Gary: The Guy With Seizures

This is Gary, who has had serious seizures all his life, so he wears this

helmet to protect his head. He cannot drive to protect himself and

others, and is limited to a bicycle, vastly limiting his opportunities in life,

and lives on disability. Your ratings and critiques are invited and most

welcome. If you rate harshly or very critically, please submit a helpful

and constructive comment; please share your superior photographic

knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

Scrapes on the front of the helmet indicate some sort of contact between the helmet and something very hard - and some sort of impact and/or scraping with something VERY hard.

Gary denies any seizures for five years, but he still wears the helmet AND the helmet bears those marks. Gary is not a fast thinker or seemingly very accurate; perhaps a little infantile in his gestures, so perhaps it's better that he doesn't drive anyway.

But Gary's a happy guy, and helps those he 'hangs around' with.

In his neighborhood I noticed several businesses who had 'disabled' and/or handicapped individuals who acted as 'concierges' -- in a McDonald's a 'dwarf' who brought napkins to everyong, refilled their Cokes, etc., and maybe got a 'tip', and management seemed not only to 'tolerate' him, but patrons seemed to take him to heart.

(This McDonald's was in the heart of South Central -- a largely 'black neighorhood, but I can't recall if this 'dwarf' (not a Lilliputian) was in fact black or white, as I often do not think in such terms.

I was just amazed that such a large chain would encourage such community involvement, and kind of proud that the community was involved. In some ways that particular predominantly black community was 'way ahead' of some other communities where other colors and ethnicities predominate.

John (Crosley)

Thank you.

It's not a pretentious photo at all. Just a little one. Not much noticed either, but worthy in its own way. There are quite a few Garys in this world but few ever stop to notice them.

Thanks again.

(Gary was delighted to be noticed. Absolutely delighted.)

John (Crosley)

I like it!

An honest portrait, as he is.

And that's all one can ask for.

Regards

EdH

Cartier-Bresson made fun of doing 'a head' -- he preferred to do a portrait of a whole body within its surroundings as a 'portrait' and did a very good job. I don't have that luxury in the minute to several that I have with my subjects. Gary here was in a supermarket parking lot with his bicycle under atrocious lighting and who knows how representative it was of his life's circumstance. And from what I saw, his life's circumstance can't have been attractive. But Gary had dignity and good will and a large amount of respect from those around him -- he just had no 'ill will' in him and people respected that and for that they protected him.

A head shot did not look very interesting, but it's Spring, and when several times, he wiped his nose, that looked more interesting (to him, too) and so that is what survived as representive of Gary that particular day.

I did not show his mouth full of missing teeth except one lone molar on his lower jaw -- it was not my job to make him look 'the fool'. He deserved dignity in his portrait if only for his honest effort to cooperate and to be portrayed like a mensch.

I try never to 'make fun' of my subjects when I approach them unless, for instance, they are 'clowns' and even then one may view a serious side of a clown.

Thanks Ed. Yours is a slightly unexpected and very welcome remark.

Bless you.

John (Crosley)

i dont think all pics have to be sharp. I understand his history wery well trought this picture. Some pepole are loosers that only need all to be perfect!

good work!

What means "loosers"? I am loosing things? Sometimes I do.

Let's discuss the term 'loosers' for a moment.

If you use the term 'looser' to discuss Gary, above, that would be how many in life would describe him colloquially, but for the purposes of a PN discussion, I hope we can all refrain from that.

However, I don't think at all that you were doing that; I think your remark was directed at a comment that the focus was not perfect. In fact, the focus is 'right on' but there is 'motion blur' -- not anything 'out of focus' at all, but it affects sharpness anyway, and a critic with failing eyesight might be forgiven . . . . and that is my critic whom I don't name ever.

But even though I never name or respond to him here, I do not call him names, here or elsewhere -- and 'looser' is a form of name calling. I ask you to draw the line when you comment here at 'name calling' even if it is in my defense . . . . I can hold my own against most everybody . . . and don't mind someone mistaking 'motion blur' for lack of proper focus . . . . it's really a minor point anyway.

What's important (and you did see it, I think) is that a subject like Gary, has had his due -- his day in the limelight as a pictorial subject -- with full dignity in a portrait. I could have made him look terrible - his day to day condition would make him look 'the fool' quite easily, but I refrained. I treated him with dignity, and he was delighted -- he told everybody about the dignity he had been treated with -- it literally was the thrill of his recent lifetime.

Life's small pleasures for you or me, can be enormously large when you get very little pleasure from life, as I surmise Gary does - probably he's made fun of by a great number of people.

In spite of it all, he's an enormously good hearted man, somewhat at peace with his truncated place in life . . . .

Thanks for commenting . . . . and hearing me out.

John (Crosley)