Homelessness in B&W. I am just getting into photography, tell me what you think.

[503Amateur]

I'm pretty new to the whole photography game, so I could use some do's and don'ts in respect to my pictures. This was a candid shot of a homeless guy(Ray was his name) under a bridge in Salem, Oregon so this was on the spot with no preparation or setup. By the way, I'm a Tpf virgin, so be gentle.

 

[amandamartin]

No. While it may make for an interesting shot, is it ethical? I vote no.

 

[Ernicus]

To me, it doesn't capture the essence of a homeless person. It could easily be a guy in a coat standing around. Which is what I see.

 

[Ernicus]

No. While it may make for an interesting shot, is it ethical? I vote no.

What's the difference in shooting a homeless guy hanging out vs. a rich guy outside a cafe hanging out? Homeless people are people too and deserve to be in candids as much as the next guy. Especially if you shoot them in that kind of light...as people.

 

[amandamartin]

No. While it may make for an interesting shot, is it ethical? I vote no.

What's the difference in shooting a homeless guy hanging out vs. a rich guy outside a cafe hanging out? Homeless people are people too and deserve to be in candids as much as the next guy. Especially if you shoot them in that kind of light...as people.

There is nothing wrong with it, if you are shooting them because they are a person. if you are shooting them because they are homeless OR because they are rich, it's exploitation. Just my opinion. I wouldn't feel right about it.

 

[Jaemie]

Besides the "homeless" issue, how is it candid when he's looking straight at the camera and appears to know you are taking his picture? Was the camera hidden? This looks like a portrait.

 

[Ernicus]

Besides the "homeless" issue, how is it candid when he's looking straight at the camera

Good call...I totally missed that one.

 

[LaFoto]

While I don't see "homelessness" (as is put into the title) in this photo, and maybe not "candidness", other than that this photo was not set up with lights and more, I still do see solidly good photography with regards to lighting, settings, use of background, composition and expression.
And since apparently this photo gave the photographer and the photographed person a chance to talk (else how would he know the person's name is Ray?), something good was achieved beyond the mere taking of the photo - it induced conversation between two people. So there's nothing unethical for me to be seen.

 

[503Amateur]

I should have been more clear on what I meant by candid. I shot this as a part of a photojournalism assignment to show the more human side of homelessness in Salem. I did not just go out and snap this picture without talking to the guy. Even if I did, I would not have had an issue with the ethics of it, as it is a public place and I am not exploiting him in any way. If people didn't cover people in different situations or from different backgrounds by taking their pictures then photojournalism wouldn't exist. I talked with him for about thirty minutes as he was panhandling before I brought the camera out. After getting to know him I shot a series of pictures as he was doing his thing. He just so happened to look right at me as I took this picture. He was holding an "anything helps" sign, but I was standing right up against the street, and couldn't get it in the shot. But, back to the image itself. Is it too dark, contrast too much?

 

[503Amateur]

And I paid him $10 for his time, which doesn't go very well with the whole photojournalism aspect, but I felt like I needed to give the guy something for hovering around him for fifteen minutes.

 

[unpopular]

Often times homeless people are just guys in a coat. While the image does not illustrate homelessness, it's a decent enough portrait. That's kind of the challenge of photographing the homeless, how do you illustrate the person and their social status without it being solely about one or the other. I would argue that it is far less ethical to try to use a homeless person to represent all homeless people; when photographing the homeless, we should be capturing the individual's essence, which to a large degree may include homelessness, rather than trying to capture the essence of homelessness through an individual.

Another issue I have with much homeless photography is that while the ordinary people can go home and live a life of privacy, the same does not apply to the homeless. The homeless truly have no expectation of privacy, and it is wrong to exploit this characteristic of their living condition for the benefit of the photographer. But this isn't a cheap shot of a homeless man sleeping under a bridge. So I don't think that it is exploitive in that area either.

Unless you've been homeless, and have first-hand experience knowing what it's like out there, i'd say you really have no right to say what is acceptable.

 

[503Amateur]

This picture was supposed to be one out of a photo essay that I was going to do around town that was going to cover multiple people, but it didn't end up working out so Ray was the only person that I ended up covering. My reason for picking this as my topic was that I was homeless as a teenager, so I know how much it sucks to have people look down at you when you're already in a rough spot.

 

[unpopular]

503 - most people wouldn't choose this image to illustrate a homeless person. You had done a very good job of ensuring that Roy remains "human", if there were several images of homeless people presented as ordinary people I think it'd be an interesting set; otoh, I am not sure if it may sanitize the situation. As you know, homelessness changes you and changes your perspective. So I don't think it's appropriate to hide the fact in order to illustrate the individual. Not that I am saying that this was done intentionally, but it may be interprited that way.

 

[Jaemie]

Should I throw some popcorn into the microwave?

 

[503Amateur]

Unpopular-I understand what you're saying. I should have just posted this thread under another name and left the details of the picture out. Lol, I'm just trying to get the hang of photography and was looking for suggestions on the picture itself(strengths, weaknesses, too processed, ect).