Clear my throat. Do that while we're recording. Here we go. Welcome back to 3x2 photo cast.

And for anyone who's joining the show for the first time, this is essentially not the director's audio commentary, it's the observer's audio commentary for photos. So if you came here expecting to see photos, I'm sorry, you're going to be very disappointed. Actually, no, you can check the notes. Well, we do link them there as we talk.

Yeah, we do actually let you see them. We just. Yeah, we're doing something weird, but you have to appreciate that. So, yeah, thanks for joining.

And all threads cleared for this episode.

I think we're good to go. Yeah, we've got three photos each times two. And I think I'm kicking it off this time. So my first one, which. So no, by the way, no theme. Although at the end I'm going to reveal that there was in fact a theme that happened anyway in your photos.

Or that you identified once you saw all of our links.

Both. Yep.

Oh, wow. See, I come to this show surprised. I don't know what's going on. If anyone thinks we're planning stuff. Yeah, we choose photos. But I'm like, all right, cool. I'm listening too.

We're fast and loose here. Fast and loose.

All right, kick us off then.

Running and gunning, as they say. My first photo is called Love each other question mark. And it's pretty obvious once you see the photo why why it's called that. It is a black and white photo, street style photography in. I assume it's in Tokyo because that's. The person's name is in. It says Toto in Toto Street Tokyo. And they're also their little icon. Photo is really cool too, but I'm already getting off topic. So back to the photo. We're walking down an alleyway. It looks like the whole background is one of those, like temporary walls for construction. And then they tend to jazz them up a little bit to make it not look so industrial. So this just has some artwork on it. It's. It's just text. It says love each other question mark. Which is cool. That's, you know, it's nice to see something other than just a blank wall. But what I absolutely treasure about this is that coming into the frame from the left is a couple walking and they're blurred a little bit. So a little bit of a slower shutter speed to get them to be a little bit blurred. So instead of where you traditionally have the subject in focus and everything else, my people Are. This is the opposite. The whole background, very, very sharp. And then the people are just subtly. It gives it a sense of motion from. From left to right. And the fact that it's a couple walking along into a sign looking directly. Their eyeline is following the love each other question mark. I just think that's a really fun, like, play on them walking. They probably don't even notice that it's there. But the fact that it's captured in this way makes it seem like it's the only thing in is this statement. But then it has a question mark which kind of leaves you a little bit uncomfortable. Almost of like, do you love each other? So, yeah. Super cool. The black and white, I think, just kind of gives it that little extra touch that makes it really, really feel cool.

Yeah. Until we discover that it is, in fact, only one person. And the motion of the photo looks like their face is coming off their head. No, I'm just ruining the narrative here. It is definitely two people now. This is a great photo. Interesting, interesting find. I'm not going to repeat anything that you said because I think you summed the narrative or the suggestion really well. I think what I really like about it aesthetically, and this isn't necessarily anything that this glass user was constructing because it's just what's in front of this assumed construction wall. Like you said, it's the texture on the ground, that kind of patchwork, you know, the bricks. And then there's like some sort of opening to. I don't know, is it electrical stuff or water underneath with those circles and that rectangle there. It just gives it an interesting extra dimension or texture in this photo because you've got this gigant, gigantic board, this construction wall, with the words. So I like that it feels quite flat, but it also feels 3D. You get that sense of where they're walking along here. And maybe I'm really stretching it or being too metaphorical here, but you could interpret that like they're walking in their life together and the path ahead is going to be a bit bumpy or imperfect or not quite what you expect, because people's lives are under construction, aren't they? Nothing's final or realized. So they're entering from the left, they're going to the right, and this is their story. There'll be bumps along the way. So I'm going to impose that narrative on this photo. Even if Tato Street, Tokyo, didn't intend it. I think there's a lot that you could draw from this if you wanted to.

It is your right as a podcast person to do so.

Yeah. I love talking and that's why I'm here. I like listening too. That's part of it, isn't it?

I. You're you. I just want to. Yeah, you're definitely on the floor part. I think that's really. If it were just like straight asphalt all the way across, it would be kind of two dimensional and flat. But having that extra bit of uncertainty adds to the. Adds to the photo. And there's two big circles to me, I just. I keep thinking they're like a weird, like eyes looking up at it as well. So it's almost like all eyes on this message. I don't know.

