Currently, there is an undercurrent of clever and artistic prose,  photography, and video  hidden among the customer product reviews on Amazon’s site. These “Customer Reviews” can be submitted by anyone who registers with Amazon as a customer. Near the end of January 2010 it came to my attention that we are in the midst of a groundswell of creativity and cleverness with regard to these reviews. A few of the products with fictitious and/or hysterically funny reviews include a laptop writing desk you attach to a steering wheel, dead rabbits, milk, and Bic pens.

Customers can also upload photos (shown as thumbnails below the main photo of the product on that product’s main Amazon page), which are apropos of the product, in many wonderful and twisted ways. For example, these are some of the photos included in the review of the writing desk.

Now, you would assume the pictures would tell the whole story regarding this ridiculous product, but no. Customers describe their experiences using it as a mobile bar, changing table for baby, and work surface for model ship building!

The “Raven”-esque review of Tuscan Milk by “Edgar” of “Baltimore” is beautifully written and worthy of national attention.  The review of rabbit meat “mistakenly” purchased as a children’s gift at Easter is pointed commentary on our gullible and litigious society (as is the Bic pen review by the dissatisfied customer who found the pen to only function as advertised if used in one hand, but not the other).

And then there was video! An astute consumer friend of mine steered me to the Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt video review! Classic! If you’ve ever wondered who would actually wear a shirt like this, the review is a testimonial to the shirt’s power: “This video is living proof that you will get women, and fly.”

Certainly I don’t want to stem the tide of creativity by bringing Amazon’s attention to all this but it does beg the question, ‘who’s monitoring all the product reviews, videos,  and photographs people upload?’ Can I add a review easily? Are the products real (a gallon of milk for $67.99)? Why are some “reviewed” products featured in the “reviews”  of other products (product placement of Tuscan milk in the Three Wolf Moon review)? Are we on the verge of a conspiracy to overtake Madison Avenue? Are all the fake reviews written by one person, or a secret braintrust in some remote hideaway? What do the actual makers of these products think of the reviews, assuming they even know? Why am I going on and on about this? One thing is certain, there is no such thing as ‘bad’ advertising! If it brings attention to your product, it’s all good! Such creativity is sure to bring more traffic to Amazon’s site.

In conclusion, I’ve been wondering how to find the reviews that are worth reading. I haven’t searched them out myself–people send me the links (Special thanks to my astute observer friends, Tom, Patricia, and Mike). It seems just about everyone knows of one. How many are there? Dozens? Thousands?! So far, I’ve collected five. If you know of one, email me the link (via the “Contact” tab on this page) and I will compile a list for our collective enjoyment!

When does the “Decisive Moment” Happen?
Many great photographs were made in this manner, though not out of sheer luck. Usually, they’re pre-composed, i.e. the photographer was ready and waiting for the magic to happen. Whether a breaching whale or a baby staring directly at the camera, once you miss that fleeting moment, it’s gone forever. So important was the idea of the “Decisive Moment” that the great street photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson wrote an entire book describing it!

Anatomy of the “Jaws” Image
Note the determined look on the man’s face, which is not incongruous with the background image painted on the wall of the building. You’ll agree that this juxtaposition makes the photograph. Was it planned? Not at all. But I had to be ready for it if it happened! Therefore, for this kind of street photography to be a success, there’s obviously more involved than just being in the right place at the right time. You need to pick a location, a background or setting with which to work. Then you hope something magical happens.

I choose this mural and shot several images as people passed by. I got lucky with this particular guy, who looks so determined and in a hurry. The fact that his jaw resembles that of the mural skull was an added bonus! I shot the image from my car window with a Canon Rebel XT DSLR with a 28-135mm lens zoomed all the way out. The photo is uncropped. I decided ahead of time that I wanted the mural in focus rather than the passersby, since I didn’t necessarily want the people to be recognizable. Therefore I switched the lens to manual focus and preset it for the mural. (The fact that I was using a zoom forced me to use critical focusing, as a long zoom’s depth of field can be very shallow.) To further blur the person, I used a relatively slow shutter speed, 1/30 second.

Now, you can try just the opposite in your own experimentation with such photojournalistic street photography. Pre-focus on something closer in order to get the passersby crisp, which will cause the background to blur (assuming you’re using a zoom). Either is acceptable. If you’re shooting close to your subject (a la Gary Winogrand), perhaps you can just shoot with a wide angle lens. This way, everything from maybe four feet to infinity will be in focus.

Cartier-Bresson, Doisneau, and Brassai
Many great photographs were made by pre-composing a scene, then shooting at the decisive moment. For further illustration (and much better examples of the genre than I can provide), please see the works of master photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, and Brassai. As you look at their imagery, notice how much of the composition is provided by the background, as opposed to the supposed “subject.” Realize that a true artistic composition is just that, a whole composed of lesser parts. Would my photo of the walking man be of any interest at all if not for the background? Would the background hold its own as a still life? Probably not.

Finding Your Own Way To Shooting the “Decisive Moment”
The photographers mentioned above are famous for capturing street scenes in imaginative and highly artistic ways. Studying their work can help add a new dimension to your own photography.

Realize that while emulation may be a sincere form of praise, people who practice specific techniques (as these folks do a la Cartier-Bresson) may achieve sadly derivative results. It’s really best to study the masters then find your own way. It’s been said that photography is like writing. Everybody can do it, but almost nobody should. If you want something more than a snapshot, concentrate on composition. You’ll also notice that very few of the examples I’ve shown are in color. That’s because black and white adds artistic abstraction to almost any image; color tends to make almost everything look snapshoddy.