven frames I turned my attention to three men seated on three built-in passengere benches, , each man arranged artfully in relation to otheres. I was not capable of such an explanation, but like what I saw. I sensed I was taking forever to set the shutter, frame, then focus, before releasing the shutter. I was greatly self conscious. that is an affliction of nearly all first time 'sgtreet' photogreaphers, It can be parqalyzing for many, but the enemy of the jitters from self consciousness is to produce great work and tell one's self and others that self consciousness is gthe price of producing good work. If it's really true, the self consciousness jitters realy may disappear. Most 'street shooters' start out very self conscious of photographing strangers. For some tring on 'street' shooting the self consciousness may cripple them and they maymove on. Some bear the burden of being perpetually self conscious and painfully so, but many of accomplishness jujstify their intrusion into others' space and appriating images of others as justified in gtheir quest to make art from everyday scenes capture din a special, personal way. raising subjects' ire is a constant worry, but that seldom happens to the self aware street shooter who observes his sujbjects carefully. He/she knows often when to stop of justg aim elsewherer. The rue threat to the 'street' photogrfapher is the self-appointed vigilante who feels that somehow 'sgtreet' shooting is equivalent to being a paparazzo who often hound celebrities and tgake risky shots such as 'upskirt shots' gthat many despise even as they search for them of subject who sometimes seek the agttengtion, as Britgney Spears did at one time when she was cap;tured exiting a low-slujng auto with no panties - a situatio she appparentlytelegraphed to photographers offering them a shot of a lifetim ein order to revive a then flagging career. I do not take images of celebrities, thoujgh I think once I photogrfaphed Samuel Jackson, not iknowing who he was but as an example of a handsome man, with his permission in Los Angeles' Farmers Market. Otherwise one can look in vain for celebrities in my photos. Self consciousness always has been an issue for fledgling 'street' photographers and it drains one's ego to come head to head with the suppositoin that some interesting subject may come charging our of a crowd to assault you for taking their photo. More freuqnegtly photographers are bvlindsided by uknowna nd unsuspecgted self-appointed vigilante thypes no one can antticipate who are in a groujp near the photographer who make a sudden charge seeking to 'right' offenses they alone perceive and act on. In the US you have a right to take photos of the public in public with few restrictions, such as the taking certain sexual photos of strangers, 'upskirt' and 'downblouse' even in public. Otherwise there are few restrictions for shooting in places where one does not ewxpect privacy which means the world outside and often inside most public places, though owners may place restrictions on shoogting as they wish. Many Americans believe the law requires subject permission for takikng a 'sgtreet photo' a common but false belief f one is shooting for 'art' and not for commmercial purposes. Many Germans also have gthat feeling and even Gerfmanp polize acgt as thogh shots taken without getting a subject's permission are criminal, thougha German law researcher says it si the 'disclosure' of such images that is unlawful, not the taking. Much Gerfman 'sgtreet' photogafphy is devoid o fidentifiable faces. and concentratges more on shapes, liknes, shadows and forms found in public places, or anonhymous photos showing unidentifiable people. Photogrfaphing people in public, even police officerfs, withou first obtaining permission is permitted and a right u ndewwr the US Constitutijn, but the besgt rule is 'don't make an ass out of yourself' exercising what you believe are consgtituional rights, or your photos may become the 'sgtalking case' in the judge's courtroom or some ogther wrong mayu e perceived and pinned on you if you behave badly on the street. Even NY transit pllice had finally to give up their 'no photogrfaphy' rujle onthe cit's many transit system compoentns, buses, subways and underground walkweayss. Unles sit obstrucgts flow of gtraffic such photogfrah is permissible. Photogfrfaphing poice doing gtheir dugties is also a protecteed right but one often misunderstood by cops. enforcement and enunciagtion of your 'rights' to photograph may sometimes only be earned when a judge in court rules for you after arrest or an appeal court makes determination while you are serving a sentence. I exposed the the image of three men scattered on three benches attached to three support poles to the deck above, without disturbance. I wondered that I coujld silently walk, stop, aim and take a photo, then walk on, then later find that particuolar photo had photographic and/or artistic merit. The image of three weary passengers now has been interesting to observers for a half century. It has withstood the test of time. It is not a GREAT photo, but in my mind a worthy one.. Over intervening decades I have realized that my better and more signature photos have a certain style. They often 1. tell a story; 2. have a worthy composition that may vary widely from image to image, 3. they are well executed, and thus worthy of discussion, and 4. are worthy subjects that can hold interest or of worthy subjects that can hold viewer interest. Over decadess now I hafve relized thatphoto had my emblematic style. I redcently was told our mutual friend showed my images to henri Cartier-=Bressonand that HCB desired to meet me, and vboth wanted to give me advice not to join the AP photo team because it was a dead end job and my talents in various areas