Hi Frank ... It was a bit of an experiment. I wanted, not so much to make the viewer feel uncomfortable, although I figured the photo might make some feel that way to some degree, but to show this fellow as somewhat dehumanized, just a sign and a cup along the way to Starbucks ... and as everything that you said, except focusing on his disability at the expense of the rest of who he is.
When we talked and I asked to make a photo, he began to pose for me, and seemed surprised that I just wanted the shot that you see here ;-)) He's a very likable fellow and I hope to spend some more time with him again. Personally, I'm not sure I like it that well ... it's gotta stay with me a while, but the more I look at it the more it holds me. When I saw the fellow's sign I was reminded of Paul Strand's famous 1916 photograph, "Blind." The sign on the man's cane stood out like the sign on the blind woman: http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/features/schjeldahl/schjeldahl4-3-5.asp and I knew that the sign and the cup could say more about the situation and the circumstance than a full frame portrait or medium/tight head shot. I am going to rescan it, and also make a print to better see what it does for me, and how it might best be presented. IAC, I'm pleased that you like it ;-)) shel frank theriault wrote: > > I like this one a lot. > > But, it does make me uncomfortable (maybe it's supposed to?). > > Are you dehumanizing him by not showing his face? Are you providing him > with dignity? Are you focusing on his disability at the expense of the rest > of who he is? Or are you publicizing his plight to effect social change > without stigmatizing him personally? > > Or, maybe you're photograph is doing what many or most do as they walk by: > look at his disability, look at his cup, ~never~ make eye contact, and walk > on by, wishing to know nothing more of him, wishing he'd go away. > > These are, of course, rhetorical questions. And, I guess I should ask, "Is > the photograph dehumanizing him, etc., etc." > > I think it's a great photo, Shel. > >http://home.earthlink.net/~scbelinkoff/images/any-help.html
