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*The following diatribe may contain paragraphs of a strong pseudo intellectual nature and or sentences containing big words. If you are offended by intellectual comments, compound words, punctuation, spelling and or grammar you may wish to avoid the following material. (It's all fluff anyway).

 

First let me state that working clowns around the world take umbrage when I am associated with their profession either directly or indirectly. Likewise diplomats and ambassadors of goodwill are piqued when I am accused of interloping on their turf. In my own defense I will say that a prior comment directed to me stating that teaching should be restricted to the classroom makes about as much sense as restricting spirituality only to churches. As far as being one of those weird guys, I am left-handed and therefore in some sort of minority except of course when it comes to art. I think that brings us up to date on the name calling, so (please) allow me to express that how I spent my free time and the thrift I employ in allocating it to my personal diversions happens to be one of my individual rights.

 

Several visitors to this forum seem to place great weight on a persons portfolio and or qualifications for their evaluations of the photos that are presented here because the site administrators deemed these photos worthy of special recognition. One thing our society (or culture if you prefer) has taught us is that it is very easy to bestow recognition without first being worthy of it. Recognition without accomplishment is rampant everywhere we look. You dont need a good product as long as you have a good commercial. You dont need a winning team as long as people will buy tickets to watch them play. The words you suck, may sound great at the ballpark when the home team lets you down in the bottom of the ninth inning, but it is hardly a compelling challenge to a superior statement of fact on this forum. Perhaps if you had added the phrase, nana nana boo boo you could have scored additional style points for your efforts.

 

Those who have rated this photo (and taken ownership rights to it) as 10/10 are not surprisingly its most vocal defenders. So when I or anyone else points out (over and over) its obvious defects, we are in effect (or more precisely in their minds) saying they are wrong and I am sorry that they feel that way. This photo is not original in style or subject. It is not technically or aesthetically superior. Granted to some it may be a compelling editorial and they are entitled their opinion along with everyone else.

 

Whats that? My qualifications? Well as a kid I got to take all the family photos because I did not decapitate anyones head or amputate any other body parts relevant to the scene. I also learned to process film and make prints in a wet darkroom. Later in life I actually got paid for taking architectural photographs, sold some landscape prints, donated photography services to charity and generally knocked about reading good books and learning from professional photographers I met while working for the government where; oh yeah I almost forgot; I got paid to take photos every day.

 

I do not know why this photo was chosen as the Photo of the Week. I only know what was posted as the reason. The only thing I found interesting was the cardboard sign. As stated before, faceless street guy appears to serve as the poster boy for this segment of our society and therefore does not need his own personality. I found the sign the most compelling element for its implied warning or threat. There are two primary types of signs (bear with me) the first is advertising and the second is informational. The sign shown here has elements of both types. I stated before that I do not believe that the man is hungry or homeless. On one hand the photo appears to make light of the mans sad situation with an attempt at being humorous by inferring that he appears to be hungry enough to eat a cardboard sign. At any rate there is advertising going on here whether or not you choose to believe it and it is relatively sophisticated in its approach. Really the only element lacking is the now typical rip-off of a track from a seventies hard rock album by a group like Led Zeppelin. Whats that? My qualifications? Oh yeah, I almost forgot I was in charge of advertising and promotions publications for a midsize construction and bank equipment sales company (well actually two but whos counting).

 

The other thing I wanted to talk about is the idea of how we view people as a group. Some people state that this group is sophomoric which to many others seems rude. I have concluded that after this week that statement may now be deemed as a compliment or at least as a kindness. Others here think we seem to have something of value that could be distilled into a useful tool while others think with the proper editing it could be printed and used as serviceable liner for a birdcage (well at least the bird would have something to look at while he was taking a dump). The most interesting interaction so far this week has been the employment of a classic pickup technique more commonly used in seedy hotel lounges to hook up with potential short-term mates. Im not sure if that indicated a lack of communication skills on the part of the author or masked some sort of confusion about gender orientation.

 

When I talk about the population loosely referred to as homeless or street people, I am speaking from my personal experience and not from an ivory tower. These people like all people do have their individual stories and lives. Now that Ive said that I will contradict myself and open the door wide to opposing views, which I will be happy to learn from.

