Let's play a game: Dodging Cars.

B://

Let's do the math... Alcohol + Drugs + Prostitutes + Stupid artist + lots of cars = Perverted photographer.

I went to Guatemala's downtown, and took some quick snapshots (due to violence and police), and I had the idea of taking some pictures of gay prostitutes, I found them pretty interesting. Imagine, black and white portrait with a narrow dof :clap.

To take portraits (as some of you know) you better start with a warm and friendly conversation, and as the conversation progressed I realized they were damn scared of cameras, because people take pictures of them to kill them, yeah, pretty sick, anyway, we were in the middle of our interesting conversation when this kid (18 years old) alcoholized and with the idea that he was a plastic surrealist artist came out of nowhere, I was pretty scared for my gear, but I need to take more risks to take good photos, that's a promise I did to myself a few days ago.

The thing is that I told the guy (to impress the "ladies") to do some car dodging, and to my surprise he did it... police arrived and things got kind of ugly, but we solved the thing as legal age to drink in Guatemala is 18

So that was pretty much my story, I will post more pictures of that day, for now I hope you like this series I did with the guy playing with his life...
Enjoy


Let's play a game.jpg


Byron M.

JenGrace

Wow. So that would have sucked if he'd been hit. But hey, anything to get the shot, right?

B://

JenW wrote:

Wow. So that would have sucked if he'd been hit. But hey, anything to get the shot, right?

I mean, it was pretty spontaneous, and I don't have any ethics at all, soooo... thanks for getting worried, but he's going to be fine I promise.
And the one that was stoned was him, not me :cry
Thanks for replying


Byron M.

Bodwick

Interesting shots Byron.

I've gotta give you a black mark for this though:- "The thing is that I told the guy (to impress the "ladies") to do some car dodging, and to my surprise he did it... "

Well, :soapbox as he was drunk/drugged/whatever he was easy to lead into a dangerous situation. You really shouldn't do that. If he was killed you'd be responsible. If the police don't get you maybe one of his family would. If it was my brother I'd be pissed at you...What if it was your brother?

Did you not get any shots of the gay prostitutes? Not that I'm into that sort of thing:ivar but whatever, it's better than getting a drunk killed...Yep, I'm getting old...I'll get off my soapbox now.



Hats off to you though for stepping into the dark void. Don't get killed for a picture my friend, it's just not worth it...


Bod.

Seneca

Wow that's amazing.

B://

Bodwick wrote:

If he was killed you'd be responsible. If the police don't get you maybe one of his family would. If it was my brother I'd be pissed at you...What if it was your brother?

Did you not get any shots of the gay prostitutes?

Actually the police arrived, but it was not going to be my fault if something happened, anyway, he probably has no family and if I could put my brother into that situation... anyway, here's a shot from a prostitute, a man with a pink umbrella waiting for a client.
Enjoy.


Waiting for a client.jpg


Byron M.

Ted Szukalski

Good series and story.

but "alcoholized"? (sic) I believe the word is drunk

Skipper1613

B:// wrote:

I mean, it was pretty spontaneous, and I don't have any ethics at all, soooo... thanks for getting worried, but he's going to be fine I promise.
And the one that was stoned was him, not me :cry
Thanks for replying


Byron M.

Putting aside your obvious lack of ethics or moral values, what kind of cell phone did you shoot these pictures with?

B://

Hehehe, I guess drunk would be more easy to use, sorry I speak spanish

And I didn't use a cell phone, it's just a 20D pushing itself up to H ISO, soooo, sorry, but there wasn't a good light at the place and no noise ninja for me.


Byron M.

jdryan3

I don't see any images or a link. Am I missing something?

System

enjoy?-

don't think so-

I find it pretty disgusting-

Shane422

Simply irresponsible.

Use your talent to show the beauty of your subjects, not to risk their lives for your benefit.

Owen

Since when is it our (your, my) responsability to comment on the morals of a photographer?

While it may be irresponsible, the camera is a tool used to show "truth" and document life.

I see truth in these photographs.

Is it irresponsible to take photographs of drug users and prostitutes? Brothels and gigalos? Needles and drug dealers?

I'm afraid you've lost that battle before you've begun, folks.

Ted Szukalski

hmm... had to re-edit this message: Irresponsible is a right term for what you've asked this person to do.

urbanaries

Owen wrote:

Since when is it our (your, my) responsability to comment on the morals of a photographer?

Agreed.

But the more I read thhis the more I highly doubt the narrative is 100% true.

ian408

Owen wrote:

Since when is it our (your, my) responsability to comment on the morals of a photographer?

While it may be irresponsible, the camera is a tool used to show "truth" and document life.

I see truth in these photographs.

Is it irresponsible to take photographs of drug users and prostitutes? Brothels and gigalos? Needles and drug dealers?

I'm afraid you've lost that battle before you've begun, folks.

Taking pictures of drug addicts or hookers? I don't have a problem with
that. But telling a person who is already under the influence to do something
he might not otherwise do, especially when it could get him killed, is more
than a bit over the line.

Ian

DoctorIt

B://... were you a bit drunk yourself?