Kind of like, is it Kuchi Kobe? I think it's Kuchi Kobe who's like Louise's little Japanese smushy toy from Bob's Burgers and just has these wide open eyes. Like. I don't know. I'm just getting those vibes now.

This is one of those photos that you could probably read into and come up with like 500 different ideas for what is being. What's happening here when it's just people walking. But that's why we do this. Yeah.

If these people ever actually heard how we'd interpreted their appearance in this photo, they'd be like, who are these guys? Nice one. All right, is it my turn?

Yeah, let's go with your first one.

Yeah. I happen to have a street photo here too, as my first option. And it was taken by Jennifer, put up on glass. And the caption is, I too am a person who can nap anywhere, even in the middle of Times Square. And the photo for people who are listening and haven't looked at the. The link yet is a person who's sleeping in a very kind of awkward. But they seem to be relaxed fashion on top of a green, I don't know, concrete block or railing or divider of some kind on the corner of a street surrounded by pedestrians on a street corner, there's the Miniso shop on a street corner behind them, there's woman walking out of the left of the frame with awesome hair, might I add. And yeah, this guy's just sleeping with the sun directly in his face, surrounded by people on a busy New York street corner. And look, I say power to him because I'm often tired, but I don't think just to sleep in the middle of the road. No, he's elevated, though, so it's kind of like a makeshift bed.

Yeah, this just feels like a nightmare to me. Having someone said you need to go sit on this concrete block and sleep in the middle of a bustling city. That sounds like a nightmare. But that being said, the. The bright lime green, it's. It's very, very bright.

Oh, yeah.

Which is not. I don't. When you think of things like concrete barriers in a city or just kind of things like this, you think orange, maybe yellow, maybe red. Lime green. Not the color I would have expected. So I feel like that's kind of cool that it's out of place. Yeah. I love how there is nothing calm in this photo. It is just people everywhere. Stuff everywhere. But there's so many things that I immediately pick up on. And this is just human brain, I guess, trying to find patterns and things. But the lime green of the blocks with the lime green on the building behind it. I love that we're in a city. And so on the far right, the person's sweatshirt, even though it's a person, it looks as though somebody has gone by and spray paint tagged the back of their shirt as though they were part of the background or one of the buildings. I think that's cool. And then you have the lines of the street in the bottom right corner matching up with the lines of the knocked over little divider thing that are both black and white, but opposite sets of black and white. So there's just all these things that seem to tie together in a scene where nothing is supposed to be cohesive. It's just kind of chaos.

Oh, it's my.

Him in the middle of a city. Yeah. But yet we find kind of some peace in that. So very, very. I mean, and the person sleeping in the middle of all this, that's peaceful. But it's just a weird. Such a odd collection of things put together that come out to feel kind of restful. Even though nothing about this is restful.

Yeah. And we don't know this person's story. And obviously when you walk through any city, like, I feel really sad and horrible for people who are experiencing homelessness. And this doesn't appear to be that. I don't know if he's just on his way to work and got really tired or he's backpacking. And at first I thought his ankle, you know, foot was snapping off the way it's there. But I think his foot's just come out of his shoe. So I think he's just really tired.

Yeah.

So I hope this guy had a nice day following his nap. It's hard to tell.

Such a scene.

Yeah. So that's Number one for me.

All right. Number two, going out of chaos and into. Well, I guess it depends. This is a Ferris wheel. It's the kind of. You're kind of on the ground looking up at it. It's about a quarter of the wheel. You were pretty close to it. Beautiful white and blue background in the sky. Beautiful sky. Very, very saturated. Bright pink all over this thing. I was drawn because of the pink. I love that all the cars have people in them. And the blue. I like that the blue and the white kind of match up with the background in a way, but then you're completely thrown off by the bright pink. And there's just something about a Ferris wheel against a blue, you know, nice blue sky that. How could you not love that? But I said that this was, like the opposite of chaos. But I. I guess I would have to take that back a little bit because I personally don't like heights. So going into Ferris wheels is not my favorite thing. Especially when there are these open ones. The closed ones, I can kind of get on board with that. But the open ones, definitely not. But outside of my fear of heights, just the raw colors in this, I love. I think there's something just absolutely beautiful about a pink on blue. Just looks absolutely stunning. I love it.

