made in brazil Brazilian childhood

Este é meu primeiro 10/10 em meses...

Perfect!

Too often, is hard to love "social" photography, Take a plain snapshot of a poor, ill, desperate man (like this week's POW), and you'll just have voyeurism and cannibalism dressed like important witnesses of reality.

 

To justify such a subject, to offer a fresh view on it, you need to add a lot of eye, skill, even art. Interpretation, as usual, is all of which art is made of.

 

This picture has it and I love it. 10/10 looks like the right rating to my eyes.

 

 

 

i don't agree with antonio.

 

the situation may be worser, but contrary to the POW this picture does not affect me at all!

it still has some force of expression, but in my opinion it does not even come close to aldo de filippi's photo!

I really don't understand how a (bad) snapshot taken from a sanitary distance of a guy appealing to our "humanistic" senses and asking for some coppers affects you more than this portrait of a child wrapped in cardboard, sleeping in the gutter and completely ignored by everybody but the photographer. Which is worse: having hope that your life would unfold well but then (alledgedly, nobody's proving that the guy is homeless) losing it at maturity or *never having that hope altogether*?

It would be bad enough if you said that this week's POW was better than this one, but then you had to make it worse by saying that it doesn't affect you at all. Reminds me of the bad cops in Brazil who justify their killing by saying that the criminals would never amount to anything anyway. For them, killing a human being is just like (or even easier) than killing the cockroach or rat that infests your house.

i would like to explain you my point of view in my language, than probably it would make some meaning! (poor me...)

 

i just speak about the figurative value of both photos!

i'm not here to judge, which situation is more unpromising, hopelessly, disillusioning, whatever!

pictures like this, the world is full with! every day we get to see them, myself especially just from the media(newspaper, tv,ecc.).

 

i agree, that my comment above was a bit (a bit to much) snappy, and if i get to see a situation like this for real, it would affect me directly, but not if i'm focused on photographical comments.

 

aah, and thank you for the nice comparison!

 

 

 

 

 

Which photo is better is a matter of discussion. I personally think this one is head and shoulders above this week's POW, both artistically and technically. And yes, I know, this has been beaten to death by TVs and the like, so it's natural we've grown some rough skin to this. For me it's a plus when some picture like this one manages to move me, it shows I'm still human.

My first reaction when I saw the other picture was "you've got to be joking!" I have no clue how travelled you are, but if you live in Western Europe you probably never saw real poverty. (I know I am assuming much by saying this). The scene I have in my mind is people bearing children and living in garbage dumps fighting for a half-rotten scrap of food with the vultures. It's not only losing hope that things will get better, but never having that in the first place. It's fighting for a piece of cardboard to cover yourself in the night (and it gets chilly in São Paulo, believe me). The vast majority of the population of the world already saw those scenes. Unfortunately very few of them are blessed with computers, cameras and scanners. Close to those scenes, the veiled accusation ("remember how lucky you are that you can hug your children") in the note carried by the beggar in Aldo's photo falls short of a mere mockery.

I just want to add that the man on the background shows the gap between the fortunate and unfortunate, something isn't present in the Aldo's one. People doesn't like when I say that, but if you put this in B&W then it will probably receive more attention.

True, the man in the suit makes the picture. Contrast of rich and poor. So many elements here are good - the composition/framing, the fact he/she is sleeping in a cardboard box that used to hold food, and of course the feet.

To me, the really creepy feeling is that the gentleman in the suit is looking at the photographer, not at the child. Food for thought, eh?

Now, to Simon, the comment below: fine, you start with the petty comparisons, sports deep arguments like "doesn't affect me at all" and "we've seen this a zillion times" and now comes back calling for "focus". You are right, this is pointless bickering, and I'm not encouraging it unless some real argument is put forward. My apologies to Paulo for making a mess here (albeit trying to help.)

I really like this photo. I don't think it would have quite as much impact in B&W.

 

The businessman in the blue suit with his briefcase in the upper right corner really adds to the contrast between the "haves" and the "haves-not". Was his inclusion intentional? When I view this image my eyes keep moving back between the child and the businessman. This positioning and the contrast in their socio-economic class also helps to invoke a little more emotion on the part of the viewer.

