Walking

lizzard_nyc

Syncopation

Interesting shot.

What are the people coming towards us smiling at? The hangover of a joke shared or something prompted by the guy with the stick ?

sara505

I finally figured it out.

I'm not comfortable with the smiles. It seems the young people are laughing at the old man.

Not that I have to always be comfortable.

But this is not a photo I would extol if it were mine - I don't like those kids and their attitude.

Just my reaction, not right or wrong.

lizzard_nyc

Syncopation wrote: »

Interesting shot.

What are the people coming towards us smiling at? The hangover of a joke shared or something prompted by the guy with the stick ?

thank you.
It's hard to say--I hope they are not laughing at the old man, someday they will be old too.

lizzard_nyc

sara505 wrote: »

I finally figured it out.

I'm not comfortable with the smiles. It seems the young people are laughing at the old man.

Not that I have to always be comfortable.

But this is not a photo I would extol if it were mine - I don't like those kids and their attitude.

Just my reaction, not right or wrong.

Hi Sara,
I can't say if they were laughing at him or if they were talking and still sort of laughing when both spotted the old man.
Everyone that walked by stared at him. It was such a struggle for him to let go of the pole. It took him a good minute to release the pole, he seemed so uncertain.
I understand why you may not have wanted to share a shot like this. It's not a feel good shot, but if it makes you feel better, I don't think they were really laughing at him. But can't say for sure.

sara505

lizzard_nyc wrote: »

Hi Sara,
I can't say if they were laughing at him or if they were talking and still sort of laughing when both spotted the old man.
Everyone that walked by stared at him. It was such a struggle for him to let go of the pole. It took him a good minute to release the pole, he seemed so uncertain.
I understand why you may not have wanted to share a shot like this. It's not a feel good shot, but if it makes you feel better, I don't think they were really laughing at him. But can't say for sure.

Liz, no problem - that was just my reaction. You're right, definitely not a feel-good shot.

But either are a lot of those shots over at Lens.

damonff

It's cool. I don't think they're laughing, just smiling. I would be thinking, "What's this guy going to do?" or "I wonder if he's going to ask me for some money?" or "What's the best way to avoid him?" The four fingers on the post look very strong contrasting with the apparent weakness of the rest of his body. Great capture Liz (as usual).

TonyCooper

You really have an eye for composition, Liz. That "V" that frames
the young couple really adds to the photo. Just the right amount
of space to the left of the pole and beneath the pole to establish
what it is and not include dead space.

The crop tool is the final paintbrush.

As far as them laughing at the man, street photography is supposed
to capture life as it is, isn't it? The photographer just captures what
is there. Sometimes we capture kind, and sometimes we capture cruel.

rainbow

I like this one a lot. I noticed their attention on the guy right away. My initial take, which has not changed, is that he caught their attention while they were engaged in conversation. Perhaps he said something to them.

I like the contrast level, but suggest trying pushing the overall brightness up a little to bring out their faces a touch.

lizzard_nyc

damonff wrote: »

It's cool. I don't think they're laughing, just smiling. I would be thinking, "What's this guy going to do?" or "I wonder if he's going to ask me for some money?" or "What's the best way to avoid him?" The four fingers on the post look very strong contrasting with the apparent weakness of the rest of his body. Great capture Liz (as usual).

Thank you Damon. I like your take on the shot.

lizzard_nyc

TonyCooper wrote: »

You really have an eye for composition, Liz. That "V" that frames
the young couple really adds to the photo. Just the right amount
of space to the left of the pole and beneath the pole to establish
what it is and not include dead space.

The crop tool is the final paintbrush.

As far as them laughing at the man, street photography is supposed
to capture life as it is, isn't it? The photographer just captures what
is there. Sometimes we capture kind, and sometimes we capture cruel.

Tony--makes me happy to see you again.

I'm starting to embrace that crop tool

lizzard_nyc

rainbow wrote: »

I like this one a lot. I noticed their attention on the guy right away. My initial take, which has not changed, is that he caught their attention while they were engaged in conversation. Perhaps he said something to them.

I like the contrast level, but suggest trying pushing the overall brightness up a little to bring out their faces a touch.

I tried pushing it further prior to posting but it got to be really noisy. I tweaked and tweaked and tweaked and this was the least least noisiest yet brightest version. Of course I could totally be missing something withe the PP processing that makes it less noisy, yet brighter.

Thanks Rainbow.

bdcolen

lizzard_nyc wrote: »

Excellent, Liz - I'd crop it to the right of the woman on the right (as we see the image) to make it solely about the young people and the old guy. Are these young people laughing at him? It looks like they are - which, to me, makes it an even better photo. A photo doesn't have to capture a 'nice' scene to be good - if it did, we'd have no war photography, and very little documentary photography. A good street photography can as easily capture a creepy moment as a funny one. Is there something cringe inducing about this image? You bet! And that's what makes it special.

B. D.

sara505

To clarify - I essentially agree with BD, and it is a great street shot, it's just that cringey is not what I personally seek out or would want in my own portfolio or hanging on my wall.

Nyarthlopic

Kind of makes me fear getting old. He is obviously very unstable and could have used a hand, yet not one person offered. And we can't say that no one saw him. You have a perfect shot of 3 people looking right at the poor fellow and walking right past.

Reminds me of the time I heard about my grandfather falling as he was crossing the street to get his mail. He was crawling across the street when someone stopped and helped him. It was a rural street with a pretty good speed limit, so he could easily have been hit. With how unstable he was, this photo reminds me of that.

The shot does hit a note with me and draws an emotional response. I just don't particularly like the note that it hits. That said, it IS a good shot, Liz. Don't let my response dissuade you from taking more like this. It does tell a good, though sad, story.