 

There are two types of homeless people (brace yourself). The first are similar to this fellow. He may or may night have a place to sleep at night but it is likely that he does. He may or may not be hungry, but it is more than likely that he is not. It is likely that he receives some form of assistance other than what he collects on the street corner and oh yes, like others here that dont know what they are talking about I have actually been to this particular street in real life. I have not seen or met this man but I have met and oh yes, interacted with many that he reminds me of, including their fat happy customer-magnet dogs.

 

I am going to use Santa Monica, CA for my example because that is where I have spent the most time around the so-called homeless. I will refer to them as Type I street people. First let me say that people from third world countries probably would and should envy these people. They either have rent controlled housing or worst-case scenario are allowed to occupy the once attractive Pacific Palisades Park where they have taken over the restrooms and other public improvements. Is anyone here familiar with the Santa Monica Pier? They show it every night on the intro to the Tonight Show. Guess what, you and I cannot use the public showers located there because they are reserved for the homeless. I was in Santa Monica during the Thanksgiving holiday when the city hosted its annual feed the homeless dinner across the street from where I was staying. The Type I people were given dinner and gift bags filled with clothes and other goodies. They responded by trashing the parking lot of the civic center and the surrounding area. To my narrow mind this dinner appears to be more for the benefit of the benefactors than the recipients by providing a feel good opportunity for the upper class society crowd.

 

My other daily interaction was with the five to ten plus people who would ask me if I had any spare change. Not: Can you spare some change? May I have some change (please)? Can I have your change? Is this a difficult concept to understand? I am sorry but I dont have or have ever had a big barrel of spare money laying about waiting to be given away. Now, when sympathy eventually fails or you have just grown weary of sympathy, intimidation begins. Intimidation starts with eye contact and escalates to screaming obscenities, or blocking your path or following you about. I did decide to unload all my change one day in preparation to relocate. I gathered it all together in a bag and also added a clean pressed shirt for good measure. I left the bag on a bench across from my hotel where I knew it would be found by one of my regular antagonists without compromising either of our roles in life. Sure enough my familiar and by now favorite Type I came by looked in the bag, retrieved the cash and threw the clean oxford shirt on the ground. It had zero value to him because obviously to him (much later to me) it could never be successfully integrated with the rest of his sales wardrobe.

 

I know you all hate me (more) now for sharing my experience, but Type I street people really piss me off (sometimes literally) because they are not willing to take any responsibility for themselves and somehow feel (speculation) that you or I should intercede in their behalf. Believe me when I say that I too could easily be homeless if I stopped doing what I do to support my family and myself.

 

What I like (a relative statement) are the Type II street people, which I do not want you to confuse with the type two homeless people who I will get to eventually. Type II street people at least try to give you some value or service for your money. I know you are thinking about that squeegee guy who spits on your car window and then offers to remove it for a buck, but I am actually talking about street performers (no not those damn mimes). Type II street people are entertainers and perhaps they have beaten the system. My favorite is the older gentleman on the promenade who plays the guitar and sings while standing on his head atop a red vinyl chair. Now thats what I call entertainment! Well worth the donation of a buck or two. No arm twisting, no intimidation, j

What was that, Dennis, the preface to your soon-to-be-published Cheeseburgers America?

(prettygoodjobthough...headded)

 

 

Now I'll comment, I'm with Mary

The fervor of the commentary about his photograph is inversely proportional to its quality. It is, at best, a marginal bit of street journalism. I think a day spent looking over the monographs of Gene Smith, Robert Capa and any of the FSA photographers would extinguish any perception of its quality. As to the belief that in order to engage in critical discourse the critic must also be a practitioner of the art is absurd. In fact, the most insightful critics are often non or undistinguished practitioners. Clement Greenberg, A. D. Coleman, Susan Sontag and Richard Ellmann come immediately to mind. It should also be borne in mind that if Robert Frank anonymously uploaded the entire contents of The Americans to photo.net, not a single image would make it to POW

Incredible picture, very very powerfull

You completely forgot "Type III:" mentally ill homeless. Mentally ill are 30% of homeless at least, perhaps the single largest group. They had no more hand in giving themselves mental illness than you did your left handedness. They have bigger problems than rolling up the sleeves and getting to work can solve.

