black and white: then to now Crawling for Cash

Crawling for Cash features a regular 'businessman' plying his trade

in a busy shopping/tourist section of Bangkok, Thailand. This man

essentially begs here on a schedule that starts at dark. Your rating

and comments are invited and are very welcome. (If you rate harshly

or very negatively, please submit a helpful and constructive

comment/Please share your superior knowledge to help improve my

photography). Thanks! Enjoy! John ;-)

What a sad image. But well done to you, the photographer! Did you give him something after you took his picture?

I gave him nothing.

 

This man makes his living trying to 'shame' tourists who are well off, and targets them.

 

The Thai people will give him nothing -- he arrives here on a predictable schedule and leaves on a schedule. His function in life is to embarrass the passersby who are forced to step over him.

 

He's quite ingenious and nothing about him other than a below-the-knee amputation suggests he is unable to earn a living.

 

If you view the photo of the street vendor, posted previously in my single photo folder, you'll see a man working and I truly had sympathy for him, because I knew his family probably didn't have meat once a week. I'm easily moved, but somehow this man doesn't move me (but made a wonderful photo opportunity).

 

I believe, based on observation, he makes a better living than the woman sitting next to him selling street food, a job which he could do himself, I think.

 

Some such beggars rely on the 'good will' or the embarrassment of others.

 

In Moscow, for instance, beggars are eveywhere in the city's wonderful, efficient Metro, but investigation has shown that some beggars use makeup and costumery to feign injury or debility(See Moscow Times or Moscow Tribune articles if you doubt -- one or both posts in English on the net), and some of those and many others are controlled by the Russian Mafia (who think nothing of crippling a person to enslave them to begging -- something reputedly which happens in Bangkok, too).

 

I do give plenty of charity, and am presently setting up a charitable endeavour for when I have more money, so don't think I'm hard-hearted; I'm just a little more world-wise.

 

(But I do thank him for presenting himself to me, the photographer, as an apotheosis of prostration.)

 

(I'm reminded of the old canard about the New York City beggar who reputedly was seen afterwards being driven away by his chauffeur, but which turns out to be an urban legend -- in other words, completely untrue, like the old story of the 'brother' who bought an absurdly cheap Corvette -- cheap because it supposedly was off the side of a road in woods for six months with two rotting bodies from the accident moldering inside and smelling it up -- a legend most people have heard, but still baseless.)

 

I give money to those who don't have a way to get it otherwise, and this man has managed to provide support for himself and is in no danger of deprivation/starvation or hostile living circumstances. I admire those who struggle WITH their handicaps, not who EXPLOIT them, and I try to reward those who clearly have no means of sustenance, whether or not I photograph them.

 

(I hope that doesn't seem too hardhearted, but I've seen beggars worldwide and this guy just doesn't make it for me, except as a photo subject. Even children begging in Bangkok often have food with them and soda pop, and are very well fed -- begging for their mothers is a family

'enterprise' and not based on destitution.

 

(If a person truly is destitute, they won't have the ability to tranport themselves to the heart of a tourist area to show off their deformity.)

 

Thanks for the very nice comment about the photograph, however, as I was perusing old photographs and wondered 'Why didn't I post this?', as I think it is as good as the best of what I've posted, regardless of how it's rated here.

 

Best wishes.

 

John (Crosley)

striking image! 6/6

Interesting photograph.

 

I'm a 'whimp' photographer. I like the pretty safe things in life. By this you show you aren't scared to let the world see itself for what it really is.

 

Very well done.

 

As sad as it is, people permanently maim and disable themselves and/or their children in order to attract sympathy and cash.

For this man, K.P., he might be rewarded just for the art of showing us Westerners how to prostrate himself.

 

For that, he is a genuine 'street artist'.

 

Thanks for the kind comment and rating.

 

John (Crosley)

I really should learn to wait! I'd only just finished posting my little bit about your photo and there was your reply from the previous person.

 

I totally agree with all your comments. Well done John.

