* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #793 / Revived #013 on 2023 06 28 *

That says it perfectly Simplejoy.
Larry McMurtry's "The Last Picture Show" in a single image.
The little rectangles suggest many stories. They are discrete but linked. All within the reality of the decaying setting.
The back to back figures looking outwards from each other while one phones somewhere else, further convinces that this is not a place with a future.
It's a photo that might easily have been taken in many Australian country towns.
B&W gives age and the feeling of documentary reality.

As Jim said.
Windows are potent symbols as well. They carry the idea of looking out and looking in and here we do it from many perspectives.

There were many new Unicorns that could have been chosen and the reason for this choice is obvious. I wouldn't want to give the impression that the contrade is now a multinational organization, it is very much a local tribe still.

I'm open to all ideas and suggestions, especially given that my original vision was not at all cropped this severely. What I loved and photo'd in the moment were the shadows and light. Over the years I've changed from giving a great deal of thought at the moment of capture to exploring different stories after I open the raw file in my editor. Something about left brain/right brain, along with physical limitations and other. I appreciate your time and interest!

That's clever. As well as the juxtaposition of the two, the scale of the quarry workout about right as well. Big enough to be a signifant challenge for the well equipped and mounted hunters. Not so big that credibility is lost. Far enough away and camouflaged for the searching mode of the hunters.
The contrast between the two sides works as well. The elaborate detail of one side v the featureless other. Two worlds come together. This impression is enhanced by the panoramic framing.

Yes, that was a good line from Chris.
All the greenery feels lush. Lots of foliage. Things grow here in abundance. The wheelbarrow reminds me of pumpkins-orange against green is foodie country. Details in the image will have fellow gardeners nodding approvingly. It is a well used barrow and that's how you leave a wheel barrow that you care for - on end.
It's an image that reveals character without a person in sight.

Continuing in "The Last Picture Show" theme, I made this exposure about the same time.

Jim,

Another wonderful image.

As before, I would crop quite a bit. And, as before, there is a single, central figure, in that wonderful panorama of the kids spread out across the bottom of the image, that "makes" the shot. The body language of the blonde smack in the middle with her hand on the sign pole is priceless, with her Farrah Fawcett hair.

Coaching her couldn't have produced a better result. As LindaS said - there's a novel to be written right there.

Then there's the two flirting with their legs entwined to the left. While their friends look away. Except for the guy sitting on the car. Wow! Small town tension.

All against a backdrop straight out of a Hollywood back lot set. Except it's real.

Rich

I much prefer the second image. If I was editing, I would crop the image into 1x1 using the porch beams and roof as framing. It would leave just the pump, the phone booth and the sign. I would leave some of the road and the corrugated tin roof similar to the previous image.

I like both images. The closer second image is more interesting to me. I would crop the first image into a pano style to reduce the trees and road but keep all the cars. What are the colors like in this image? Any bright colors to contrasts with the green trees?

I made the image on Tri-X. No color data recorded.

I grew up in a town - any small Southern or Midwestern town USA a long damn time ago. Maybe that is why i think the Last Picture Show was one of the best films of all times, but I'm not alone in that. The goal for many was to just get out. Some of us made it some didn't. This image I think conveys the start of the plight that has come over rural America as the brightest who could got out leaving the rest. Great shot Jim. A bit of the style of W. Eugene Smith. Thanks for sharing Jim.

If I may be bold in my statements - Rich, no no no.
The original contained elements that are integral to the image. The trees provide a nice umbrella? (it's too early to find the right words) effect to the scene and are nicely symmetrical around the road sign. The vehicles are also defining to the image. The older pickup, with a newer van behind, older sports? car and the classic Toyota Celica? give us a time perspective with acceptance of old and new. I was never much of a fan of American vehicles but the cartoonish face created by the grill and headlights of the pickup must be seen. Whether I like the block wall and ac unit hanging out of it is irrelevant to the image (I would have thought of cropping them but their inclusion keeps the young adults centred in the image). The foreground road surface also gives quite a bit of depth perspective to the image.
The original for me and a nice capture Jim, of relaxed, well behaved looking, young people hanging out doing their thing.

Rope festival.

Is there any idea when we can expect threaded view, because looking at the same photos page after page after page is so disconcerting that I wondered how long this will gnaw at my interest in this thread, I wonder. Sorry to those who feel offended by this position.

To enlarge: click image, click dow arrow.

Lou

I think the sports car might be a Triumph Spitfire without its front bumper.

Thanks. I don't like it as well cropped tight. A little context. I was taking a workshop in Truckee from George Tice, and we took a field trip to Weaverville. George picked Weaverville, and turned his students loose there for a few hours one June afternoon in 1980.

Soon, evidently.

I agree - all good points. I looked at that umbrella of trees and thought, If it's cropped out, the atmosphere of the scene is lost. But then I felt that the remaining branches and leaves carried that part of the theme. In the cropped version there's enough of the various cars to fully develop that part of the feel of the scene. I felt the kids were the main focus and see the tight crop as a book jacket illustration or even a movie poster.

Either way, this is just a great example of street photography. It's almost like looking at a moving image, there is so much action there.

But all that is superfluous as Jim does not prefer the crop. And that's that.

Rich