 

Be politically incorrect, that's your right, but please, don't be factually incorrect.

whew...sometimes I think that elves pick POW's only to see it torn apart, spit on, and psychoanalyzed to death ... maybe it's time we should tell the elves to set some standards for POW's and some limits for criticisms. I like all that jazz over each POW choice but what happened here this week was too much even for me. It brought the worst out of many and all this over a decent but still a snapshot of a faceless fellow with a big sign. I bet Aldo is just as surprised with elves' choice as many of us has been -- he's has much better photographs in his portofolio --- Too bad what happened here, too bad.

Great news photo with all the ingredients stopping power,impact,meaning and graphic qualities of which the great Robert Capa and Andreas Feininger would surely be proud of.Azlan Mohammed. Newsday. Trinidad W.I.

 

i think the cars in the background are perfect. it reflects how our society is. i am not blaming the people in the cars or the person with the card for having what they have, but the differences are sometimes so hard. this reminds me of dog shows on USA network. don't get me wrong, i like dogs. i used to have two. but why should dogs get such treaments while people like the person in the picture cannot afford to eat? those dogs dress even warmer than the person you see here. sad.

I have no problem with people just offering critique and not photos to photo.net. But when the critique is basically "your photo's are trash" or similar as seen above, then as that person has not established any creditability by uploading some images, they deserve to get a serve or two. The whole idea of photo.net is to be constructive , not destructive, some people have failed to notice that.

Thanks for bringing up a very important point. I do not feel I am qualified to offer much beyond my personal experience that is biased by my own impatience and lack of knowledge on the subject. I have seen a lot of handicapped and mentally ill people who were able to lead fairly happy lives when given the proper support. I'm not sure this is the proper venue for discussing this problem, but I certainly don't have any objections either.

 

I did omit the Type III people (and others) purely for the sake of showing an overly simplified contrast and opposing ways of dealing with life. There are in fact as many variations as there are people living on earth. I agree with your comment that the mentally ill, do appear to compromise a large percentage of the homeless population. By your comments I take it that you have checked your facts and figures and or have a reliable source of information or personal experience.

 

As to being left handed, my Mother once claimed that she was responsible for that. She states this condition is due to environmental factors, namely the placement of my highchair at the wrong end of the table in our tiny kitchen, and that forced me to learn to eat (and perform other tricks with food) using my left hand. Who am I to argue with my Mother who is now gone? Coincidentally, as a young girl she was an orphan and homeless herself at a time when people had a different view of taking charity from others. That's another interesting story for another day.

 

PS: In this instance the PI was for pseudo intellectual.

 

I was reading your comment with zest until I reached the third (?) paragraph. You are as guilty as poor Aldo here. Type I and type II homeless persons? Can you do that, relegate thousands, if not millions of members of a class into two faceless groups, one being more noble then the other because instead of begging they embarass themselves in public? Maybe I missed the part where Karl Marx wrote that the lumpenproletariat must be eliminated before the revolution unless they learned to play the banjo?

Read it one more time including the preceding paragraph where I framed the statement and gave fair warning that I was using my own convoluted logic to tell about a personal experience. Also as has been stated, many feel that the photo of this individual is respresentative of a larger group because it does not show his face. The people I described are not faceless because they are actual people that I interacted with in one way or another. I agree that it is generally not a good idea to assign people to categories.

 

Please let me rush to apologize if I gave anyone the impression that I think disaster victims are a bunch of cry babies. That was the farthest thing from my mind.

 

I would love to start a conversation about banjos sometime but I am confident those remarks would be totally misunderstood.

 

Aldo de Fillipi has a great shot. If you frequent this web site , please also respect the sentiments that judged a POW.

 

On the other hand Aldo seems to have gone on a high. Mr Fillipi a great artist takes all criticism with a smile. Just remember crticism is like a rain-shower and an artist is a statue. If the statue is made of paper it melts away in the rain of criticism, but if chiseld out of stone it shines even better.

 

 

Despite all the complaints about not seeing the subjects face I feel it is one of the photos strong points. With no face or eyes to confront he becomes a mirror for our own opinions. To some he is the trickster, to others he's the victim. We see what we want to see.