Your point about people maiming themselves is true enough,but I don't think this guy had the guts to cut off his own leg or have it done. He's much too theatrical for my taste. I'm more likely to reward some poor soul who's off in a distant corner somewhere without the 'wits' to do this.

 

And, as pointed out in my comment above, organized crime will either exploit these people or even main them for not paying debts, then set them out to begging to repay the 'debt'.

 

'Can't get the cash to pay me?' says the criminal 'Well, I'll show you how . . . ' followed by screams of pain is something that is not just imagined but truly exists in this cruel world.

 

(Maybe I've got it wrong, and I've missed the mark with this guy, but he was soooo organized.)

 

Thanks for the comment and stopping by.

 

John

Henri Cartier-Bresson almost never 'explained' his photos.

 

The famous photo of a child next to a wall staring to the sky, back arched, taken in Valencia is a case in point.

 

In that photo, people wondered 'what the heck caused that boy to adopt that unusual posture?', thinking it must be some spastic occurrence.

 

Cartier-Bresson later explained (to their disappointment) that the boy was only looking to his ball he tossed up.

 

Sometimes it's best not to explain a photo, and maybe I've done too much here. . . ;-)

 

John

Ha so true. Overexplanation of anything reaches a point of oversaturation of the subject and reason which destroys the initial effect of the deed/photo/act.

Like a great many photos in my 'Early B&W' folder, this began as a color image.

 

The image has quite nice colors and tones and it's a worthy photograph -- colored clothes, skin tones, and wonderful color on the 'food' next to the beggar (did anyone notice that he's crawling past food?).

 

But the color completely detracted from the graphics of this image, and of course, its message, which is people stepping around this guy who's commandeered the center of a sidewalk.

 

He's so organized, he has his area staked out, and he crawls (or slithers) in a pattern, somewhat snakelike.

 

So many sidewalk tiles/squares in one direction, then a very circular and space-absorbing turn, guaranteed to stop pedestrian traffic (or shame the pedestrians into stepping over him completely, which many do.)

 

This photo, taken after sunset in the gloaming, caused the pedestrian feet to record as a blur, just as his hand is blurred, which is an effect I hoped for. (I only took one photo, and got it right the first time!)

 

It's hard to imagine a beggar photo being 'pretty' but the original of this . . . well . . . had very aesthetically pleasing colors and tones, if you can imagine.

 

Some photos are made for color, but others simply cannot be posted in color for their true impact.

 

John

I completely agree (as I made the point originally), but one reason I post so many comments and explain so much is a result of my utter confusion when I became a Photo.net member, and how much I missed commentary with the photos.

 

I'm still interested in how some members achieve such extraordinary colors in their photos -- colors I often have never seen in nature seem to abound in some members' nature and scenic photographs . . . they must live in some supersaturated world that I've never been in, and seldom allow myself to venture into.

 

(In this photo, it's the graphics which 'make' the photo -- if it's 'made it', and I'd stake my meager reputation on the composition. It's what keeps us 'street photographers' out on the streets with our cameras -- to capture an image such as this that incorporates graphics rather than just to take a photo of some unfortunate.

 

Graphics, design and composition are something I try to pay attention to when I can, and I think this photo is emblematic of what happens when graphics and good design can complement a

'street' subject.

 

(I wish some other photographers would 'explain' their photos, as I'm often very curious about them, and I'm a onetime writer, so posting comments is second nature to me. The explanations of 'how' is mostly why I read 'Shutterbug', 'B&W', 'Peterson's Photographic', and other magazines -- the commentary is a teaching device for me, and a way to share with other members.

 

(and it's nice to make friends through these comments.)

 

;-)

 

John

When I've received any rating from you, I know I've succeeded. Thanks for rating.

 

John

Again I agree. A photo is always there, and will always be there. It's just a matter of the photographer to 'see' it ... to me that's the art.

 

With exception to studio photographers, the composition is already set. I don't know if I'm explaining myself properly. It's just that I don't feel like the photos I have taken are my doing, I just happened to be at the right place at the right time looking the right way ... that's all.

 

 

Yes, this is just around the corner from that soi and just up Sukhumvit. I don't think it's the same guy, but I can't tell for sure -- but a different day, however.