Yeah. The thing that strikes me about this photo is you look at it and you go, oh, there's a Ferris wheel. It's beautiful against the sky. But I like photos where something is slowly revealed or pops out to you that you didn't notice the first time. Maybe because it was busy or the focal point was set somewhere. It kind of distracts you.

I think. I think I know where you're going.

But go ahead and you zoom in. I did not even notice when I first looked at them. There's just. You look at that middle kind of Ferris wheel, car or carriage. And there's. There are these two women, and one of them's just like, I don't know, pouting. Looking directly at the camera. Yeah. And you don't know if the person knows the photographer or if it's like, oi, you. What are you, like, just spotted or is laughing? I have no idea. And then down the bottom, there's also this guy who's half covered in the shadow of the. The tinted glass. He looks like he's having a great time. He's bursting on this fair as well. He's just loving it.

Yeah. Okay. The guy at the bottom was the one that I was gonna call out after you went, because. Yeah, there's the One on the top where it looks like. When you first look at it, if you don't look real close, it looks like they're screaming, like they're just not enjoying this.

Yeah.

Then you look at the one below and it is. Is this person on the run from somebody because they see, like, they've got a hat on, sunglasses just kind of tucked down in the booth look, looking straight ahead with no kind of expression whatsoever? Yeah.

In case listeners couldn't register my extreme sarcasm, he is not particularly engaged in anything. He's just sitting on a Ferris wheel, letting life happen to him.

That's great.

So, yeah.

Yeah. I did not notice either of those when I first looked at it at first. And then I looked again later. It was like, oh, there's some little hidden secrets in here.

And also good that it's not the whole Ferris wheel. Like, I think people are often tempted to take a photo of the whole Ferris wheel or the thing that you're looking at. This is more interesting because it's only a fragment of the Ferris wheel. Just looks more interesting. It's a nice one, Kevin.

Yeah. Often if the closer you get, the more interesting things become. Right. And there's always this kind of. I'll just speak in generality because that's all I can do. But there's always this thought to try to capture everything in one photo. Like, I have to get the whole scene. And oftentimes that just sort of leaves you with no mate, nothing to look at because there's almost too much. So the fact that you can really zoom in on this, if we had been back far enough to see this whole frame, never would have saw that person with the look on their face or even be able to maybe pick out this guy on the bottom. You probably would have missed all of that. So, yeah, very good point.

Absolutely. And that's a nice one. Thank you, Jason. My second one. This is a photo that was uploaded to Flickr by Keith, and the title is Rainbow Over Wollongong. Wollongong is my home city. I found this photo. I love it. I'm very familiar with this scene. But to describe it, and I'll read out the description that Keith has put there, it's a panorama taken from Robertson's Lookout in New South Wales, Australia. From left to right, you see Mount Kira in Wollongong, then the Port Kembla Steelworks. And you can see this isn't in the description, but it's the Tasman Sea in the distance which connects to the Pacific Ocean. And it's actually Four vertical HDR shots stitched together. I love this photo because you've got down the bottom. The very bottom of the photo is the outcrop that is Mount Kira on the Illawarra Escarpment. And you can see it stretching down through the foothills into the city of Wollongong below, with the sea in the distance. But the vast majority of the photo, the top two thirds to three quarters, I think, is a partly cloudy sky with this beautiful rainbow. Like, pretty much full rainbow, but for a few breaks in light in the clouds across the photo, it's gorgeous. I love where I live, and I just thought it was a nice way of showcasing my region. And it even kind of made me think maybe a future episode. It'd be cool to have photos as a theme of our own homes, not like our houses, but where we come from, you know, just to give.

This is my living room. This is where I sit on the sofa.

This is where I go to the toilet every morning. Yeah. Just to give people a bit of an insight or show a bit of ourselves. But, yeah, this one kind of inspired me because I love the region where I live. And it also makes me laugh because Mount Kira and by extension, Mount Kambla, which is the other side of the escarpment framing the city, if you're looking from. From the sea, not this direction, but the other way. They're called mountains, but Australia is a very flat continent, so when we say mountain, it's really just a hill or like a glorified pimple. So it looks quite tiny here, but it's a lovely lookout and area to visit. So, yeah, just a shout out for Wollongong and a nice photo by Keith.

