Street lady

[Bobobird]

Street pic - was not sure where to post so just stuck it to my usual place.

Normally all my street work goes to b/w or a slight sepia tint. I think colour takes away a lot of "personality".

Here in Hong Kong (yes, usual trip) one sees a lot of senior seniors collecting packing cases in the major shopping areas. They flatten the cardboard boxes, load the push cart and take it to some collection area which pays them some money for the effort. Like gangs that stake out territory, some even have arrangements with certain shops. The shops do not need to pay someone for waste disposal and the "collector" gets paid by the recycler. Mutal benefit for everyone and the stuff does not go to some dump. These seniors are quite able-bodied but unemployable due to their age.

Anyway I don't about this pic. What do you think? Does it say anything or is it just another pic?

Thanks.

Btw - I really like this lens been waiting for over a year to get one - EF 20-35/f2.8 L.

[Clive Kirby]

It's a good shot, nicely exposed and framed, you could have cropped some off, particularly on the RHS, but does it matter - the image is a social comment, it shows the lady surrounded by boxes with the commuters or shoppers going about their business oblivious to her. For good measures we have the contrast of shops and "Merry Christmas" in the background. It works for me. Thanks for posting.
regards
Clive

[kdoc856]

Bobo, I like this very much. You have captured very well the isolation of this elderly lady, as she is separated from the other people by the fence, the boxes, and her total attention to her task and complete unawareness of the activity behind her (as they are of her).

Technically, I admire your use of the foreground boxes- the diagonal stacking makes a great sight line, and I agree this had to be a monochrome shot. The sepia seems appropriate. You might consider a crop of the right 20%, to get her off center and exclude a little redundancy, but if you need to retain this aspect ratio, I don't think you can lose much off the top or bottom (maybe a little off the top) and should leave it as is.

Well done.

BTW: I also just got a 12-24, went with the Sigma, which is slower than I would like (4.5), but I couldn't wait for Sony any longer- it is their glaring oversight thus far in their lense offerings for their full frames. going ultrawide is a bigger adjustment than I'd anticipated. Back to school.

[Bobobird]

Thanks Clive. I appreciate the input.

Thanks Kevin. Enjoy the lens. It should be fun at ultrawide.

Pic - about 1/3 top and 1/3 right has already been taken out but that placed the lady right in the middle. I was forced to take this shooting position in order to not block the entrance to a smaller shop. Otherwise I would have taken the diagonals and gone maybe slightly lower.

[Clive Kirby]

Bobo
Like I said - does it matter. Whatever crop or angle, you are immediately drawn to the subject and Kevin's comments are about the framing are absolutley right. It certainly doesn't detract from the social comment. I think it is a great shot, the more I look the more I apprecaite it.
Clive

[Bobobird]

Thanks Clive, agreed.

I only get to do street every couple of months because back home you only find me in parks or nature areas with hardly any people. Even if there are, pointing a big zoom at them seems a bit impolite.

[Wavelength]

That is a story; well done

[Bobobird]

Thanks Nanadakumar.

[FootLoose]

Great shot, bobo. Well seen and executed.

[flashback]

Old, invisible to all those passing by. Sad that a person has to scramble to survive in their 'golden' years.
And it's your shot that makes me feel that way. So a good shot it is. Maybe you should give up birds and go
for the B&W social commentary shots instead.
Strong work.

[Bobobird]

Thanks Greg. Glad it worked.

Thanks Jack - nah, birds do not make faces at me.
Actually most of these old people are pretty well taken care of or are not quite the poor that we think they are. They just do it for a bit extra money and not have to pass the time doing nothing. One old lady that passed away had a back that was bent forward 45 degrees. She pushed her carts until she died. She had 7 properties....

[Bobobird]

Looks can certainly be deceptive.

I was at the same street today and looked around for the old lady assuming she was going from shop to shop collecting boxes.

Nope - she has permanently occupied that part of the pavement. Her son was helping her dismantle boxes. Then another man and later an elderly women came up and told them that there were boxes at a certain shop. So all 3 of them went off leaving the old one behind as a "guard".

From the looks of it, they have sort of partly taken over the collection of boxes, have runners providing intelligence and a collection crew. Pretty enterprising actually. Would'nt be at all surprised that a truck comes along now and then to take the stuff away. Nor would I be surprised if all those portable guard rails were snitched from somewhere to give some semblance of work being done but in reality forming a barrier to sit in front of. There was no works anywhere along that long street or the intersections. Ha.

Now that I have seen what is going on, whatever other thoughts I had have evaporated. She is clearly taking advantage of her age so that the police and anti-hawking/obstruction personnel give her a wide berth. Enterprising perhaps but carving out a corner at one of the busiest streets in HK at the expense of every other pedestrian is pure selfishness.

So..... looks can be deceptive!

[flashback]

Nothing like taking advantage of and manipulating people's guilt, yellow (I assume) caution lights to boot.
Hey, someone has to recycle, might as well make it a family enterprise. Based on what you've written, the old lady
may very well have a huge carting business across the entire area.
But see, without the further back story your original image was evocative. Now I'm just disappointed

[Mike Buckley]

It's an OK image for me displayed in the small size. Displaying it in the large size makes it a wonderful image. There is something about all of the clutter (not referring just to the boxes) in the image that is necessary to properly indicate the context. However, that clutter can't be appreciated, at least not for me, in the small size.

Very glad to see a modern photo with a sepia treatment. Too many people think sepia images have to be timeless images evoking the past.

[Bobobird]

Thanks Jack - same here. I was pretty disappointed as well and gave up any notion of some additional shots. But that is Hong Kong, the free enterprise spirit at its worst (and/or best). For that I give her credit but how she does it I do not.

Thanks Mike - yes there is a distinct difference between the large and small views very similar to your glass shots. I always view those large.

Glad you found the pp acceptable - there are many things which I am terrible at and in photography it is landscapes and b/w. Despite that, the use of a hint of sepia, imho, gives a stark b/w just that bit of warmth especially if there are people in it.