billangel

Excellent and unusual piece of work

The subject, who is asleep, is wearing a long coat and a hat, and is sitting cross legged, leaning forward, with his arms folded across his chest to conserve warmth. While taking this homeless fellow's picture, I attracted the attention of two middle aged women, who questioned me as the why I was doing so. I explained that I was concerned as to why he had chosen to spend the night out in the cold, when there was ample room in Baltimore's "Code Blue" shelters to provide him with a cot to sleep on, with police security, etc. I came to realize that I was much more knowledgable than these women were as to the facilities available to provide this homeless man with social services. In fact, had not my activities photographing this man been noticed by these two women, they would not have given this homeless man's situation any thought or concern on this cold February morning as they passed him by. While I did not take the initiative and wake this individual up to ask him his reason for spending the night out in the cold, rather in Baltimor's "Code Blue" shelter, the typical reason is (I believe) to be fear. Homeless shelters do attract belligerent individuals who pick fights with the other guests, or offer up tirades that can be quite unnerving. Homeless shelter security personnel also search one's personal belongings and refuse entry to individuals who refuse to discard any contraband, which includes food and sharp objects such as ball point pens and razors. Once admitted, shelters can also impose strict rules that they expect all overnight guests to follow. People with authority issues may have a problem submitting to these procedures and regulations.

Beautiful piece of work, and an excellent use of the blur technique.

This is a beautiful piece of work, both visually and conceptually.

Excellent shot. He appears to be a singing Coke vendor:-)

Excellent composition, especially in the way it captures the twin vertical beams of light on the left.

It is a an unusual shot. I have not seen a woman in office attire carrying two ice chests like that before. But l would have liked to have seen the expression on her face had the shot been made with her walking towards you.

A clever pairing of images. Did the cat get into the basket all by itself or did it have a little help? ;-)

Thanks for the complimentary feedback. I would hope that the rating my work would receive in the far future would, on photonet's rating scale, be closer to 7 than to 3, as 3 means a below average image, which of course was not the character of your evaluation :)

The Andromeda galaxy is heading towards our galaxy and some day will appear this

large in the sky. Will there still be life on Earth to notice it?

I think that this is an example where the police

are using the attractiveness and interest of a

horse in an effort to improve community

relations.

I agree that the combination of tones makes this an above average "umbrella shot ".

I agree the that shot is a bit of a mind puzzler until one realizes that it's being displayed upside down!

Good capture. You can learn a lot about people from their laundry.

I agree that it resembles the depiction of a science fiction story. Conceptually it could also represent man's continuing quest for knowledge of the universe. However interpreted, the composition is beautifully executed.

It's a spectacular lightning shot, one of the best I've seen. And the silhouette of the trees works very effectively to frame the action.

She looks like she has a case of consumer indecisiveness. She thought she had what she wanted, but now seems to have spotted a better bargain elsewhere.

A nice capture.

An honest straightforward portrait of what would appear to be an honest straightforward individual.

Interesting capture. Was she a street performer? She looks to be a homeless person whose request for money is being rebuffed by a passing stranger. It's a good capture of the look on that fellow's face as he passes her by.

Note the keys hanging from her costume and her ears, held in her hand,

and tattooed on her shoulder. She is a mime who performs an

elaborate "robotic" bow when someone drops money in her pail.

I thought that this image, together with my other image "Portrait of a Man

with his Snake" makes for an interesting contemporary allusion to the story

of Adam and Eve in the Old Testament.

This street performer is balancing a Hula Hoop on his head while

apparently thumbing his nose...

(it's just an illusion created by the camera angle)

Perhaps (metaphorically) he is asserting "look what I can do" while

thumbing his nose at the Heavens?

I like to do street shooting with a small point and shoot, rather than

a "serious" DSLR, because the subjects of street portrature are less likely

to notice and react to the presence of the photographer. The fellow here is

looking AROUND me, not AT me, which I believe to be the more desirable

situation. The only way for a photographer using a "serious" DSLR is to

more further away from the subject and to shoot with a telephoto lens.

This image is quite startling and fantastic. Edward Weston created a series of images of peppers that resemble nudes. This image turns the analogy around in its resemblance to a depiction of a pepper.

Interesting shot, as it leaves the viewer wondering why his head is painted but not his hands. Is he a street performer taking a break to drink a soda?