Social Differences - Street Photography

[Heizmann_Media]

Hey all,

here's a street photo.
I really like the content, because it shows a poor lady, a old man and an immigrant (or a person with Indian background).
It shows the differneces in the social commnuity, but all the persons are looking in the same way.
Maybe a bit too much interpretation, but what do you say?



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[Tony S]

Unfortunately for me I don't see much in this. All the subjects have their backs to the camera, can't even tell that one is a woman (she even has a bald spot), there's not enough difference in clothing or even look to say there is a social disparity between the subjects. I guess what is really missing for me is emotion and visible differences. Sometimes we see/sense things and differences in people but it becomes really difficult to capture in a single frame.

 

[Frequency]

I think you had better focus on the lady, because the other two persons do not contribute much to the feeling you wanted to convey; i think the baldness Tony found is something seen beyond her head Regards

 

[The_Traveler]

Hey all,
I really like the content, because it shows a poor lady, a old man and an immigrant (or a person with Indian background).
It shows the differneces in the social commnuity, but all the persons are looking in the same way.
Maybe a bit too much interpretation, but what do you say?

It doesn't show much or any of that.
I only know what they are and what is important about them because you told me.

 

[Nau]

Unfortunately for me I don't see much in this. All the subjects have their backs to the camera, can't even tell that one is a woman (she even has a bald spot), there's not enough difference in clothing or even look to say there is a social disparity between the subjects. I guess what is really missing for me is emotion and visible differences. Sometimes we see/sense things and differences in people but it becomes really difficult to capture in a single frame.

I agree with Tony, there is no emotion in the picture.

 

[.SimO.]

I think a better shot would have been to throw down a $10 bill between the two and take action shots of the arguments on who found it first. Just a thought...

 

[Frequency]

But that may lead to different interpretation

 

[gsgary]

You are reading too much into it,all i see is the backs of 3 people

 

[SCraig]

Hey all,

here's a street photo.
I really like the content, because it shows a poor lady, a old man and an immigrant (or a person with Indian background).
It shows the differneces in the social commnuity, but all the persons are looking in the same way.
Maybe a bit too much interpretation, but what do you say?

In my opinion it's just an unexposed B&W shot of the backs of 3 people. How did you decide that the woman was poor? That the man was old? That the other person is Indian? That isn't visible in the photograph. If you were to hang that on a wall how would anyone viewing it come to the same conclusion? In addition, and I freely admit that it may just be this monitor at work, the shot looks way underexposed.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

She's about to get mugged?

 

[rexbobcat]

All of their backs are turned and it's dark so I didn't see anything until your commentary pointed them out.

 

[amolitor]

I don't believe the commentary, anyways. It detracts from the image. I think this *is* "street" in the sense that the word is used by people who talk about photography as art use it: On Street Photography I don't think it's very strong "street" but it has the right elements. A sense of form in the composition, some mystery, some narrative (or material the viewer can use to project a narrative on to the scene).

The light is a bit confusing, and I think this could be rendered better and more coherently. The shadows are too flat for my taste, and I can't tell if this is indoors or outdoors, daylight, overcast, evening, or noon. Sorting out the tonal placement would clarify this image a fair bit, I think.

It would still be "street" which is a genre not everyone gets, and which is almost never decorative or attractive.

 

[The_Traveler]

I don't believe the commentary, anyways. It detracts from the image. I think this *is* "street" in the sense that the word is used by people who talk about photography as art use it: On Street Photography I don't think it's very strong "street" but it has the right elements. A sense of form in the composition, some mystery, some narrative (or material the viewer can use to project a narrative on to the scene).

I think that the narrative should be virtually intrinsic to the image. This above is a typical result when photographers project a narrative and loose their objectivity about how much the scene really embodies the narrative.

This below is by a friend of mine and, for me, really nails it.

"Street shooting is maybe the hardest niche of all in photography. The photographer stalks his chosen environment where, essentially, nothing is happening - people are quietly going about their business - and yet has to select tiny moments when an image can be snatched which is more than the sum of its parts, where some fleeting coincidence of expression, gesture, positioning, and movement come together to create an instant which holds some undefinable meaning."