Desolation II

Not near as outstanding as your Desolation I.

I wonder where my trust has gone, but I must disgree with the above comment. I think this photo is of a more honest misery. I also like the juxtaposition of wealth and poverty that is present here but absent in the picture of the 21-year-old beggar. I feel like the 21-year-old is conning me.

 

(But now I read what I wrote, inspect my own reactions and prejudices.)

I'd like to get your reactions/comments on this photo... I have

many photographs of the "homeless" in San Francisco, but this

one stands out in my mind simply for the reason that she (and

her boyfriend) actually lived at this location on Union Square

during the week that I was in SF. I found stark contrast in the

Macy's holiday advertising and the hopelessness on her face.

Please let me know what you think...

I feel like she might be conning me too, but I have to agree that what makes the picture is the Macy's add in the back. In any case, you got a great example of two opposites and it's done with subtility.

I have to say this is a good picture. The juxtaposition of the Macy's ad with the homeless girl does make for a poignant photo. The only distracting thing is the person standing behind her. I think it would be better without that, but you have to take what you get sometimes.

 

On another note, I feel a bit guilty taking pictures of the homeless with my expensive camera. I noticed in the description of another of your photos that you used a 500mm lens. Is this usually how you approach shooting anonymous people?

Thanks for your comments, Kim. Let me give you a bit of a background about this and the other San Francisco homeless photos in my folder. I travel to SF for a conference every year in December. All of SF, especially Union Square, is decked out for the holidays, and the homeless turn out in droves. I also feel bad about photographing the homeless, especially when I'm dressed in a business suit and, as you said, have one or more cameras with me. The 500mm lens offers me the detachment I need. I don't intrude, and I'm able to photograph them undisturbed. Can you imagine how the look of the girl in this picture would have changed if I stuck a super-wide lens in her face?

I'll have to agree with the comment about Desolation 1 being a stronger photograph.

To me it seems far more direct, and gutsy.

Now about this photo. I think these photos are easy to take. I'm nervous about sounding too harsh, but I guess it's better to be honest. It seems there is always a homeless person sitting in front of some building,sign,or wearing an article of clothing that makes the situation ironic. Just the other day I saw a homeless man wearing a Chanal No.5 T-shirt. Taking photos of this subject is always a bit of a slippery slope. I think if you had been more up front towards the subject, you would have had a much stronger picture. Now I'm not sure if this circle is meant to be a technical critique, or a social one, but this photo, and others like it certainly do spark a bit of debate.

You know about the holiday context, but the viewer doesn't (unless you caption it and take it as photojournalism). Therefore the one thing that I would have liked is for you to take a step to your left, be a little more obvious with the "Macy's" ad. That's the one thing you can control here, to enhance the contrast with her expression.

I prefer this shot over Desolation I, in respect to 'street photography' or 'homeless' theme. Personally, beggars wearing signs bring out the cynical side of me.

 

My first reaction was that a pretty young girl seemed completely out of place on the street, tightly wrapped up in a blancket. Macy's sign is subtle, yet, more than sufficient to convey the irony. To further add drama, I would have like to seen holiday shoppers in the background.

 

Overall, nice shot!

A study in contrast. The stark relationship that exists between the girl in the blanket and her choice of a place to "live" is quite thought provoking. In a different situation she may actaully have been a former customer or employee of companies wall that she is now finding support from.

 

I like the picture and the message(s). The artifacts behind her head are somewhat distracting as I find myself wondering what or who they are and if they relate to the girl or to the store front.

If you look at her face... it is a matter of time before she ends up selling her body. She is too pretty to be left alone.

Nice Shot! Good job capturing her feeling, very sad.

Is this the full frame? If it is, try cropping from the right to the black hole on the wall and cropping up from bottom, to the pointy dark spot on the right.

Thanks everyone for your comments. Please let me know if the photoshopped version looks any better. I cropped a bit tighter below and on the right and blurred the area behind the girl.

I prefer the tighter cropped version. Well done.

I like the newer version better. I'm not sure the cropping was that important, but blurring the background (since there wasn't anything interesting in it) helps a lot.

This is well-executed black and white photo. Good contrast: homeless/Macy's, concrete/blankets, Christmas/homeless, reasonably attractive girl/homeless, etc. The person standing by the Macy's sign is a real distraction (however, your edited version has mitigated that problem pretty well). My only other suggestion would have been to step a few steps to the left to get all of the Macy's sign in to the picture (this may not have been feasible or might have caused further complictations).

 

Philosophically, I've always had a personal dislike for this particular subject matter. Almost any town in America (or for that matter, much of the world) one can find variations on this subject. Most photographers are trying to portray some sort of injustice and arouse our pity (or, in the more hardened observer, disdain) for the subject. But because we've seen so many homeless and so many pictures of homeless, it's very hard for a shot to succeed, even one like yours which is well-executed technically with some nice juxtapositions. One could go on for quite some time about the various ethical quagmires one enters shooting "street" or homeless shots, but I'll leave that for someone else to take up. There was a photo-of-the-week in January or February of this year that many on this site found both insensitive and exploitative. But that's another story.

 

Perhaps the best "homeless" photo I've seen on this site is this one: http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo.tcl?photo_id=133078. Also, Tony Dummett has some fairly successful shots in this genre.

 

I've rambled on here enough. I have enjoyed looking through your portfolios. Lots of good stuff.

It's a nice photo but the framing could be better. The girl should have been

Unsure of the message here...

Actually, after viewing this, the first thing that came to mind was: "I hope someone in her family or boyfriend's family sees this picture and gets them help."

 

Sometimes people become estranged from loving family and friends for whatever reason, whether differences in opinion, mental illness, poverty...whatever the reason, and end up homeless. Maybe if you keep posting these online, the right person might be able to find it and give the subject aid.

 

There's so much of this. It's so sad.