 

Can't decide if the businessman being in better focus would help the shot.

actually I would liked first, to answer You back! but I don't, for not falling in this doom loop again.

 

You and I(and even the people who commented entire screen surface's on the POW), should get focused again, on what this is really all about. and it is to give some fair comment/advice/opinion/tip and even ratings about the photo! not such personal comments(partly psychoanalytic, partly samaritan, partly omniscient), because we do know nothing about the content of the picture!

 

if You(we) don't, You can see on POW the ridiculous result!

 

I hope You will have the capacity to understand.

 

 

P.S. sorry paolo for using again(for the last time) your comment space not appropriate.

This has everything the current POW is missing to me, maybe it's because I haven't seen this in a long time, but I think it's more to do with real poverty vs. percieved poverty. The contrast in this photo is outstanding to me, I'm drawn to the businessman but he is not enough cause me to loose focus on the child. I almost gave this 10/10 but then I wouldn't have anything left.

This is good!

You deserve a 10/10 for your photo. Just do not agree with its title. 'Brazilian childhood' ??

I will admit this is a though proving photograph. But I do not see it as a great photograph (allot of 9 and 10s) it almost seem to be a knee jerk reaction to say that because the photo make you think about something that is should be given a ten for aesthetics and a ten for originality. If there was a category for self-reflection, or emotions, that is where a high rating should go. Maybe the elves here need to add a new rating category.

Paolo,

Nice shot. Good contrast and disparity between the have and the have-nots.

 

It's a shame/lame that the endless bickering that accompanies the POW has to spill over into the critique section of this shot.

 

I enjoyed it and thought is a fairly poingiant statment about poverty/desperation V.S. wealth/comfortability.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

É uma foto muito feliz tanto em técnica como em conceito, mesmo considerando as inúmeras oportunidades similares que as nossas ruas nos oferecem todos os dias. Se a POW fosse escolhida por votação, teria o meu voto.

I lived in Sao Paulo for a few years so this image really hits home. How many times could I have been photographed as the buisiness man passing the child.

A good angle on an important social issue. The juxtaposition of the man in the suit makes the composition more effective.

This makes any of my photography of the homeless look tame --- http://www.maryconrad.com

Psychoanalytic or not. this photo represents the depravity of the have's in this world and their utter disregard and callousness to the misery around them. True! you will not see this in western europe and that is precisely why it is so difficult to comprehend the situation, and important to bring it to the eyes of the world.

 

True, we have seen scenes such as this, time and time over again...It is has been photographs like this, since the camera was invented, that such issues were brought forth and people with conscience were urged to do something about it. Unfortunately the inhabitants of the developed world(developed in what? material comfort?)living in their plastic cocoons are very busy concocting ways and means of furthering their own comfort at the expense of these wretched souls, who have no one, nor the economic means to protect themselves.

 

Let there be more photographs such as this, let there be more dissection such as these, and maybe, maybe, somewhere, sometime, someone may have the courage not to slaughter millions because ONE of their brethren was killed. This injustice sometimes wrenches your guts deep down and the frustration that you cannot do anything about it, rips your innards to shreds.

 

Mary conrad's comments are really appreciated. She has a conscience,and the courage to be so brutually honest as she has been, at least the homeless in her photographs have clothes to cover their bodies and shoes to clad their feet.

 

We, as photographers are a breed apart. we should consider it our crusade to bring the plight of these unfortunate souls to the eyes of the world. Nothing may come out of it, but then again, something may! you never know! people, please do not forget Mothere Theresa,who arrived in India after looking at photographs. Do not be so callous as to comment on the distinction between analysing the technical apsects of the photograph and expressing your feelings and horror! come on people! we are human! let us be human!

I adore this. It really helps to remind me to thank God for everything I have, and to have people who love me. I don't even have to see the child, I just KNOW.

excellent, your whole portfolio is excellent. Somebody please give this man a camera!

Paulo, I noticed that I never wrote a comment about this one yet... Sorry for that. The colors really kill this aesthetically. The image is great, but calls for Black and white - to add drama and add focus to the main subject. Imo. Regards.