Ian raises a great point and one that I tend to agree with. To me, this image is pretty nuetral and tends to force the viewer to draw their own conclusions, which makes it succesfull on that point (note the bickering above). I don't think it falls into the exploitative class of journalism that exploits wide eyed, 3rd world children staring numbly into the lens.

 

To be blunt, individuals such as the subject in the picture represent easy targets for roaming photographers. This places the wieght of the image on what the photographer is trying to convey, which appears to be more of a question than an answer, which is perfectly fine.

 

From a strictly compositional sense the vehicle in the background needs to go, but that's obvious. I also wouldn't mind being more drawn into the images with a tighter composition, or zooming back to place the subject in a point of reference in his surroundings. The image as it is framed seems a bit tenative to me.

a very effectively powerful image... thank you

You silly ppl :) Why are you complaining that the man's head is down?? Do you not see that if he would look up, his sign would fall to the street? :) Anyway, this thread has provided great amusement for me over the last few days. thanks elves :)

These conversations reek like the strongest of French cheeses!

Pictures of homeless and decay are an easy succes as they trigger a simple negative emotion. I recently had a discussion with my teacher about the fact that so many B&W photographer seem to like negative subjects. Just for a try to go out and shoot optimistic pictures. You'll see it's ten times more difficult to get an appealing shot then.

 

Pictures like this can be found by the thousends, if not millions. Also the fact that the head is down, resuls in a dark gap with no contrast in it. Finaly the car onthe back is very disturbing. If this is really a picture you had to guts to stand in front of the man and take it, you could have waited until it is gone.

I don't know !

I've never posted any picture here (I don't have a slide scanner). But, I seriously wonder if it would be a good idea to do it !

 

I'm beggining photography and as it goes around here, I would be shot dead befor I start !

 

 

Upon 234 comments, 10% or 20% are something else than false assumptions, misunderstanding, aggressive assaults, sterile critics...

 

What's the point of making a debate about "how many hours did Aldo spend taking the shot" or "in front of which shop was he standing" or "did he talk to the guy" ?

 

- Would it make the picture different ?

(except in some of your minds) ;-)

 

Tris, as always, you are a loss of time to this community !

 

A good rule is to never read your aggressive and sterile posts !

I think it's really a pity you take this community in hostage by your harassing omnipresence.

 

But I lost my illusions a long time ago !

It's just representative of any average human group. There are the "bright", the "normal" and the "smart asses". - Nothing personal Tris !

 

It would really help if one could filter the persons one doesn't want to read !

 

Elves, will you improve the site ?

 

For me, the picture is OK !

It's just a kind of pictures you can see everyday in the local papers. It shows what everyone living in a big city sees everyday ! (I live in Paris.)

 

Regards !

 

The car, the missing foot/crutch bottom, put this into the also ran category for me. I'm not drawn into the picture in any way, the sign may seen to have emotional content, but I'm afraid the picture doesn't seem to carry that through. Though I'm happy to admit that this needn't mean this is an unsuccessful shot, that's merely my personal opinion. It's a record of a situation, but it doesn't involve me in it.

 

Dennis - a fine commentary, a nice way make your point. I'd still like a banjo conversation though I think.

 

Whilst I'm here, why do so many still insist on trying to beat Tris with a big stick? I may not always agree with what he says, maybe not how he says it, but I do read it to try and see his point, just as I would anyone elses posts whatever I may think of it/them. To just state "oh ignore him" seems childish and pointless in the extreme. We don't all have to agree here, but it does you good to hear an opposing point of veiw occassionally. At least then we can make our decisions with more information.

 

Oh and I don't have any uploaded pictures, just to save some people clicking through. Make of that what you will.

 

Cheers

All the necessary and unnecessary has been said by now, I think. Wouldn't it be a good idea to end this session and try to find other ways (this shouldn't be difficult) thru the photographic landscape this site offers us to enjoy? WJ

I'd have been moved. It's been done too much. And there is that car in the background...

Reinier ,

It's much , much easier to get an optimistic , appealing shot . This site is full of them , flowers , birds , smiling babies .... . There is no challenge ( in and of itself ) in that . Moreover , it is not an accurate representation of our world (or at least dc and ny).