An afternoon at an Alabama fleamarket

[paulfish4570]

Bessa R, Canon 50/1.8, Fuji 200

On the road between rows of vendors



Perusing grave decorations





Take your pick




Enjoying the shade

[Paulbe]

Wow! Shades of Jim Shulman!!
Where in Alabama is that--general loctation?
My wife is from LA--Lower Alabama--Mobile.
We just got back from a trip there and the azaleas were spectacular!
Thanks!
Paul

[buzzardkid]

Alabama, land of the big women and the skinny men



Observation II: the bright red in the No. 2 shot's shirt is quite a different color from the other reds in the shots. What did you shoot these with?

[paulfish4570]

Tannehill State Park is west of Birmingham in Tuscaloosa County. Trade Days is a weekend-long event once a month for nine months of the year.

[paulfish4570]

Fuji 200, Wal-Mart special; four rolls for $6.84.

I reckon that's more of a scarlet hue ...

[paulfish4570]

There were some big 'ol men there, too. One of them, in fact, noticed I was shooting a rangefinder, and told me of a processing shop in a suburb where I never would have expected a film processor to be ...

[Bill58]

Talk about cellulite......... Damn, I'm glad I'm in Korea. However, great shots.

Thanks,
Bill

[paulfish4570]

Thanks, Bill.

[DougFord]

Check you out, Mr. Hip using Wal-mart color film.
FWIW – to my way of seeing, #4 is excellent, followed by #5.
The others don’t do anything for me.

Thanks for posting.

[gb hill]

Originally Posted by paulfish4570

Fuji 200, Wal-Mart special; four rolls for $6.84.

I reckon that's more of a scarlet hue ...

Wow!! I would of guessed 400 film. That sun was awfully bright wasn't it!

[paulfish4570]

It was hide and seek, maybe 84 degrees.

Thanks for all of your comments.

[paulfish4570]

Mr. Hip was using Wal-Mart color because Wal-Mart apparently no longer sells bw400cn. I had to drive 35 miles yesterday to pay through the nose for some xp2 at a photo shop.
One roll of 36 exposure cost what all four 24-exposure rolls of Superia 200 cost. Bought four rolls of xp2 anyhow.

[raid]

Paul,
Buy XP2 from ebay or from RFF.

[paulfish4570]

Now, that's a thought. Thanks.

[Vince Lupo]

Originally Posted by CLE-RF

Alabama, land of the big women and the skinny men

And unloved Crocs!

I like the last shot the best, and I think you could really get a lot of great shots at this flea market, if it's a regular thing. Overall a great start though!

Does it start in the early morning? I know that with some of the flea markets around here (Baltimore), the real deals are done at about 5am before everyone gets there.

[KenR]

The lights better early in the day as well. The vendors setting up thier stuff might be as interesting as the actual flea market.

[paulfish4570]

I like early morning light, too. We waited around all morning for my son and his wife to call. I will probably hit it again in May ...

[daves]

Most of these are very bright, but in spite of that I like them. Really, you'd have been better off at least a stop down on a couple of them, 3 especially, which I think is great compositionally. 2 is also nice and around the right exposure in tricky conditions. However, 5 is the image with the most potential and could have been absolutely stellar had you taken a different angle, got closer and been just a touch sharper. That way you could have avoided getting the vending machine in the shot and the person halfway into the frame on the right. in fact, I'd just like to see these guys against the clapboard and absolutely nothing else. Still, you can't do everything right all the time and it's a good picture anyway.
On another note, can people calm down on the fat people remarks, please. Part of the reason people are wary of street photography sometimes is because they feel pressured into looking perfect all the time and don't want to be seen if they're not living up to mediated ideals of physical acceptability. From what I can see, I think I'd probably enjoy a day at this place and that most of the people would probably be pretty nice. Isn't that more important than sniping at people because they're big? I doubt many guys who post unseen on photography forums would win many male beauty contests, either.

[dfoo]

Nice shots! Daves, there is a huge (no pun intended!) difference between being beautiful and being obese.

[aliceelizabeth]

i would have come in lower down near the shoes and got some dof over the top of them, perhaps try that next time? it's a good subject you've picked out there

and crocs belong nowhere but in the dustbin - arg horrible ugly shoes! whoever thought that was a good idea

[paulfish4570]

Thanks for all of your tips and comments.
These were some tough lighting conditions with a bright hide-and-seek sun; metering was catch as catch can.
I had to shoot the old men fast while the laughing one still was joshing with me. I didn't want him to change his mind ...

[aliceelizabeth]

Originally Posted by paulfish4570

Thanks for all of your tips and comments.
These were some tough lighting conditions with a bright hide-and-seek sun; metering was catch as catch can.
I had to shoot the old men fast while the laughing one still was joshing with me. I didn't want him to change his mind ...

i meant the shoes in the 4th photo

[paulfish4570]

Oh, I know that alicelizabeth. Thanks, though, for the clarification.

I composed the shoe shot to make sure I got the legs of the couple in the background. I could have spent 30 minutes at the pile o' plastic shoes shooting different angles and close-ups, but didn't want to draw interest from the vendor. Gotta shoot and scoot ...