But by comparison to the rest of the flatness, they're pretty big. Yes.

Yes, that's right. They're very nice mounds.

This is kind of the opposite of the last one where we didn't go in. We actually went extra far out to do the stitching. I remember doing that, like, back a long time ago in the SLR days of turning vertical, getting a bunch of shots, bringing it into. I don't remember what the name of the tools are anymore, but stitching them all together and trying to get them all to line up and have the right exposure and everything, and that was always such a. Such a task to try. And then when phones started doing it, where you just sort of like go from left to right without really any care, it was. It was quite a shift in the way things were done, I will say. But, yeah, as far as this goes, this is absolutely beautiful. I love the fact that it is a. That the rainbow is. When you see a whole part of a rainbow, pretty special. It's nice. But when you get that all the way from Horizon all the way around to Horizon, that's just. That's just awesome. And this is a great example of that. We're even starting to get a little bit of the double. The second rainbow above it. Really beautiful. And I love that. There's just a cool description about it of what the place is. And we have the added benefit of you live there, so you can give us even more. But if I had nothing else, it is just. I want to go here. This place looks beautiful. Having a giant rainbow certainly does not hurt. But even if there were no rainbow, this would still be a stunning landscape that was stitched together here by Keith. So well done, Keith. Absolutely beautiful. And I could look at rainbow photos all day. They do not get old. That is a fact.

Thank you, Jason. And you are more than welcome to visit the city whenever you like. I know we're far away. I didn't actually mention my favorite part of the photo. And that's. Although it's a panorama and it's stitched together as you were just expanding on, it doesn't feel like one because it's not super wide and short in height. It actually has some height to it with that rainbow. So it's a panorama. That doesn't exactly feel like a panorama. It just feels very airy and, you know, roomy.

Like, is it gigapixels or whatever. I forget what they're called, where they take. It's like the panorama kind of process, but tons of rows. So it's really just about getting a huge version of kind of a normal aspect ratio, which. Yeah, you're right. If you had cut off like a bottom of this to where to make it more. That kind of theoretical. You know, what a panorama is when you think of it? I like that. This is actually bigger and more of a standard ish aspect ratio.

Yeah, exactly. So we share that thought now. Your last one.

All right, Third. Third set. Here we go. And I am now realizing I have picked two photos from the same person.

I did say that it's a first on the show.

That was not on purpose, but here we go.

Tado Street, Tokyo. Jason loves you. That's what I do.

I really. I really do. Second photo in the same episode. So this surprising no. 1 picture of a cat. Okay, that's cool. Yeah. I mean, you know who. You could have infinite numbers of pictures of cats and dogs all day long. And that's already. Already you've got a 10 out of 10 because you took a picture of a cute animal. That's great. But this has a little hidden surprise in it. The title of it is just simply question mark emoji. And you're like, okay, interesting. You look at the cat, and the cat looks a little bit inquisitive about what's going on. I can't tell. I think we're maybe looking through, like an open sliding door perhaps, or a window maybe. Not quite sure. We're looking at a cat. It's hanging out. It's got this look, like kind of, what are you doing? But then you look right above his head, and there is a perfectly placed, big white question mark on the window behind him that gives this cartoonish appearance of this kind of, you know, balloon coming out of their head with a question mark, like, what the heck's going on here? And that is, like, just. You can't not love that. It's fun. It's. It's. Again, it gives this kind of cartoon appearance to it. And the look on the face just matches this sort of like this inquisitive look. It's just great. It's a really fun photo. Without the question mark, it would be a cute little cat, but with that question mark, just absolutely awesome.

Yeah, it's just a really nice example of cool shadow and framing. I think it, you know, it's well positioned. The question mark above the cat's head. I think there's some thought and care. Even if this was noticed very quickly or just walking past it makes the photo of the cat more interesting. Like the Ferris wheel. It could just be a photo of a Ferris wheel or a cat, but there's something more around this. So, yeah, I think you are justified in having two photos by Tato Street, Tokyo.

