So this is not really the sort of photograph I am comfortable with. Certanly the machine colors are striking, but the person walking through seems to have just been inadvertantly included. I would have wanted to see either a more interesting position or some sort of interaction. Maybe if there was a way to crop in closer (I find the door distracting) and by manipulation or timing get the figure to stand out from the background more. Such represents a genre of photography that I can appreciate when it is done well (eg, Cartier-Bresson), but I only very, very rarely am successful myself; it's hard IMO. I will turn this around and ask you what was your intent? And don't say, "it's just a photograph"
Most people aren't "comfortable" with it, so no worries there. It's one of the reasons I post them. Sometimes I am not even comfortable with them. First I'll answer your easy questions, then the harder one.
- The person walking through was completely intentional. I had to wait in fact quite a while for the right person, and make several attempts. Yes, I would have preferred perhaps the person walking farther out from the machines, but in that location, they simply wouldn't cooperate with me and insisted on walking that path.
-The door is a minor annoyance to me, but the frame had to be that way, so the door could not be helped. It's there, it's quite ok with me.
-This is not "Cartier-Bresson" street photography. Or even street photography at all. It's more along the lines of vernacular photography if it was to be so categorized, and usually I am not very strict about such matters.
The hard question then is my intent. I take all photographs based on my desire to see what the devil the actual world around me looks like, and to understand what some of it means. And if I can resolve a piece of that place and moment into a photograph, I can then share it with others. When I say actual world, I mean the non-idealized world. The one we travel through constantly, not just the world from the Kodak sign that says, "Stand Here" to take your photo. Yes, I visit those big magnificent places which have been prepped for us, but only a tiny percentage of my time is there. Most of my life is spent in the immediate non-glamorized world. The one with brightly lit coke machines all lined up ready to serve at the drop of a coin. I don't want to take the world for granted.
So, in this photograph, I gathered up what resources were installed there as an intentional space. The tiles form a nice grid pattern, the wall is nicely painted and the gleaming robot-like energy dispensers are designed with real verve screaming out for attention. To make it a human place, I waited for it to be occupied.
I appreciate your comments - they're very helpful to me. I know most people are uncomfortable with this sort of photograph, and your honesty is appreciated.