 

John

I agree that the art for us non-studio photographers is not in 'creating' the composition, and not just in 'seeing' it, but in actually 'capturing it' -- and that means often previsualizing it -- seeing something interesting and often working one's way into a good vantage, using the proper lens at the proper focal length, deciding to hold the camera level with the horizon or tilted, etc., whether to use a large numbered or small numbered aperture (for depth of field control), and so on and so on.

 

In the end, one has to have extraordinary powers of 'seeing' what others do not see, or if they do 'see' it, to actually have the nerve, the gumption and the stamina to actually make the capture.

 

Yes, the entire world's a stage or a photo waiting to be taken, but without photographers to recognize the photo, it's gone forever.

 

I rate photos and you'll see some stunning captures in my highest-rated folder that depend on the photographer's being in the right time and the right place with the right lens, etc., but in only two or three of them does it appear the photographer got 'lucky', as almost all the rest have posted stunning image after stunning image and the instances of only one excellent image in a folder are rare indeed. It seems that the act of 'capturing' is an art, and thus the photographer is an artist -- even if the painting is already painted (if you get the simile) (a mixed simile at that, hunh?)

 

;-)

 

John

This photo has essentially three states of motion -- separated in three planes of activity.

 

The woman at left, seated and static, the crawler slithering downward and to the right, and the pedestrians walking in a counter-direction, all separated in their various planes. (I just noticed that, having just 'discovered' this photo among my 'discards'.

 

There you have it: I have just finally understood my own photo and why somehow I like it so much and compare it to my early B&W work (much of which also started out as 'color' work, although the 'color' was in transparencies which were printed through some process (professionally) on B&W or internegs were made for B&W prints -- two different methods, with the latter being the most common.

 

It's often by these commentaries and critiques that I understand the process of photographing, and thus, how not only to explain the process to others, but perhaps eventually to write about it and to help not only others, but to improve my own work and make it more predictable and perhaps thereby a little less 'intuitive', as my photography is almost entirely intuitive (or it started out that way, full-fledged) -- just get a camera and lens and go out looking for interesting subjects and ways to portray that subject -- it's the way I still go out to take photos, and these critiques for me are a way to make that 'intuitive' approach to photography more replicable.

 

John

Interesting string, John. I think it does become intuitive after a while to frame and compose fairly quickly. For my own part, I seem to do better with this when the scene I'm after already has strong lines available, as this one does here, with a lot of emphasis on the diagonals across the frame. You set the scene for the composition with the highlit tones of the wooden handle in the upper left of the shot. Very strong lines run parallel to this, in increasingly darker tones, from the paving lines to the steps. The regularity of these lines is interrupted by the crawling man, who's nonetheless parallel with the other significant lines in the image. It's interesting that the bowl the man is pushing stands out from other elements of the shot, both by virtue of its round shape, where everything else is pretty square, and its much lighter tone. So this prominent round element draws me back to the other round elements in the shot - the vendor's bowls - and I notice that where the crawling man's bowl is empty, the woman's bowls are full. Then I also notice that, with the small exception of the man's blurred hand, these are the only two static figures in the shot, divided by the prominent highlight of the wooden handle, and distinguished by their different postures. So it seems to me that the composition is both suggesting and reinforcing a theme within the shot - that you can make money by taking and offering nothing, with an accompanying lack of dignity, or you can take money and offer something in return, with more dignity. In either case, people are walking on by - interesting that the lines of their movement are perpendicular to the woman's gaze.

 

So I agree that the image is a strong one - not simply a shot of a man begging, but a mix of composition and subject matter that is provoking. I agree with the choice not to present in colour - the colours would distract from the compositional elements of the image. Best, Jeremy

Jeremy F. your analysis of the composition of this photograph transcends my more feeble attempts at explanation/explication, and reinforces other elements -- the issue of movement vs. static elements, light vs. dark elements and their importance, repetition of the 'round' elements, with the beggar bowl being empty (empty vs. full), break in repetition of the sidewalk expansion cracks or tiles, and sheds light on the element of shapes vs. lines (repetition of sidewalk patterns and lines broken by irregular beggar, light, empty bowl in front of beggar, vs. round shapes of the vendor's baskets full of food wares, with emphasis on the strong diagonals of this photograph as well as the issue of decreasing darkness across the frame perpendicular to the parallel lines of the sidewalk/slithering beggar! Wow!