And this feels like the kind of scenario where you would be like, oh, I'm walking by and I'm going to get this cat real quick. And then you take it and almost look later and see the question mark was there because you're focused on the cat. Yes, the question mark is there, but you're kind of like, you have your focus, and I could see that coming out later of like, well, that's absolutely wonderful that I happen to get that moment.

Yeah, it's just a nice, crisp cat. There's a lot of sharpness in that cat. So, yeah, thumbs up from me for the cat.

All right, final one for you.

Last one for me. This is a Portrait which was uploaded by Bruce and it's gorgeous. I love it. The caption is ice cream and face arm painting. The sun came out and it didn't feel so much like winter. I got a mount so I can use my F mount lenses on my Nikon Z5II. They're all manual focus now, but the focus peaking works really well. This is with the 105mm f 2.8 macro lens. It's not bad for portraits either. So there's a nice bit of detail and background about how the photo was taken and what's going on. I assume this is one of Bruce's family members or child. Just from other photos that I've seen on Bruce's account. And it's just this gorgeous little girl completely lost in eating this super melty ice cream cone. You can see the face and arm paintings. There's this beautiful, creamy, you know, bocalicious background. To say it in a cheesy way, I just think it's just a beautiful portrait of a kid having one of the greatest moments of their life eating melty ice cream in the sun. And look, we've all been there. We're all a kid eating a melty ice cream and just letting it drip all over our hands. And this is. I think I actually left in a comment on Bruce's photo before recording this with you. Let me just find you. What did I say? Yeah. A magical portrait. Such a nice encapsulation of childhood. I just think it just shows pure joy and I wanted to finish the episode this way.

Fantastic. Yeah. The. The background separation. I love that. It's just the focus is the kid with the ice cream. There's nothing. Who cares what's in the background? The detail of the hair and the ice cream and the cone is crazy good. Love that. And the. The dedication in the eyes of this child to this ice cream cone. Nothing else matters. This is. This is it. This is my life. Nothing before this mattered. Nothing else after this matters. It's this ice cream cone, 100%. And at first I thought, before I read the part about the face painting, I thought there just ice cream and sprinkles in random places all over their face as well. Now I know it's the face painting so that that helps with that, but man, it just makes you want an ice cream cone and it makes you think, can I still eat ice cream cones like that? Or is that okay? Because I really want to get out an ice cream cone just like that.

That's fine. I know waffle cones are really the thing for most people, or I suppose older kids or grownups or something. But there's nothing wrong with a wafer cone, particularly if you want the lighter option. And, you know, wafer cones have those little kind of like compartments, the way that they're made, like those little edges inside. So once again, it's really filled up. Yeah. So you've essentially kind of got the ice cream cone equivalent of something like a crumpet with holes in it where it just collects, you know, the stuff as it melts or spreads. So, yeah, nothing wrong with a wafer cone.

You get like a bunch of tiny little ice cream sandwiches that you get to eat, basically.

Yeah. So, yeah, I want to be more like this kid, super focused, joyful, and holding ice cream.

It's just perfect.

So thank you, Bruce, for sharing this beautiful moment.

Thanks, Bruce.

So, Jason, what's I suppose to wrap up the episode? What's this theme or discovery that you have?

Every photo I picked was taken with a Ricoh GR III X. And every photo you picked was with a Nikon Z. Z Z, was it? I think so.

No, the Wollongong one was a Sony.

Oh, so close.

But very, very close.

Dang it.

You do love the Ricoh.

Yeah.

Clearly that's what you're after.

Very clear. Yeah. Pretty much the only camera I use anymore. And apparently I have an eye for that now, so there you go.

That's fine. That's fine. Well, look, this has been fun as always, Jason. I hope listeners have enjoyed it, too. We'll be back. I don't know. We'll be at a theme next time. Maybe we'll do one, you know, of our home region sometime in the future. We're just making it up, Whatever.

It's possible. Yeah. Look at the photos in the. In the notes as you listen along or listen first, look at them after. You can do it however you like. But most important thing is thank you all for listening and we'll see you. You'll hear us next month. Thanks, Martin.

Thanks, Jason. See you, listeners. Bye. Bye. Bye, Sam.