This past weekend I went to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. I brought along one lens, my 50mm in the hopes of capturing some photos for my portfolio. As I meandered my way around to Ghirardelli Square, I saw this street performer laughing his heart out. He's known to the tourists as "the smiling guitar player". He would constantly serenade everyone passing by and crack jokes making them feel at ease and hoping that a bit of laughter and humor from his part would entice them to drop a dollar or two in his hat. I watched him for about 30 minutes as passer by after passer by, he would stop them dead on their tracks because of his infectious laugh.
A few Japanese tourists pass by and even with the language barrier, he managed to get a smile from them.
"Where are ya'll from" he said.
"Japan".
"Oh Japan! Did you know I'm half Japanese?"
"No" was the resounding answer.
Then to much of everyone's amazement, he spoke Japanese.
"Konichiwa! Ohisashi burides. Genki des ka?"
(Hello. Long time no see. How are you doing?)
He even serenaded them in Japanese. They carried on the conversation for about 10 minutes and sure enough, a couple of dollar bills were dropped in his hat.
He was so much fun to watch. I managed to get enough courage to point my camera and shoot. Since I only had my 50mm, I had to move closer. Then he said to me, "You're Filipino right?". I said yes. Then he told me, in Tagalog, that he doesn't photograph that well so I might just ruin my camera. So no close ups. I was floored.
This shot was taken about 10 feet away from him and cropped really tightly. I wish I had Meera's 100mm macro with me that day. But c'est la vie. I am happy how this turned out and I hope the voter's could see the laughter and joy he brings to everyone along the streets of San Francisco.
Post Processing Shot in RAW and processed with RSE. I used mostly Highlight and Shadows to bring out his face from the shadows. Converted to Lab Color and adjusted levels. Desaturated and adjusted color balance to create sepia effect. Ran through NI @ 15% just to remove some visble noise since it was a tight crop. Cropped and applied 15 pixel stroke. Applied slight USM and saved for web.
IMG_3908.CR2
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Nice capture of this guys mood/emotion, but I wish that I could also see the sticker on his guitar. Looks like it says something to the effect of "making people smile". It would have added even more to his expression and the picture as a whole. good decision on the overall color of the photo.
Gotta say, Rikki, I really prefer this kind of excellent work than the glasses shots. Not that you don't do those well, mind you, but this is wonderful - and I live the stories that go with the pictures like this!
I don't usually like comments or give them, but since candids are near and dear to my heart, I have decided to comment on every photo in this challenge.
This is lovely. Beautiful tones used. Love the bright smile, and the guitar adds interest. Nice story being told here of a happy man with his happy hobby. However, the crop isn't great. I want that whole hat to show, and of course, the hat is a nightmare for candid photographers and the shadows on the face show that nightmare for this shot. Still the emotion comes through well, and I give it a 7.
Strong image. I have a preference for a less straight-forward kind of candid work, usually wanting more than just a show of character; which is not to knock this, as it is certainly one of the better entries.
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