This was shot while I was out shooting for the Transparency challenge in late '08. I liked the golden glow and textures looking down the street toward the sunset. This woman wandered into the frame, while I was snapping away and it really made the shot.
Turned out the woman silhouetted here is a panhandler who approached me once before about 15 months prior. She is actually very effective at it. She is not threatening, and comes off pleasantly. The presence of a camera is an easy thing for her to inquire about to start a conversation. She inquires about what you are doing, then follows up with a brief explanation of her personal difficulties and a request. Her spiel was the same as the last time, so I'm not sure I'm believing her, but I gave her a couple of bucks both times. (I know, I'm a softy.)
I originally considered this a snapshot and briefly considereds putting it in the december '08 freestudy. Instead, I entered a b/w landscape that did ok, but not great. In the meantime, this one has grown on me and gotten some good attention on Flickr, including a very high faves to views ratio and getting explored. I've also realized that what I have here is purely of the street photography genre. Hopefully, it is street photography with some good wow factor.
Pre-challenge notes:
I'm figuring that even if this scores well, it will only do a mid-pack finish at best. There are going to be a lot of killer shots in this challenge, and entering something a little different from my usual seems like a good approach. Not expecting broad appeal. I will consider this a success if it is appreciated by the lovers of street photography, the out-of-the-boxers, and the folks who want a shot to speak to them.
Post-challenge notes:
Ended up about where I anticipated. The most interesting thing about this was the number of commenters who suggested that my title was contrived, and this was clearly not a panhandler. Those were all excellent observations, but appearances can be deceiving. The fact that she does not have the appearance of the stereotypical beggar is what makes her so effective at it.
Statistics
Place: 527 out of 1129 Avg (all users): 5.6414 Avg (commenters): 6.0870 Avg (participants): 5.6241 Avg (non-participants): 5.7284 Views since voting: 1095 Views during voting: 660 Votes: 488 Comments: 54 Favorites: 2 (view)
The golden nuance is great but the pose doesn't work for me somehow. It's like she was walking towards you and suddenly turned back to see what you are photographing. Hmh, I think too much.
I'm not overly concerned with the title (though it tells your story as you saw it) - what I see is that marvelous sun, the rim lighting, the depth, and those few rays just visible reaching all the way across the picture. Fine catch!
Nice use of foreground and backlighting for mood and depth. Not sure I ca figure out the story it's telling though. (Not voting, at least yet, just commenting.)
In a shot like this I think the title is a bad thing as it imposes a story on the viewer - I like to wonder what the story is - great shot for having the ability to fit stories to it
Hmm... Is the subject supposed to be asking this question? Because by the silhouette, this certainly doesn't strike me as a homeless or poor person. The backlighting of the sun is nice, but it looks as though post processing has caused the light around the subject to look fake.
Voted earlier coming back now to leave comments. For me I see the story unfolding here as "The Golden Hour". The main subject is mainly cast in silhouette so there are really no identifying features other than the handbag that is being held. The story I get from looking upon this image is a day of shopping at the markets or browsing the stores along the street - window shopping and getting a bite to eat at a local bistro. What really draws me is the warm golden tones of this capture and the feel that this is a quick glance imagery in that we are actually there observing the scene in real time (something the Lomo photography really does a good job in capturing - the feel of everyday life). Those warm hues make me think of a warm summer day or even autumn (those golden hues - leaves starting to turn gold and orange). You even have some rays and the person is wrapped in a warm glow of gold/orange hues. I feel that it adds to a sense of season and adds to the feel of the piece. The biggest critique I have for this (yeah, I know did you have to get picky)is that there are some odd blotches or spots on the top half of the pants of the main subject. I don't know if that it was from the processing or if they were actually there on the pants and the processing may have emphasized them. If it is due to processing then that can be easily remedied. It also might help to improve the visual impact of the photo by deepening the tones on the silhouette of the person to true black - something one can achieve by patiently selecting the person, feathering the selection to avoid hard edges, and either lowering the gamma all the way or brightness all the way. Of course, it could be that you see the silhouette as true black on your monitor and are wondering what the heck is she talking about. I, myself, have run into that situation where I see the silhouette as nice, deep dark shades but not everyone's monitor is calibrated the same plus the newer flat screen monitors seem to be much brighter than the older bulkier models.
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