Random Excellence: Stan Banos

Alamo Square Park, San Francisco

Photo by Stan Banos

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(posted by) Mike

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Eric Rose: "Holy crap!! Stan finally gets some long overdue respect!! Way to go buddy!!"

Sid: "Thanks for introducing me to the photographs of Stan Banos who truly deserves great acclaim. His work is superb."

Stan B.: "Honored. The photo was taken on my daily constitutional—about half an hour after reading the 'Picture Hunting' post. A few minutes earlier—nothing but the background (San Francisco's famous Painted Ladies); a few minutes later, devoid the crucial human element. That area, usually crammed with tourists and selfies is now...well, see for yourself. Tech details: Ricoh GR, Elements 9."

[I added the link in that. —Ed.]

John Camp: "Love the suitcase shot. And the Titanic."

Mike adds: Ditto. I think "Security Guy" is classic as well.

Comments

[Robert Roaldi]

Thanks, that site was a pleasure to look at.

[Noons]

The number of photos published nowadays with clearly and obviously exaggerated white smiles (or should I call them photoshop smiles?) leaves me doubting anything I see online from so-called "pros"!
Same goes for B&W...

[Jim Metzger]

This comes from being an Architect for 40 years but I find it odd that the pavement is held horizontal in the image and the houses are all leaning like dominos about to fall.This is one of the most famous steep streets in the world and the the way the photographer presents this is disconcerting.

That said, I differ to Stan, it may have been his intention to create this visual discordant note.

[Stan B.]

Jim- Very observant... Alamo Square Park (above) is on a hill, atop a hill. The walkway in the foreground is level (and elevated above the street), while the the houses below it display the street's actual incline. Throw in that I'm pointing the camera downward on the incline I'm situated on, some distortion inherent in a 28mm equivalent lens, and... that's the best I can do.

[mikegj]

I think Architect Jim Metzger is confused. The "pavement" in the foreground is a play area in the park (shuffleboard or basketball court), likely quite completely level, and correctly represented. The actual street is not held level, but drains downhill, to the viewer's left.

The houses (the famous "painted ladies," are most often photographed looking downhill from a position to the right of this POV) appear to lean, due to the keystone effect from the camera being pointed slightly down, resulting in the sensor/film plane is not being plumb vertical, and thus not coplanar with the house fronts.

As a result, the houses, save the one in the middle, appear to lean outward in both directions. Stan B. framed with the best lens and camera available, the one he had with him. If he had had a view camera or a wider lens, he probably could have framed and cropped a completely "square" photo, with all elements orthogonal and appearing normal.

[David Comdico]

Nice shot. Congrats Stan.

[Dave in NM]

Kudos, Stan!

[Barry H. Prager]

Yo Mike. I'm the Olympus/DxO guy you mentioned in your follow up article. Thanks. I seem to be prowling around the same neighborhood as Stan Banos, and would love for you to check out my pics. The address is fotofiend.smugmug.com. Check out Street in Color and Street in B&W.

[Kathie Novak]

Beautiful work, Stan! Congratulations!
Kathie Novak

[Phil Gyford]

One of the Painted Ladies sold recently and the new owner is documenting its current state and its future renovation on Twitter, Instagram, etc. The project has an official photographer https://twitter.com/pinkpaintedlady/status/1250454116192550912