Bullying

kurzvorzwoelf

Being heavily inspired by this work of @Richard, I went out strawling the city with my camera. I found this huge billboard in the middle of the pedestrian consumer zone, with lots of people passing by and got this shot. I don't know if I missed the focus on the girl or if my shutter speed was too slow (1/320) for her runnesque walking, but it's better to get the pic as to not get it, right? And I hope you don't mind the copy-catting.

There's a quote by Banksy I was thinking of since I've seen Richard's post which and that was also put to life in a comic over at the guys of Zen Pencils: Taking the p**s (Explicit)

“People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you. You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity. Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head. You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs.” (Banksy)

Richard

Nicely done, k (what's your actual name?). People in front of big ad posters is certainly not my invention, so no need to apologize. It's a fun genre if you live in a city.

Love the Banksy quote

kurzvorzwoelf

@Richard said:
Nicely done, k (what's your actual name?). People in front of big ad posters is certainly not my invention, so no need to apologize. It's a fun genre if you live in a city.

Thanks Richard. You might not have been the one who invented it, but the one who brought it to my attention with that superb image you posted Anyhow, you're right, it's actually fun and also can deliver strong messages. Even if they might only exist in my head. I'm looking forward to less stressful days coming up so I can enjoy and go out shooting more often again to learn and work on my random-people-shooting-phobia (it somehow works/feel better when I'm a tourist somewhere... whyever that is).

Oh, and you can call me Can instead of that long, unspeakable german expresion.

Love the Banksy quote

Have you also taken a look at the comic I linked? I find it actually brings the quote to life and makes it very memorable, because it's also very well drawn (this comic actually brought me to the quote in the first place).

Cheers,
Can

Juano

K, Can, minutes to midnight

This is an awesome shot!! I love everything about it, the busyness of the patterns in the background picture, they make you feel overwhelmed and confused, which adds to the bullying theme. The slight out of focus of the girl doesn't bother me at all, I think it contributes to the shot. I wouldn't change a thing. Bravo. I'm a Banksy fan.

kurzvorzwoelf

@Juano Cristobal, thanks a lot for your praise! I was thinking about exploring these types of shots a little further, and your comment gave me a little more confidence to do so

Although I'm not very satisfied with the blurry girl - mostly because it is a non-intended blur, occured due a mishandling on my side. However, I had the idea about using the blur as a stylistic method in future shots, by intentionally slowing down the shutter and generate even more blur in the moving subjects of the frame while keeping the background sharp. It indeed could become part of the message. We'll see how that works out