(et al):
Are you referring to this man as garbage?
Yes. I am saying that. People are treated like garbage every day. Discarded as unwanted. Wasted (literally). Left out on the kerb for disposal – though this particular bloke was collected by a fellow traveller with a surviving instinct for humanity, rather than by the municipal authorities.
Getting your panties in a bunch about my pointing it out doesn’t change any of that. If you’d feel more comfortable reflecting on yet another pretty but vacuous picture of flattened coke cans or a carelessly discarded hamburger wrapper, etc, then I’m afraid that is not my problem; it’s yours.
The photograph did, however, have a deeper point than that bald observation about the reality of human waste. I was hoping that the juxtaposition with the wall art – supported by the title for the benefit of the imaginatively challenged – might make the further point that even human discards have good days and bad days, hopes as well as despair. They’re just like you and me. I think it’s a point worth making.
I don’t apologise for publishing this picture in this context: challenging DPC’s prevailing one-dimensional, knee-jerk appreciation of photographs is my mission here.
"Oh sorry Mr Homeless person, hold that pose, I need to dash home and grab my socially equal standing Kodak Brownie...and to remain socially accepted, PC, to capture you without offending or anyone else." - Bah Humbug!
The legendary Nikon F introduced in 1959 became the camera to "have" by PJ's covering the Vietnam War. I doubt it cost less then than the countless maimed, napalmed and tortured individuals it was used to photograph. It opened the worlds eyes to Human Rights violations on BOTH sides. It did however replace the MORE EXPENSIVE range finders then currently used by PJ's! Pooh to the expense vs subject argument.
30 years later CNN's massive following as it covered the Gulf War was part due to their visuals that left us all mouth agape. Should they have used Cine 8 to make the footage?
Man will continue to improve technologically, and the scale between the haves and have nots will ever widen, despite socialist and PC rhetoric. Should this stop us as photographers from recording that which presents itself and showing it to the world? How much news and how many images came out of the Soviet Bloc during the cold war? Surely due the inferior gear (vs that of the West) produced there would have meant a bombardment of work? We know why the west saw very few visuals from behind the Iron Curtain (which thankfully rusted through.)
Naturally I have the benefit of post challenge Photographer Comments, and I certainly understand the responses to this image, especially those pre-rollover, questioning the validity, morals.
Ray(Ethier)'s response was delicately observed, no doubt from years of experience as an officer of the law, yet Paul DID depict the man is being "treated" as garbage.
EDIT: Typo's
Let us hope SOPA does not prevent this type of visual social commentary in the years ahead.
Even though I understand that photography can be a tool for increasing awareness by pinpointing problems etc. etc. it just irks me when I see pictures of homeless people in crappy situations taken by cameras that probably cost more than that person will see in a year. Often those images are pawned off as "art" instead of "photojournalism" (i know, fine line, but generally serve different purposes) and the photographer profits whilst the "subject-turned-object" never sees a dime, if they were even asked permission of. To form a rebuttle against myself, maybe I should have slowed down to gather the context and intent of the image instead of immediately eschewing it as I did. Short-tempered shallow-mindedness? I've been guilty before.
Edit Seeing as there is a great deal of conversation about this piece, one would be forced to admit that your image has definately made an social impact as the subject mattter is the focus of discussion vs. the subject himself. Therefore, good job.
Interesting. I actually misunderstood this image, or perhaps just read it my own way.
"Some days are diamonds, some days are trash"
The guy obviously ain't having the time of his life, I sometimes feel just like that.
So, I found the image sympathetic to the man, I still do, actually..
haven't looked at the set, so just came across your shot, Paul. Interestingly, it works much better in the context of the challenge by challenging it. Taken out of that context, it would not impress me much... photos of homeless and drunks juxtaposed with some happy street art or advertisements are dime a dozen :).
haven't looked at the set, so just came across your shot, Paul. Interestingly, it works much better in the context of the challenge by challenging it. Taken out of that context, it would not impress me much... photos of homeless and drunks juxtaposed with some happy street art or advertisements are dime a dozen :).
I have no idea as to what message you are trying to convey, but I do hope that you are not suggesting that the person depicted should be considered garbage.
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