Homeless. Post your photographs.

[KM-25]

But this is only a pastiche of homelessness. Pretty insulting to think of it this way even. The problem is that you always have an out. You can get up offa that street and go home when you're done with your photographs (or just when you can't hack it anymore) - people who are homeless don't have that luxury. It's a prince playing a pauper for fun.

Recognising that you come from a place of privilege is one of the most important things you can do when working on a project about people you consider disadvantaged.

Ah, well...being a former homeless person my self I just pulled that out of my rear end out of frustration, at least it was something different than the cliche crap that gets cheered on constantly.

One can fly a drone with $100 bill attached to it around a homeless camp for all I care.

 

[Bob Michaels]

I have never experienced a photography exhibition where the photographs go together with a text explaining the image, the story of the subjects, their names and fates.. It is great for the photographer to get involved with his/her subject, but it is not mandatory.
....................

My two exhibits in Cuba last year had 24 photos and 3,489 words, in Spanish of course, in captions. That is an average of 145 words per caption. The theme was the similarity of the culture of the Deep South with that of Cuba.

Two years earlier, I did the mirror image exhibit at the University of Mississippi. It was themed the similarity of the Cuban culture with that of the Deep South. Those 20 photos had captions totaling 2,737 words or an average caption length of 137 words.

The exhibits in Cuba had captions that only talked about the Deep South, leaving it to the audience to conclude "hey, just like us". But the photos alone could never conveyed the information contained in both the photos and text.

Similarly, the exhibit at Ole Miss had captions that only described Cuba and its culture, again leaving it up to the audience to recognize the similarity.

I have seen similar descriptive text in photo exhibits, typically those of a documentary nature and not purely artistic photos.

 

[aizan]

i think this discussion may move forward in a more productive way if people clearly state their thoughts on what their photographs do in the world.

whether your audience is one or a million, whether they are seen by others, whether they are contextualized by an exhibit or just the viewer's previous experiences with photos, these photos act on us like all others.

but how specifically?

 

[Bob Michaels]

..................
Either the photograph tells a story or not. Period.

Great line for internet discussion chatter. But, few really good photographers believe it.

Alex Webb's "Crossings" is one of my favorite bodies of work. I have seen the prints exhibited. I own the book. But my favorite presentation is his video talking about the subjects in the photos. http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/crossings

Another favorite is Susan Meiselas documentary body of work about the Mexicans who pick tomatoes in South Florida http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/harvest-out-reach

Alec Soth's "Niagara" is a different approach where he talks about his feeling and emotions while making the photos. Quite interesting. http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/niagara

I look over at my bookcase full of books by well known photographers and realize just how few of them believed "Either the photograph tells a story or not."

 

[bushwick1234]

 

[bushwick1234]

Over all humanity deals with the homeless very poorly in my opinion. They are society's losers in the eyes of so many people ... and from the time we are born in the first world the emphasis is on 'winning' and losers are shunned.

Thanks for sharing, Keith!

 

[Iestrada]

My contribution to the thread includes a homeless person. It is the only photo I have ever taken that includes one. However, it os not a photo of a homeless person. It is photographing indifference. Many of the pictures shared show a common theme. It is perhaps the reason why they were taken. It was for me.

 

[bushwick1234]

Somewhere in the province of Bulacan in the Philippines

Thanks for sharing with us, Keith.

 

[Bob Michaels]

i think this discussion may move forward in a more productive way if people clearly state their thoughts on what their photographs do in the world.
...........................

I personally evaluate my own photos on how they achieve my objective which is typically to inform the viewer as well as to elicit some positive feelings about the subjects in the photos. Another goal is to create some record of a disappearing culture. I do always think in terms of an overall body of work rather than individual photos, so will sometimes select a photo because it is needed to complete a story.

 

[Taipei-metro]

series; fragment LA 片断;
街友 (street friend)


2,
same person 2 weeks later

Los Angeles County

by t a i p e i metro

Canon Dslr, Canon 18-55

 

[airfrogusmc]

I believe as Winogrand believed single photographs do not tell stories. I think bodies of work can and some do.