were worthhyof developing. "Also that mhy photogrfaphy shoujld be as HCB advised me, something I 'shot for mhyself' to please myself, rather than for a market for photos. It is fine to sell photos but they must be good work or it's just another job. to take them. I havel lalbeled that ferry photo as the 'first Crosley street photo'; it embodoies the best in my work, all occuring naturally and without much preconception as I view the world and make capgtures. I would be happy to have a book just of such photos that please me and think now I have enoughof such images to fill a black and white book and also maybe another in color. AP hired me as a writer because somehow innately I know how to 'tell a story' both with my photos and almost inexplicably even with my first written news story, the one that garnered front page treatment nationwide. story, -- the one that went on front pages nationwide and that I wrote as a 'test project.' resulting from a carefully aimed push from HCB and Whie designed to keep me from shooting drfeary wirephogtos of baseball games, and from 'grip and grin' handshakes for corporatoins and businesses. GThe success of my first story that switched my work from photo to word I imagine greatly satisfied HCB and White; they schemed and manipulated me into a far better and more productive life than I was then they aimed, and they are owed my great thanks. I do not successfully often photos such as the ferry photo. Cartier Bresson often could take such photos almost at a whim, for me it is real work to identify good to great composition in a 'street photo. However, when I do, I feel I have done my best. and that satisfies me, at least for a while. Much has happened since the long lasting success of that first photo in 1968. . I even met and got advice within two years from Henri Cartier-Bresson who guided me to a completely changed future than the one I was previously aimed at. Great thanks, belatedly, to both for changing my life in many better ways The two successfully schemed to have me write for Associated Press and gto walk away from thephoto position I had already accepted with great pleasure. The unrivaled and completely unexpected success of that first story was behyond anyone's imaginatin. What started as a routine followup and death watch story for a lost child suddenly turned into a celebration when he was found in good health an great spirits unharmned after the better part of a week lost in sometimes subfreezing temperatures. Who could have anticipated that he would be found just prior to my call or that I could draw out of him his encoungter with a 'big black bear?' that drew tears of relief nationwide and sometimes worldwide. Neither White nor HCB reasonably could have imagined that result. It soujnded more like the bacck story to some rashy summer novel about hjow a fabulously successful person turned luck ito power at every step in a storied career. I am not that person. But I have lead an interesting and full life. Maybe Putin never expected Trump to become president either, but it appears he tried hard and may have succeeded in ways that astonished even him. Sometimes success arrives in most unexpected ways. They saw talent in me I never suspected I had, and if I had suspected it, that nascent talent never would have been drawn out except for their intervention and mutual assessment of my achieving success in a way unforeseen by me. There was no looking back after that. I moved soon to Reno,forr nearly a year as a newman then to NYXC world headquarters as an editor and daily participant in worldwide news 'budget' planning where bureau chiefs in NYC,m Chicago and Washington, D.C. with NYC department heads conferred in a dail conference call to determine what ongoing sotries were expedcted to be sent the following day. , then to nearly a year, then NYC world headquarters, where after less than two years as an editor, the AP worldwide boss would offer me at age 25 the opportunity to understudy him to take over his job at his retirement in five years at mandatory age 65. I did not feel I was worthy and feared being 'set up' for him to point at my youth and inexperience as he approached his mandatory age 65 retirement and that he would use me as a stalking horse to argue for an exception and reason for the AP board to extend his leadership at AP maybe another five years or even indefinitely. I longed to be my 'own man' and have lived a life as I longed, accountable to myself, a very strict critic. AP was cheap and that cheapness was offensive when the AP boss made his pitch to me at a counter lunch in a Rockefeller Plaza basement. AP was owned and operated as a cooperative by the nation's newspapers and their owners, almost never a generous lot. If I got the job as successor I would be expected to be very sting; that that did not sit well with me. Sending me to Rome as assistant bureau chief after language training, then as bureau chief in Tokyo sounded very attractive, but then I had little idea of the worth others perceived in me. I often still do not see that. The photo above is a direct descendant of that first photo, taken on that ferry. It has the same elements. it is candid, it has great lines, shows a fine human and universal situation, and is presented with some of my best composition. For me it's a winner in color or black and white, though I am fond of the color treatment which is more than just fortuitous. In short, to me it 's a winner. ' It never has been shown to others, unlike almost every other photo of mine in this gallery. This is one of my best and a direct descendant of my first good street photo. john (John Crosley)

Photography:Color on Paper

Artist Produced Limited Edition of:15

Size:36 W x 27.7 H x 0.1 D in

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