'My House Burned; I Need Food'

Helene, 78, had a house that burned recently so she is staying with a friend, but needs

money for food, so she has turned to begging with a very polite hand lettered sign that

begins 'dear people (loose translation) that explains her story. Your ratings, critiques,

and observations are invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly, very critically, or

wish to make a remark, please submit a helpful and constructive comment; please

share your photographic knowledge to help improve my photography (I donated).

Thanks! Enjoy! john

The tight crop works perfectly.  The diagonal of the note aligning with the diagonal of the background may be more than coincidental and one of the many attributes that make this image so special.  Brilliant work, John.

Haw seen to  many thing in the world, in my 77 years, it  would  be  to-much to say, to make a comments, then,  it  is a sad picture

-BLM.

Thanks for the complimentary critique.  I tend to crop rather tightly, especially when the background is not interesting or worse, distracting.  Here it was both, or at least 'uninteresting'.

In fact it was a broad boulevard, and so, almost completely instinctively I lined up the sign top with the curb line of the boulevard to create one line and thus parallel lines with the lane markings and tire markings/indentations from years of traffic in the pavement, THEN darkened it slightly, and the effect seems to have worked well.

Thank you for nothing that, and in general for your recognition.

I am very grateful for receiving your helpful critique.

john

John (Crosley)

I note that she is 78; you are 77.

You note you have seen many things in your life; hers is a tale of total loss from all appearances, at an age from which there is almost no possibility of recovery in a country where life is very harsh except when one has friends (and she formerly had a friend sitting with her.).

If this makes you feel sad, then the photo has been a success as a photo for that conveyance of emotion is primarily what this photo is about, and the feeling of 'sadness' can mostly be well received if one 'gets close' to the subject and no extraneous factors such as bad composition, etc., interfere, and it is close up, as though you were standing or sitting right there.

No wonder you don't feel like commenting.

There 'but for the grace of god' go you, and for that matter, for all of us.

That's why I donated, and intended to whether or not I took any photos.

Thank you very much for your comment.

Best wishes.

john (Crosley)

You paid a huge tribute to this person.  Although your narrative describes her dire situation, you portray her with dignity and determination.  There is not a trace of exploitation involved.  Her face is etched with signs of age and hard times; yet there is no hint that she may withdraw somehow from her struggle.

You honored this person with this image.  I am truly honored to view it.

Thank you so much.

And likewise you have honored me and my good intentions by not reading into this 'exploitation of beggafrs' or 'bums' but seen my true intentions.  I spoke with her at some length, and I contributed to her cause; we shook hands, and I would have liked to have hugged her, but I had too many cameras around my neck.  

She is a dignified woman, and my goal was to capture that dignity and contrast it with her circumstance -- something that can happen to anyone even those of great character.

I admired her, and I think you can see the result, despite her unfortunate circumstances.

Thank you for looking so carefully where others would have just seen the superficial.

john

John (Crosley)