Walk on By

[Arlen]

I don't do a lot of street photography, and post even less, but I thought this one told a story. This street musician was sitting under an awning amid the bustle of Seattle's Pike Place Market. He seemed almost oblivious to the crowd passing by, and they to him. Almost two separate but overlapping worlds.

I'm wondering if that comes across to anyone but me. What say you, yea or nay...
or just a yawn?

[Stagecoach]

Arlen,

He's was certainly in his own world at that moment but what you appear to have also captured is the movement of the strings.

[FootLoose]

Nice monochrome work, Arlen.

I agree he seems to be lost in his own space, but I don't get much sense of the crowd ignoring him.

I wonder about the foot sticking out of his guitar: could it be cloned out? I don't think it would make the owner look like he only had one foot because it might appear to be obscured by the guitar. Just a thought.

[TylieD]

Nice shot Arlen, I don't think you see enough of the crowd to get the impression that they're ignoring him but that doesn't matter, he's in his own world regardless and that comes across nicely, I really like it

[John 2]

Nice shot Arlen, I don't think you see enough of the crowd to get the impression that they're ignoring him but that doesn't matter, he's in his own world regardless and that comes across nicely, I really like it

Same here Arlen. I really like this kind of image. My only other comment is that the shadow areas could be lifted a little. Nice capture.

[Arlen]

Thanks to all four of you for the comments. From the feedback (as well as the lack thereof), it seems that maybe the story that I tried to convey here was too subtle (obscure?) to come across well. But I'll give a quick summary anyway of the thoughts that went into its processing.

The musician was the main focus, and I could have selected another shot without the people in it, or cloned them out of this one, but I wanted to convey a sense of the environment--people walking by. To separate them impressionistically from the musician's little world, I blurred and lowered the contrast of the background. Because the man behind him seemed to be stepping into that world, I spared him some of that treatment; and since his left foot was almost fully within the musician's space, perhaps bridging the psychological realms, I left it completely sharp and noticeable.

Too tortured for prime time? Probably so, but I decided to see how it would play.