 

How absolutely perfect that you should see so much; I'm envious and you are my new composition guru -- a kindred spirit.

 

Some photos you know when you look at them are 'interessting', and for the life of me I can't understand why I didn't pull this for posting some time ago, or understand its strength -- for, as noted above, I think it is strong compositionally and with as strong a 'supporting message' as any of my Early B&W work from decades ago.

 

I've a few other photos which withstand the comparison as well, taken more recently, including on or about the day this was taken.

 

(See Coke poster in Bangkok, with smiling man whose gaze mysteriously is upward contrasting with the man on the same poster whose corollary gaze is in a different direction, of which you'll find two iterations -- one in color (Single Photo) and one in this 'Early B&W' folders -- each quite a different photo, and critical and ratings successes under both postings.

 

Same with the photo, underappreciated I think, of the tattooed man admiring the work on his body's back in the tattoo parlor, taken somewhere around midnight or afterward just a block or three away at the same time (I just was there a few days, and related to the tsunami more than photography.)

 

I actually didn't photograph much that particular trip, but I seemed to have it all together the few hours I did photograph, and am pleased with the results.

 

Your technical analysis of the elements of this photo is superlative -- one of the best such analyses I've see in all the hundreds and hundreds of comments of others on my photos.

 

(For those who complain they get 'nice picture 6/6' or unhelpful (but welcome) comments, like 'I like it very much' yours should be an exemplar of the 'helpful and constructive analysis' that I invite in my Request for Critique.

 

I'd have analyzed the same as you, IF I had been blessed with the ability to 'see' so much as you in my own frame.

 

I'm so glad you took the time to say 'hello' and share your fine thoughts.

 

(Maybe there should be a thread on how to foster good critique for one's photos -- I'll be reading your critiques on others' works, and I'll bet you set an example in comments on others' photos as well; you've certainly shown you're a capable critic here.

 

Compositionally, this is one of my strongest photos that contains a 'message'.

 

And, like my ideel H C-B, this photo stands alone, and even if it has a 'message' -- I might even disagree with the message it seems to send, but I'm proud to have taken it and posted it nonetheless, as I'm not trying to 'prove a point' with this photograph -- just provoke thought.

 

I think you'll agree, from this thread at least, that the photo succeeds in being thought-provoking.

 

Best wishes.

 

John (Crosley)

As always, thank you for posting a wonderful and thought provoking image.

It's commentaries from members like you (and the others above) that prompt me to expend so much effort on this site, and keep me on my toes when I post what you all regard as a 'stinker' -- even though I may vehemently disagree or find merit in something that others may find unappealing.

 

It's a nice congruence when I feel strongly about an image (as here) and members do also. (sometimes a rare occurrence, too).

 

Hello to all those baking in the shadow Mt. Ashland, there in Harry and David country.

 

John (Crosley)

Great image. When I cross the border into Nogales, Mexico, the streets are filled with beggars-Indians, and always women with kids who have runny noses. As soon as possible, the kids are cast off at an early age, often around 3 years, to panhandle on their own. These kids are in organized gangs. A vulnerable tourist is chosen, and the "cutest" kid is assigned to the task of melting a heart. Once "meltage" is detected, the other kids appear like a swarm. And where are the men? Sitting at the McDonald's across the border...

John, I think there's more genuine 'need' in Mexico at a place like Nogales with its temperature extremes, than this guy has in the heart of the Sukhumvit Rd. tourist center in Bangkok.

 

In Bangkok, shelter needs are minimal as it never gets cold enough to wear a sweater and one only needs shelter from the sun. He begs after sundown when the tourists come out.

 

Many people don't have cooking facilities in their meager apartments, but street food is pretty good, plentiful and not very expensive -- the vendor in the foreground, left, is an example of a 'street food' saleperson. Impromptu sidewalk restaurants are everywhere in Bangkok.

