A couple more from Lake Eola

TonyCooper · January 16, 2010

A cold afternoon at Lake Eola with a dozen or so homeless people sitting around in an area of the park that they've staked out. Shopping carts parked on the grass like cars in a parking lot.

Some don't even have enough possessions to fill a shopping cart. Just backpacks. Here, one of the black swans from the lake gets chased off.

TonyCooper · January 18, 2010

No comments on this and it's dropped to Page 2, so I thought I'd give it a bump.

Too uninteresting to comment on? Within the genre, aren't they?

rainbow · January 19, 2010

The first one seems like a decent shot of a person smoking, but does not move me enough to comment.

I like the second one a lot as it seems so lighthearted and comical. The swan is captivated by something, presumably to eat. Obviously the person is shooing it away. What elevates the photo is the bemused look of the other person glancing over. I would suggest trying to crop out the right third as the backpack and person add little and the attention would be drawn to the other subjects better. (BTW, this did catch my eye the first time, but it slipped away without my returning to it: glad you resurfaced it).

The_Fat_Zebra · January 19, 2010

Nice pictures, but they might work better with wider angle lenses rather than a zoom?

bdcolen · January 19, 2010

The_Fat_Zebra wrote:

Nice pictures, but they might work better with wider angle lenses rather than a zoom?

Not to restart a dispute...but isn't shooting homeless people like shooting fish in the proverbial barrel? And shooting them with a long lens, where you don't have to engage with them at all? Well...

I'll stick with the rule I use in my class - "No bums." (Unless you want to engage with the subject, get to know them, develop some understanding of the subject as a person, and then document their daily life.)

But I'm well aware that many disagree with this position.

TonyCooper · January 19, 2010

bdcolen wrote:

Not to restart a dispute...but isn't shooting homeless people like shooting fish in the proverbial barrel? And shooting them with a long lens, where you don't have to engage with them at all? Well...

I'll stick with the rule I use in my class - "No bums." (Unless you want to engage with the subject, get to know them, develop some understanding of the subject as a person, and then document their daily life.)

But I'm well aware that many disagree with this position.

I didn't know there was a dispute in this area, and I didn't know you had a rule for your class of "no bums".

They are "fish in a barrel" in the sense of being able to find character, but they can be more difficult to capture as candids. They seem to develop a sixth-sense in who is watching them and being aware of who is around them. Probably because they are used to be hassled by the authorities and because they are on the look-out for people to touch-up.

I suppose my 55/200 could be considered to be a "long lens", but shooting them from a closer distance usually results in posing.

However, mindful of what is expected here, I'll look for other types of subjects for this forum.

bdcolen · January 19, 2010

TonyCooper wrote:

I didn't know there was a dispute in this area, and I didn't know you had a rule for your class of "no bums".

They are "fish in a barrel" in the sense of being able to find character, but they can be more difficult to capture as candids. They seem to develop a sixth-sense in who is watching them and being aware of who is around them. Probably because they are used to be hassled by the authorities and because they are on the look-out for people to touch-up.

I suppose my 55/200 could be considered to be a "long lens", but shooting them from a closer distance usually results in posing.

However, mindful of what is expected here, I'll look for other types of subjects for this forum.

Hey, Tony - I'm nobody's boss, and this isn't my forum, so you don't have to pay any attention to what I say. Seriously. I'm just here to keep the surface of the punch bowl from getting too glassy, and to hopefully provide some occasionally helpful guidance. The only rules here are the Forum Boss's

rules, and those have to do with what's appropriate in terms of posting on the forum - and that has much more to do with no half nekid babes draped over car hoods, or high school kids posing for their 'seniors,' than it does with black and white versus colors, or bums/no bums.

I happen to have strong feelings about photographing homeless people, and those feelings go back to my days as a reporter and a rule at the Washington Post - in the 60s and 70s - that we didn't write about obviously crazy people. I feel that shooting homeless people is taking advantage of them, as so many of them are mentally ill and can't make wise decisions for themselves - such as whether or not it makes sense to be doing what they're doing in a public place where we can photograph them. And as a photographer, I see no point in shooting what amounts to the same photo over and over. So in my classes, I have the 'no bums' rule. But here? Knock yourself out!

TonyCooper · January 19, 2010

bdcolen wrote:

The only rules here are the Forum Boss's rules, and those have to do with what's appropriate in terms of posting on the forum - and that has much more to do with no half nekid babes draped over car hoods

I went to the Highland Games held here in this area last weekend. Didn't get a shot I thought was worth keeping, but I did get a shot of a kilted non-contestant in the weight throw bending over to pick up a weight. It is not suitable for this forum.

(The actual contestants are required to wear something under the kilt because the contestant spins around several times prior to release. The kilt flares up.)

A couple more from Lake Eola

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