city candids

[JimmyJaceyMom]

I got bored and went to the city with my new XTi - I traded my old one to my sister in law and she went with me.
I am very nervous to take a picture of just anyone even if they look like they want me too. Some boys on bikes may as well have just asked as they kept riding around us all through tthe city but I get too embarassed or something, I don't know. :blushing: I know they arent in perfect focus but I just get so nercous to take the pic that I cant take my time. LOL

anyhow I was just screwing around trying to get comfortable with my new camera.

this guy loaded this bike on the front of the bus and it took him forever, then less than five minutes later he was back, on the bike and waiting for the next bus. My sister in law and I were like um... wait a minute here.........

see here he is again, second time in 5 minutes for the bus. I don't know what's with the bandaids around his pantlegs. ?

I just liked her outfit. If you dress this way... well. My apologies. :lmao:

I just thought this guy looked interesting.

Nothing amusing about this. I was actually very sad when I took this. You can't see but he actually has one hand under his head and the other through the spokes of the chair... I am imagining that is so no one could steal it while he sleeps on a granite bench. :cry:

I saw it this way so I made is this way.

 

[mysteryscribe]

The guy with the wheel chair is very touching. I like it, but would have liked it better if you cropped the green out in the top and took the porportional bit off the left side. on the color one like you did in the black and white below it.

I also like the old man on the bike. It's interesting to me because he took it off an expensive suv. Otherwise you might have thought him a wino. We have some around here that ride bikes.

 

[Peniole]

Nice work on the wheelchair shot, I agree though a little to the left and with the trees left out would have been on the spot.

The bands on the pantlegs are to keep them from getting black from the chain grease.

 

[JimmyJaceyMom]

The guy with the wheel chair is very touching. I like it, but would have liked it better if you cropped the green out in the top and took the porportional bit off the left side. on the color one like you did in the black and white below it.

I also like the old man on the bike. It's interesting to me because he took it off an expensive suv. Otherwise you might have thought him a wino. We have some around here that ride bikes.

Yes the color version of the homeless man is uncropped at all. When I took it I did it quick without thinking much as I didnt want him to wake and see me pointing a camera at him. It's rude I think and I'm not normally ride but I saw a shot and took it. oops.
and the man with the bike IS a wino - that is a public bus he is putting the bike on. He put it on there and then five minutes later he was back, on the bike waiting for a bus in teh same spot. strange!

 

[JimmyJaceyMom]

Nice work on the wheelchair shot, I agree though a little to the left and with the trees left out would have been on the spot.

The bands on the pantlegs are to keep them from getting black from the chain grease.

Oh yeah I didnt think of that. I wouldnt have thought he would have cared about his pants because the plastic bag he was holding was leaking something like crazy! LOL

 

[mysteryscribe]

there goes my plan to ride a bike for exercise... I look like a wino anyway.

 

[just x joey]

i think that homeless dood with th ebike live sin my area too lol. im thinkign about shooting sum homeless people with very dramatic lighting, and lotsa contrast in black and white.

 

[Jeffm73]

I can understand you being nervous when shooting people in the street. You don't want them to turn and look right at you , and then get ****ed off.

I shoot all of my candids with a 200mm or longer lens. This way, I'm not intruding on their personal space, but i can still get a halfway decent shot.

If I shoot homeless people, I will often offer them something in return. Nothing much really. If someone asks me for a cigarette, I'll tell them only if I can take there picture. They never seem to ask why, and I end up giving them a whole pack, so they think they got something out of it too.

I like the wheelchair shot myself

 

[mysteryscribe]

I like the long tele idea... In this town many and I mean many of the homeless are former mental patients and some are even seriously deranged. The farther I can get from them when shooting pictures the better I think.

I know many are just down on their luck and need a break. Either way I would feel a little uneasy shooting them up close and personal. Still they are sorta in the public domain. They should be in the public conscious as well.

 

[Jeffm73]

That is a very good point Mysteryscribe. I don't approach very many, but I'd like to think that I'm a fair judge of a persons mental state. Better safe than sorry though, and thanks again for making that very important point.

 

[mysteryscribe]

I once worked for a local police department shooting crime scenes. I had people offer to make my body a camera bag.... If you know what I mean....

 

[EJBPhoto]

I think these would have been a lot more interesting if you had shot at a wider aperture. As is, they are kind of boring and the backgrounds are very distracting. Check out Joey Lawrence for some inspiration- he does street photography amazingly. He was just featured recently in After Capture magazine although I've been looking at his work for awhile... and he's 17 years old! www.joeyl.com

 

[Garbz]

Oh yeah I didnt think of that. I wouldnt have thought he would have cared about his pants because the plastic bag he was holding was leaking something like crazy! LOL

If you've ever had your pants get caught in the chain while cycling down the road you'd realise the chain grease is often the least of cyclists worries when doing this. Pants and shoelaces. There's a reason bike cloths have neither.

Great work btw. I like the one with the wheelchair.

 

[JimmyJaceyMom]

Mysteryscribe - that guy wouldn't have seemed so strange if he were simply riding a bike... it's the fact that he takes all that time to put his bike on the front of the bus and then comes right back to the same stop. Riding a bus is good exercise, whether you are homeless,a drunk, a wierdo or whatever else. LOL
And you know it's not just your town where lots of the homeless are mentally disturbed so you're right, you need to be cautious. Ever see the movie session 9? Almost every fact they stated in that movie about institutionalization is true, Its a neat movie - watch it. A little goofy but interesting and spooky.

justxjoey - that could be fun, just be careful! You never know why they are in the postision they are in and you dont want to tick one off!

JeffM73 - yes i had thought of bringing my longer lens with me and I was kicking myself once we got downtown and there were so many people I could have taken pics of if I'd had it. I underestimated my city - LOTS of people full of character in town! Funny you mention cigarrette's because one homeless guy did ask us for one but I dont smoke! I'll get a cheap pack next time and use it for payment. LOL

ejbphoto - thanks for the link I am going straight to checking that out as soon as I'm done here. I know I was afraid that if I used a wider ap I wouldnt get anything in focus at all and I was super fidgety too so I actually may as well have been using an automatic setting that's how little concentration I was putting into taking these. As far as the backgrounds, our city may well be just boring. LOL

Garbz, hmmm.......... can you tell I don't ride a bike for excersize? LOL Well now if I do I'll know these very important safety tips! No baggy pants and no shoelaces! That would be a picture in itself!

thanks for the comments guys.

 

[JimmyJaceyMom]

EJBPhoto- I am mad at you! LOL just kidding! I just looked at that stie and that kid is freakinf amazing! I now feel ten times more discouraged than I did before. HAHA although I should look at it another way and say hey - it only took him 2 years to figure it out and I have only been at it 6 months so I should chill and keep reading. But still - DAMN!