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DPChallenge Forums >> Individual Photograph Discussion >> Insights #3: Read into this picture
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 12/19/2004 12:52:37 AM · #1

"Chess Moves"
by: Mach Sovan

Does anyone see anything in this photograph besides someone playing chess? This photo appeared in the GAMES challenge and finished 43rd out of 94 photos with an average score of 5.389.
12/19/2004 02:40:42 AM · #2
I see a checkmate in 4, awesome composition and blown highlights. =)

Seriously though, this fragment associates with, and represents very well, a much bigger picture that does not need to be included in the shot to be felt and seen. One of those small New Yorkish parks where a bunch of people are usually playing chess, someone riding their bike, people on benches, spring, saturday, a few kids and their moms, pigeons and some old guy feeding them bread crumbs, maybe a few students passing by, and so on.

This _is_ indeed a very good shot.
 12/19/2004 04:33:36 AM · #3
Although the man could be holding his hand tightly near his chest, just because that is habit, it also looks like he could cerebral palsy.

To me this image conveys how the game of chess, or this location, and event of chess is able to break down walls and bring people of all types together on a common ground to 'communicate' and relate to eachother. People would gather in this park and play chess and be friends even though they perhaps would not be friends or have the opportunity to meet in any other situation... It is a picture of community.

I think the cut off jaw which pinches the very top left of the picture is a bit distracting, and i think i WOULD like to see more of the community.. it may give a better idea of people of all types gathering together... not sure..just some thoughts.
 12/19/2004 05:15:20 AM · #4
Interesting thoughts. Actually, I think he's just clutching a cane in that hand. But I do agree that the highlights could be better (and the purple fringing around the black pieces is too bad), but the composition really is excellent.

One cool thing about this photo is that the guy has bent his hat brim up so that he can look down to play chess without his hat getting in the way. He clearly plays out here a lot. It's also a cheap setup since it looks like he has already captured a king, which they probably substituted for the missing bishop. The photo says a lot about the environment and the people who play here. I love candids like this. :-)
 12/19/2004 05:20:33 AM · #5
Originally posted by PhilipDyer:
Interesting thoughts. Actually, I think he's just clutching a cane in that hand. But I do agree that the highlights could be better (and the purple fringing around the black pieces is too bad), but the composition really is excellent.

One cool thing about this photo is that the guy has bent his hat brim up so that he can look down to play chess without his hat getting in the way. He clearly plays out here a lot. It's also a cheap setup since it looks like he has already captured a king, which they probably substituted for the missing bishop. The photo says a lot about the environment and the people who play here. I love candids like this. :-)


ok, yeah.. it COULD be a cane... but my I still stand behind my point, or a meeting place for EVERYONE....

but i don't get the king/bishop thing.. i count 4 bishops.. 2 kings (still on the board)
 12/19/2004 06:28:41 AM · #6
I was thinking that one of the captured black pieces looked like a king, even though the black king is still on the board. On second look, I think you're right - it's probably just the other bishop. Never mind! :-)
 12/19/2004 06:29:27 AM · #7
I don't see a game in the park with a group of onlookers
but a small informal tournment (maybe setup buy the local comunity group)... the tables are temporary and the chess boards are paper taped to the tables, while it is outside there is a painted wall behind which suggests a courtyard to me... the man to the left is not watching this game but waiting for his opponent to move in his own game
thats what I read into the picture, but location is "Union Square, San Francisco CA" I have no Idea where this is so I maybe wrong :)

Message edited by author 2004-12-19 06:30:18.
 12/19/2004 07:56:19 AM · #8
It speaks to me more of the involvement of the game, of the combative element of chess: look athe intensity of this man's pose - the hand poised above the board like a hawk hovering over it's prey, the fixity of the stare (he ain't looking toward his hand, is he?), the tension in the curl of his body over his cane, the absolute focus evident in that massive absorption, that real sense of moving in for the kill.

I'm intrigued that most people commenting here seem to have brought their own cultural references to it - things that at best are only partyly hinted at in this image. The light suggests outside, the presence of another table so close suggests a tournament ... but everything else has been brought to this image out of somewhere other: it isn't actually present here.

I think that's a very careless way of looking at photographs - and restrictive, for the viewer. It means that all you can bring to an image is something from your own world, your own presumptions. Surely it's more useful and important to allow an image to tell you its own story?

E

12/19/2004 08:20:06 AM · #9
Originally posted by e301:
It speaks to me more of the involvement of the game, of the combative element of chess: look athe intensity of this man's pose - the hand poised above the board like a hawk hovering over it's prey, the fixity of the stare (he ain't looking toward his hand, is he?), the tension in the curl of his body over his cane, the absolute focus evident in that massive absorption, that real sense of moving in for the kill.

I'm intrigued that most people commenting here seem to have brought their own cultural references to it - things that at best are only partyly hinted at in this image. The light suggests outside, the presence of another table so close suggests a tournament ... but everything else has been brought to this image out of somewhere other: it isn't actually present here.

I think that's a very careless way of looking at photographs - and restrictive, for the viewer. It means that all you can bring to an image is something from your own world, your own presumptions. Surely it's more useful and important to allow an image to tell you its own story?

