I came upon this rather odd scene on my way to work this morning...
I had nano seconds to get a couple of shots before the worker guy moved... and while i was trying to think what to do next, I was acosted by a gentleman who appeared to be rather inebriated wanting to tell me all about Winston Churchill being a drunk, and something about the pipeline that did him in (????)... throughout all of this the seagull, of course, remained perfectly still (go figure!)...
to me, this scene felt kind of rich, but it is chaotic, and I am not sure how it could be made to hang together... obviously i will never come upon this exact scene again, but I am curious... if you came upon this scene, what would you do? walk on by? isolate one or two of the three main subjects? figure out a way to give it all meaning?
love to hear your thoughts, good, bad or indifferent :)
Hard to say not actually being there to size up the posibilities, but I would have probably tried to get more directly behind the construction worker. Then try to line up an over the shoulder shot which would include the plaque and statue of old Winnie in an angled line. Not saying that would be a better shot than yours, but that was my initial instinctive thought.
well straight off I love the mirrored poses, don't really see what else you could do with this. To me it's all about the statue and the worker and you caught that really well
@cromwell ok - i have to chuckly... i am 5'2" so "an over the shoulder shot" would not happen unless there was a handy bench lying around... of course, there is a handy bench, but, uhm, it is occupied ;p but yes, i think i see what you're getting at... making it look a bit as tho' the worker is contemplating the juxtaposition (wrong word, but the right one altho' on the tip of my tongue, has flown from my mind) of Winston and the homeless guy... sort of the two paths of man kinda thing?
Well I certainly would have not walked on by. I like this composition, the worker ignoring the homeless dude, churchill looking down almost in disgust? Not sure how else you could have shot it before the guy walked off anyways.
I would have also shot some of the dude on bench, why? Because I believe in documenting the society we live in, the good the bad and the ugly springs to mind. So I would also tag it for this weeks SPN challenge
Me being me, I probably would have focused on the seagull on top of Churchill's head, maybe with the "Authorized Parking Only" sign in there too, if I could have worked it into the composition. :D
possibly go b&w and add a bit of contrast as the colours are a bit washed out but otherwise fine for me... it's all about catching 'that' moment and you've done that here...
@38mm yeah... that did cross my mind... i haver on taking photos of homeless while they are asleep... or rather, i think the more accurate statement is that i haver at taking photos of the vulnerable... someone sleeping can't fight back, y'know? for me it's not about who will see the picture, but the rather the subject themselves... maybe i need to get passed that...
@northy -- I'm not that tall either. What I meant was that the POV I described getting all three subjects (the worker, plaque and statue) lined up in some way would have been thev way I would have shot it. Either higer or lower.
Actually, I think the homeless guy under the sheet is the most interesting subject in that scene. I probably would have focused my attention on him and see what I could have gotten out of that.
@northy Whilst I see that point of view, my argument is the unseen cannot be helped. If a photo of someone homeless, inspire's another person to act, help out then I think it's worth it?
This photo caused an interesting discussion in the street photog world a few weeks a go. You may be interested in taking a look
@ladyjane I missed the seagull, well pointed out. @northy The photograph is like @38mm states a documentation of our society in all its gory glory. I think the photo tells so many stories, and to me that is the point of photography, I think it might have worked better in b/w, but I am only a beginner, so I say well done. It does get easier taking photos of these types of subjects, but I still struggle with it too!
:) I don't seem to notice scenes like this naturally so I'd probably have walked past! Wish I had as much talent with street photography as you do. This is fantastic!!
I don't care what anyone says.. this is brilliant! The sign that says autorized parking only, yet the homeless person parked himself on the bench and clearly he had no autorization to do so. The bird taking a dump on Winston's head, the Worker ignoring the homeless person, the mirrored images, the cloth draped in the background and on the homeless person...it is not chaotic to me at all... to me it is really tied in. Me, like you, would have stopped to take a shot, but I don't think I would have had captured it all as you did.
@cromwell yeah... i knew you didn't mean it literally... but i just had this vision of myself jumping to see over his shoulder ;p anyway, tx for letting me know how you might approach it...
