Street musician

[deeyas]

I was out on the streets again and ran into this musician. I asked him if I could hang around and take some snaps....and since I didn't have any change to give, I offered him a stick of chewing gum! I setup a flash with a home-made snoot to create somewhat of a spotlight effect on the guy, and started clicking. Soon both of us attracted a small crowd, the sax player made some $ and I got some smiles. A fun evening!

[RSL]

Sayeed, Sounds like fun and the pictures are good, but I wish you'd included some of the crowd to give the whole thing context. But there's nothing quite as interesting as watching a guy play clarinet while chewing gum.

[walter.sk]

Great shots!

By your mentioning that this type of shot is a "cliche," you hit one of my sore spots.  As a person who does street shooting as part of my repertoire, I really question those who call this type of art a cliche (if it is well done).  What does it matter if it is a style that has been done for decades?  Each shot, especially those with character studies of people such as the ones you did, presents a new look at the human experience, and can, as far as I feel, never be a "cliche."  Keep up the good work and don't worry about people who would automatically dismiss a picture without looking at the content of it.

I edited this to say "people who would automatically dismiss a picture...they may look at it but not see it."

[RSL]

What Walter said. Every person in the world is different from all the rest. A good street shot never can be a "cliche." You can't say the same for landscape.

[Jeremy Roussak]

Sayeed, Sounds like fun and the pictures are good, but I wish you'd included some of the crowd to give the whole thing context. But there's nothing quite as interesting as watching a guy play clarinet while chewing gum.

Sorry to be pedantic (and of course you may have been speaking in the abstract), but that's a soprano sax.

Jeremy

[RSL]

Sorry to be pedantic (and of course you may have been speaking in the abstract), but that's a soprano sax.

Jeremy

Oops! Jeremy, you're right. That's even more entertaining to watch someone play while chewing gum.

[MikePike]

(In the first one) I like the way he's really into it but the reflection of the people in the window show they aren't even facing him. It's telling a story.
I love it.

[russell a]

(In the first one) I like the way he's really into it but the reflection of the people in the window show they aren't even facing him. It's telling a story.
I love it.

I would say that pictures don't tell stories, people tell themselves and others stories about what they see in a picture.  In this case, I am afraid that the photo in question does not support a story that I would find interesting.

[walter.sk]

I would say that pictures don't tell stories, people tell themselves and others stories about what they see in a picture.  In this case, I am afraid that the photo in question does not support a story that I would find interesting.

That's what makes art such an interesting kind of horse race!

This picture tells me a story, first, of a carefully dressed musician, eyes closed and deeply involved with his instrument and desire for expression.  His dreadlocks tell me he identifies himself with a cultural movement that values love, social justice, and creativity (the origin of Reggae, for example).  His leaning against the wall, with his foot against it for support, says to me he is willing to allow his vulnerability to show while he is deep in musical thought.  The condition of the sax case shows he values his instrument enough to spend substantial money to protect it, and the case with CD's, open for donations as well, says that this man is a self-motivated entrepreneur living out what could be the American Dream.  

Anyway, this in part comes from my telling me a story about the picture, but it is based on clues that the photographer included in the image, plus what the musician himself has decided he wants to show us.  The "spotlighting" in the picture adds tremendously to enhance the mood and shows that the photographer identified with something about the moment and the man,
perhaps similar to what I got from his picture.  And, of course, the image also tells me something about the photographer.

Very nice image.

[deeyas]

Thank you all for your comments. I really like reading differing views, it does help me the next time I see through a lens. When I came across Freddy, the musician, on the street, his warm personality (something that may not be captured through a photograph?) and expressions captured my attention. At this point, I had noticed none of things about him that Walter pointed out!
I set up my flash to create a spotlight around him with a snoot, and hoped to capture a moment. But after a few clicks, realized that there might be more potential! I then setup my flash to enhance the shadow of the case and light select areas. The glow from the setting sun also seemed to affect the tone of the wall. I made a quick mental note to try and use some sharpening to enhance the stony wall surface and use Lightroom's Tone curve to enhance the shadows. The reflection (of the person) in the window was by chance due to my location.
I was so caught up and excited about using controlled lighting out in the street and balancing it with the ambient, that I paid no attention to the audience and didn't try including it in the "story".

[russell a]

That's what makes art such an interesting kind of horse race!

This picture tells me a story, first, of a carefully dressed musician, eyes closed and deeply involved with his instrument and desire for expression.  His dreadlocks tell me he identifies himself with a cultural movement that values love, social justice, and creativity (the origin of Reggae, for example).  His leaning against the wall, with his foot against it for support, says to me he is willing to allow his vulnerability to show while he is deep in musical thought.  The condition of the sax case shows he values his instrument enough to spend substantial money to protect it, and the case with CD's, open for donations as well, says that this man is a self-motivated entrepreneur living out what could be the American Dream.  

Anyway, this in part comes from my telling me a story about the picture, but it is based on clues that the photographer included in the image, plus what the musician himself has decided he wants to show us.  The "spotlighting" in the picture adds tremendously to enhance the mood and shows that the photographer identified with something about the moment and the man,
perhaps similar to what I got from his picture.  And, of course, the image also tells me something about the photographer.

Very nice image.

Walter - what wonderfully wild projection.  But, why stop there?  You overlooked the implications of an end to World Hunger, the Cure for the Common Cold, and the end of the Recession.  (Background music:  "I Shot the Sheriff".)  

[deeyas]

Walter - what wonderfully wild projection.  But, why stop there?  You overlooked the implications of an end to World Hunger, the Cure for the Common Cold, and the end of the Recession.  (Background music:  "I Shot the Sheriff".  

I don't think Walter's comments were a wild projection at all!

[russell a]

I don't think Walter's comments were a wild projection at all!

Let's examine how this sort of thing works.  Putting on my deerstalker hat (a la Sherlock Holmes), I could examine the photos in question and conclude that, since the young man is well dressed, and has a shiny saxophone and a hip and expensive case, that it is not his economic situation that has driven him to the streets.  I would conclude from his posture that his playing is more casual than committed.  (Both feet aren't on the ground, he's not "leaning into it.")  I could put my two observations together and question his "authenticity" - comparing my impressions against a history of gritty and raggedy street photography.  I could then decide to suspect that his dreadlocks were an affectation.  

So, I have put the exact opposite of a "social consciousness" spin on the photos.  A spin, by the way, that has a history as old as photography itself.  (For starters, read up on John Thompson, Victorian-era Scottish photographer and his collaboration with a moralizing Adolphe Smith, who applied spurious social spin to Thompson's "London Street Life" photographs in 1877.)

My point is that when we caption a photo with our stories, there is a wide latitude of possibility for which the photograph may provide the slimmest of supporting evidence.