Some words by him and he gets to the story part

Starts about 1:26 in but the entire piece is interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl4f-QFCUek

Also I feel that if we self sensor ourselves by not including whats out there then we are not being honest.

 

[bushwick1234]

series; fragment LA 片断;
街友 (street friend)


2,
same person 2 weeks later

Los Angeles County

by t a i p e i metro

Canon Dslr, Canon 18-55

Thanks for sharing!

 

[cz23]

...Also I feel that if we self sensor ourselves by not including whats out there then we are not being honest.

Isn't all photography is self-censoring? Because "what's out there" stops at the edge of the frame, and we decide where that edge is. (Sounds a little like a Winogrand axiom.)

John

 

[airfrogusmc]

Isn't all photography is self-censoring? Because "what's out there" stops at the edge of the frame, and we decide where that edge is. (Sounds a little like a Winogrand axiom.)

John

Yes in that regard I agree. Framing is important. What we leave in or what we leave out helps us convey an idea. The way we compose and frame can become part of a personal way of seeing. I was referring to excluding something like the homeless from what we turn our cameras on. I would say if no one holds up the mirror like Evans, Lange, Bourke White, Frank and many others did then what would happen to that part of the larger picture? Those issues might not have been explored and history just might be saying the dust bowl and great depression wasn't really that bad and the 50s was a wonderful time for all.

I guess what I am getting at is if it's out there on the streets and I'm working in the fashion I try to work in, as a blank slate, open to whatever, even photos of what others may find tasteless or offensive or cliche or to someone else code, whatever that may be, and I will photograph whatever moves me. Whatever I find interesting. I can't work honestly if I am worried about what others rules/codes/whatever are. If I did I would be paralyzed and not create anything.

 

[filmtwit]

 

[NickTrop]

Does anyone not know what homelessness is? These pictures are not informing anyone about homelessness, they are simply exploiting the most vulnerable people in society for your viewing pleasure. They do not belong in this forum just as pornography doesn't belong here. We are better than this.

I agree 100%.

 

[JChrome]

I'm fascinated about the notion of "exploitation" in photography. If a homeless person is in a photograph, how could that impact the quality of "exploitation" inherent within the photo? If a person that slept in a home was replaced with the homeless person in the exact* same photo, would it be less exploitative?

I can understand it from a moral perspective, how it can be distasteful to photo the homeless but from a logical/philosophical perspective it doesn't make much sense.

I don't go out to photo the homeless, but if there's a photograph to be had, I will take it. Out of hundreds of photos like this, here are the few with someone who could* be homeless.

 

[Tim Murphy]

Why not photograph gunshot or accident victims?

Why not photograph gunshot or accident victims?

Dear Board,

Like some of the others I simply don't understand the need to photograph homeless people?

Why not post photos of crime or accident victims? Surely some of you have happened upon them with a camera in hand?

I honestly have to wonder why homeless people seem to be the limit of acceptability among photographers? There are countless terrible things that happen each day, why not blast them across the internet?

Regards,

Tim Murphy
Harrisburg, PA 🙂

 

[aizan]

I'm fascinated about the notion of "exploitation" in photography. If a homeless person is in a photograph, how could that impact the quality of "exploitation" inherent within the photo? If a person that slept in a home was replaced with the homeless person in the exact* same photo, would it be less exploitative?

I can understand it from a moral perspective, how it can be distasteful to photo the homeless but from a logical/philosophical perspective it doesn't make much sense.

that doesn't make sense at all. your proposition only makes sense if the only power involved was that of one person having a camera and taking the photo, which is never the only thing going on.

 

[airfrogusmc]

Dear Board,

Like some of the others I simply don't understand the need to photograph homeless people?

Why not post photos of crime or accident victims? Surely some of you have happened upon them with a camera in hand?

I honestly have to wonder why homeless people seem to be the limit of acceptability among photographers? There are countless terrible things that happen each day, why not blast them across the internet?

Regards,

Tim Murphy
Harrisburg, PA 🙂

Hi Tim but think if some photographers like Dorothia Lange, Walker Evans, Margaret Bourke-White and many others had not turned their cameras on homeless or the very poor.