Surely you can see where some folks are coming from: Your retrospective intents may have been "artistic" but your story sounds like you were one drunk kid daring another to do something stupid.

shuffle, shuffle... moving along

Shay Stephens

Let's do the math... Alcohol + Drugs + Prostitutes + Stupid artist + lots of cars = Perverted photographer.

Peoples lives are worth more than that man. You really need to rethink your direction here. And legally, what if that person had been hit and died? Is the death of someone and your future freedom worth a few shots like that? Since you claim to be stupid, let me spell it out for you. The answer is no. Not cool. I personally don't want to see anything more like this posted from you again. It is grossly irresponsible and shows total disregard for human life. If you want to capture life on the edge, find it, don't stage it. It just comes across like a poser, just like K-Fed.

ian408

Owen wrote:

Ever been to a party? :P

More than a few. What does that have to do with stupidity?

DavidTO

Owen wrote:

Since when is it our (your, my) responsability to comment on the morals of a photographer?

While it may be irresponsible, the camera is a tool used to show "truth" and document life.

I see truth in these photographs.

Is it irresponsible to take photographs of drug users and prostitutes? Brothels and gigalos? Needles and drug dealers?

I'm afraid you've lost that battle before you've begun, folks.

What a load of horsefeathers. If we can't stand up for what's good and right in this world, well, then, we've lost already.

B:// I find your apparent glee at having no ethics deeply disturbing.

Owen

ian408 wrote:

More than a few. What does that have to do with stupidity?

They go hand in hand.

But that arguement is moot, anyways.

I agree these photographs are irresponsible, but a lot of things are.

Atleast they're interesting...

Mike Lane

Owen wrote:

They go hand in hand.

But that arguement is moot, anyways.

I agree these photographs are irresponsible, but a lot of things are.

Atleast they're interesting...

Give me a break, what a cop out. What intellectual bankruptcy.

Same to B://'s no ethics stance.

gus

gefillmore wrote:

enjoy?-

don't think so-

I find it pretty disgusting-

My words also. Too much to explain why as those i would need to explain too see a different view & i choose not to waste my time.

wxwax

Owen wrote:

They go hand in hand.

But that arguement is moot, anyways.

I agree these photographs are irresponsible, but a lot of things are.

Atleast they're interesting...

Owen, how "interesting" is it to see a man hit by a car and perhaps killed?

I'd ask you to reconsider the basic morality of encouraging someone who's under the influence, to go stand in traffic so you could get some shots.

It's immoral, it's unethical... and in this country, it's quite possibly illegal.

That it is idiotic should go without saying.

Owen

Alright.. so if this thread is so offensive, why hasn't it been removed?

Lesser threads get removed a lot easier than this..

My thoughts are.. did he die? No. Could he have died? Yes, but if he had, I highly doubt there would be pictures posted here.

One of my models could die if a lightstand hit them on the head, too. Or if Harry fell off the platform at Vierra Wetlands. Or if Andy fell off the Brooklyn Bridge.

Sure the narrative was sick and twisted, I'll give you that, but all of this moral bull@#$^ can go... aiee.

Andy

Owen wrote:

Alright.. so if this thread is so offensive, why hasn't it been removed?

It shouldn't be removed, and won't.

Lesser threads get removed a lot easier than this..

Really? I can only think of a very small # of threads that have been removed, and they have been due to obscenity, attacks, or similar.

We do not, as a rule, delete threads here on Dgrin. And in fact, as boards go, we're very fortunate in the (little) amount of moderating we have to do.

Thanks for posting!

wxwax

Owen wrote:

My thoughts are.. did he die? No. Could he have died? Yes, but if he had, I highly doubt there would be pictures posted here.

One of my models could die if a lightstand hit them on the head, too. Or if Harry fell off the platform at Vierra Wetlands. Or if Andy fell off the Brooklyn Bridge.

I assume you can differentiate between an unforeseen accident when all sensible precautions have been taken... and encouraging potential bloodshed by talking someone into putting themselves in harm's way?

The first is an accident.

The second is an accident by design. Legally known as manslaughter.

Owen

Of course I can. Thanks for laying it all out though.

I can't agree with everyone's high horse moral stance, but I'm done commenting for now.

Andy

Owen wrote:

That's true, actually. I don't know why I said threads get deleted.

I know posts do...

Again, VERY few. And only if there is a personal attack, or obscenity, or spam. We just don't do it willy-nilly, Owen, we don't. Prove it otherwise, or move along.

Thanks.

System

The tone of the objectionable material originally posted seems to be more of an attention grabber than anything else. The author likes to try to be weird for the sake of being weird. No big deal. I highly doubt the situation was as dangerous as he wants you to think it was. I mean does the country of Guatemala really have a downtown?

That said, I do like the images.

wxwax

Owen wrote:

I can't agree with everyone's high horse moral stance, but I'm done commenting for now.

Maybe you can think of it like this...

Growing up, you and I both learned a lot of stuff through peer pressure. We learned what was acceptable and what wasn't.

Maybe through the pressure of his peers, his fellow photographers, B:// will learn that it's not acceptable to ask people to stand in traffic so he can get a shot.