 

As to children, however, especially those with runny noses, it's very difficult because -- if they're left to fend on their own -- they truly are needy (but beware the poor tourist who is targeted, as a dozen kids can easily overwhelm an adult, and it becomes a matter sometimes of personal safety).

 

I was in Ukraine not long ago, and I fed a street kid during my stay, not because he asked but because he was polite and 'available' almost whenever I was around, and very thankful (one cannot expect thankfulness, so that was nice).

 

He explained, his older brother beats him and his aged grandmother can't stop it (he sleeps under something, somewhere, rather than be beaten.)

 

His mother is gone and his father has abandoned him.

 

This man appears to have three limbs working, and that's not necessarily destitute in my book -- although he may be of a different nationality, which might make him unemployable. But such persons are drawn to places like Bangkok because no one will give them 'charity' where they come from because they're either (1) not seen as destitue or (2) poverty is a relative thing and in the provinces almost everyone must watch out for their own rice bowl or noodle bowl.

 

There's a difference between kids who have no choice and no opportunities, and adults like this for whom begging appears to be a 'choice' -- albeit a very humiliating one by our standards.

 

Begging in the Orient is a time-honored 'profession' with its ritual prostration, one can sometimes see heart-rending acts of humiliation, and no one can tell who's needy and who's not. (But if I see a mom at 2:00 a.m. with her kids on the street, you can be sure I'll buy her some food or make sure she gets something, especially if they don't look well-nourished.)

 

A recent article in Slate online magazine by a writer who went to India and didn't enjoy all the poverty there was instructive -- he wrote disparagingly of the ability of a well-nourished, well-heeled Westerner to come face to face with a land with few public toilets, defecation in the street and bushes, and death occurring everywhere on a regular basis, and said it was more than a little unnerving (especially since he was nearby and in sight, staying with a friend at a 'luxury' resort - at least 'luxury' by Indian standards.

 

Can you imagine being in China before the Japanese invaded or even earlier when it was a feudal society.

 

What about the Indian rice sellers (from India), who are confronted with beggars daily -- some of whom assurdly will die of disease related to starvation and malnutrition if they don't get a handout, but the rice merchant must 'make a profit' on their rice to provide for their families and thereby turn a blind eye to the death and disease they assuredly could partly forestall.

 

But damn, this guy has prostration down to an art, doesn't he?

 

He could put a shame to those 'do you have $1?' guys who inhabit nearby Santa Cruz or the 'do you have $5?' guys who inhabit San Francisco (which has a higher class breed of bum, the cost of coffee being much higher in San Francisco?

 

On this guy's plus side, Thailand has literally no 'safety net' and if one falls through, one can die from neglect, and life will go on undisturbed at your death.

 

It's a conundrum we traveling Westerners face every day in the world's poorer countries.

 

And that doesn't even address Africa where there is true poverty on top of an AIDS pandemic that has left million and millions of children homeless, and a large number of them afflicted also with AIDS and other diseases.

 

I'll send my money to Africa -- or Ukraine and other former Communist countries. I thought I'd help out with tsunami relief in Thailand, but found the country lost 8,000 people of approximately 50 million or so, and they could adequately provide for their own (although help was welcome on a short-term basis)--free money always is welcome no matter what the excuse.

 

Thanks for the thoughtful comment; it brought forward many thoughts for this sometimes itinerant.

 

As above: One must separate the 'idea' or 'appearance' being portrayed in this photo I am very proud of, from the actuality -- as revealed in these commentaries.

 

John (Crosley)

Sometimes it's best not to explain a photo, and maybe I've done too much here. . .

I'm an avid John Crosley reader. I'm not alone, I think.

I read some of your comments and they show a generous, kind, spirit (emphasis on spirit) with good knowledge of photography.

 

I'm very pleased to receive your comment because the few words you've written show discernment and wit.

 

Spacibo (pronounced 'Spacibah')Bolshoi - big thanks in Russian.

 

John (Crosley)