E


Well i am afraid I don't agree with you on this.
I think that is the POINT of art. I think art is made to create thoughts and ideas in ther person viewing.... of COURSE cultural, and family and every other type of influence will play a part in translating the image... and it should.
I think a skillful photograph creates a picture for people that DOESN'T say everything about what it is... but lets people decide for themselves... it LOOKS to me that it is in america, it LOOKS like it is in a park and it LOOKS like there could be lots of chess boards around... therefore it translate that it is a group of people playing chess in a park in america... (which by the way is not my culture)
 12/19/2004 08:42:16 AM · #10
It portrays absorption, intensity, high concentration, total focus.
 12/19/2004 09:42:23 AM · #11
to make the viewer feel like they are part of the action of the game.
to try to portray the drama of chess, and at the same time exagerate the action involved in playing. to try to make chess Feel like a contact sport.


12/19/2004 09:44:17 AM · #12
I had a feeling you were going to bring this picture up, John :).
 12/19/2004 09:48:56 AM · #13
The guy is a Vetnam vet, with a cane, kicking butt in chess.
 12/19/2004 10:25:29 AM · #14
Simply this shot conveys Thought, decision and/or Indecision to me. His focus is on the on the impact of his next move. He has a piece (or two) in mind but not totally convinced that it is the best piece to move to move, as captured by the hand hovering over board instead of actually holding a piece in his fingers. Slow and methodical he is actually computing several moves down the road.

ED: Grammar

Message edited by author 2004-12-19 10:26:27.
 12/19/2004 01:24:51 PM · #15
Originally posted by awpollard:
Simply this shot conveys Thought, decision and/or Indecision to me. His focus is on the on the impact of his next move. He has a piece (or two) in mind but not totally convinced that it is the best piece to move to move, as captured by the hand hovering over board instead of actually holding a piece in his fingers. Slow and methodical he is actually computing several moves down the road.

ED: Grammar


The first thing I thought when I saw this shot and Johns request to look deeper into it was this: Decisive indecisiveness. He sees it, but still wants to make sure it is really there! (have you ever seen Searching for Bobby Fisher?)
 12/19/2004 02:24:16 PM · #16
What I see in this photo is a 'hustler' at work. The guy with the cap is trying too hard to look poor. His shave is clean around the edges and he's not wearing 'cheap' sunglasses.

There are lots of parks like this one across the country where people play various modes of chess for money. They attract a lot of master chess players. People don't show up dressed to impress. If you appear to be a slob, people may think you play like one.

This is the element of this photo that captivated me when I saw it originally. I don't know if it's 'true' or not, but it was my impression.
 12/24/2004 11:55:25 AM · #17
I think the guy in the cap is blind. The paper boards are brailled so they can tell where the pieces are.

Chess is a game of the mind and the concentration required for a blind man to 'see' the board and the pieces and such would be phenomenally complex.

Course, I'm probably reading way to much into the cane and dark sunglasses.
 12/24/2004 12:51:25 PM · #18
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
What I see in this photo is a 'hustler' at work. The guy with the cap is trying too hard to look poor. His shave is clean around the edges and he's not wearing 'cheap' sunglasses.

There are lots of parks like this one across the country where people play various modes of chess for money. They attract a lot of master chess players. People don't show up dressed to impress. If you appear to be a slob, people may think you play like one.

This is the element of this photo that captivated me when I saw it originally. I don't know if it's 'true' or not, but it was my impression.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Your gut impression is correct. However, being a chess player, allow me to explain these hustlers better. There is the Grandmaster, the master and the Jr. master. Before this are the expert and these people have an aptitude for the game but many do not dedicate themselves enough. The jr aims to be a master and the master wants to become a grandmaster. You rise from expert which is about a 1700 rating, to jr, etc.

The expert is where the hustlers come from. They take on the newcomers because chess is governed by strength ratings. Meaning that a master will win most games from a jr master and the grandmasters most from the masters. The experts get slaughtered when they play a class above them.
All above masters weaken their play by hanging out playing the lower classes.

My point being that the hustlers are nothing near being a chess master. They excell with the woodpusher.

When masters, even jr. master visit a public place chess players are happy to pay and take a board. A grandmaster can play multiple boards and win them all.
 12/24/2004 02:17:14 PM · #19
Originally posted by graphicfunk:
When masters, even jr. master visit a public place chess players are happy to pay and take a board. A grandmaster can play multiple boards and win them all.

I've heard tales from the "old days" when a Grandmaster would play numerous simultaneous games -- blindfolded.
 12/24/2004 04:29:25 PM · #20
The hovering hand of death.

Robt.
 12/26/2004 04:34:39 AM · #21
For me, I glanced at your photo for only a few seconds and then moved on. After coming back to it later, I decided that it was a good photo, and if I had paid more attention the first time, I would have enjoyed it more. Major factors affecting my viewing of this were:
- The blown out highlights: That turns me off immediately, and that is probably why I sailed by it the first time. You could possibly have exposed it a bit less, but then you may have started loosing critical detail in the facial expression of the attacking chess player. Not much you can do there but wait for better lighting.
- The pose is shot in a too straight forward manner. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing, but it could affect how people react to the photo. An alternative to this might be shooting with a bit longer lens just into the guy's sunglasses plus face and picking up the reflection of the board and the hand. Or maybe just the hand hovering menacingly over the chess pieces. The straight ahead shot of an interesting gesture renders a photo that looks like it might be OK in a magazine story about chess players in the park, but doesn't stand well on its own.
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