@ladyjane i made a special effort to get that sign in, doncha know... ;p i actually have a shot of Winston and the seagul framed in a crane thingy that isn't visible from this angle... it's a bit overexposed, but i'm going to see if i can etsooi it into some semblance of contrast and if i can, will probably post to flickr... it's just too wierd to delete :)
@httpgeffed@andycoleborn tx! i'm going to try to re-edit in b&w to boost the contrast a bit and see where it gets me... i've been struggling with figuring out exposure lately...
@38mm tx Jase... interesting discussion... thank you so much for sharing that link... i am definitely more in the camp of showing, rather than hiding and letting it be swept under the rug... but i still have a hard time shooting it... so i guess what you're saying is, yah, i need to get past it (and also to improve my spelling and grammar... yeesh!)...
and yes, the good the bad and the ugly sprang to mind with this... being something of a literal-thinker as a knee-jerk reaction, i kept trying to pigeon-hole which one was which... but i think maybe that isn't necessary, that everything and everyone has a little of all of that...
This is a very interesting shot and I certainly wouldnt have walked passed. Love it.
The only thin I would have done is crop off the authorised parking sign and a touch off the bottom. The guy sleeping on the bench would still partially be in there and his knee would almost point to the worker.
Fantastic!
I was bored so I played with this... basically washed out everything except the 3 figures (+ bird) and the sign... looks rather cool actually lol Definitely fixes the busy aspect.
I think this is terrific! I love all the aspects of it...definitely would've been a missed opportunity if you'd have walked on by. Glad you stopped and shared!!
Love the angle you have taken this from and to me all of the elements work with each other. I think that I would convert it to totally b&w and up the contrast too
I like it as it is. I think it would be difficult to get the sign out while keeping the homeless guy, and I find a full sign better than half a sign. I also understand your reluctance to make the homeless guy your main subject, I would have problems with that too. I'm not against others doing it, but with the type of shots I usually make I would feel like I was exploiting him to be artsy. Others have different styles and it falls natural to them. However, leaving him out would have led to a much less interesting picture, with him having nowhere to stay while major construction work are happening around him.
I think a photo taken a few steps to the right would have made more sense as a street photo. While the homeless person adds interest to the shot, it kinda just causes confusion (for me anyway), so I think that could have been left out of the photo. I think the opposition between the statue and the construction worker would be interesting enough in itself.
As for processing, I'd just go either full colour or black and white. I'm not sure the desaturation does much for the shot.
Great capture though!
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I would have also shot some of the dude on bench, why? Because I believe in documenting the society we live in, the good the bad and the ugly springs to mind. So I would also tag it for this weeks SPN challenge
@rich57 tx Richard!
Actually, I think the homeless guy under the sheet is the most interesting subject in that scene. I probably would have focused my attention on him and see what I could have gotten out of that.
This photo caused an interesting discussion in the street photog world a few weeks a go. You may be interested in taking a look
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ragstamp/7169359647/in/photostream
ETA - Just to say there is blood in the above photo, should anyone not like that kind of thing
@ladyjane i made a special effort to get that sign in, doncha know... ;p i actually have a shot of Winston and the seagul framed in a crane thingy that isn't visible from this angle... it's a bit overexposed, but i'm going to see if i can etsooi it into some semblance of contrast and if i can, will probably post to flickr... it's just too wierd to delete :)
@httpgeffed @andycoleborn tx! i'm going to try to re-edit in b&w to boost the contrast a bit and see where it gets me... i've been struggling with figuring out exposure lately...
and yes, the good the bad and the ugly sprang to mind with this... being something of a literal-thinker as a knee-jerk reaction, i kept trying to pigeon-hole which one was which... but i think maybe that isn't necessary, that everything and everyone has a little of all of that...
@kerristephens @ronah @shirljess @stepheesue tx so much for letting me know what you see...
i knew i loved all the elements of this... just wasn't sure if it was a jumbled mess or a cynic's reflection on society... :)
The only thin I would have done is crop off the authorised parking sign and a touch off the bottom. The guy sleeping on the bench would still partially be in there and his knee would almost point to the worker.
Fantastic!
As for processing, I'd just go either full colour or black and white. I'm not sure the desaturation does much for the shot.
Great capture though!