Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Always in the thick of something

in the middle of the hullaballoos, i beg you


In the middle of a public demonstration, I found this man. Holding a dented can of Selecta ice cream, he stretches his arms in between people passing by seeking people's attention, asking for some spare change. But he is not your usual, meek type of beggar who acts on people's pity. He is loud and in most cases, persistent. I started taking several shots of him and bystanders start looking at me. I try to shrug of the attention and focus on this man. Then he starts noticing me as well. I would have stopped shooting right then and then but he ignores my existence. He never seems to mind. He continues what he's doing. He continues to bug people for penny. I, on the other hand, continue shooting.

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Postscript:

[ICs @ eLBi, on that one corner where Natalie Imbruglia's photo is pinned]

before leaving the country, a friend left me with this phrase: purge, purge, purge! it was more of an advice for herself than mine. but lately, I’ve been thinking about it too. i always say that we tend to see the truth about ourselves in the most unlikely situation or circumstance. Sometime we discover the “not so good parts” but we discover, nonetheless. and it's good (i think). but in crucial moments, i usually doubt my decisions. i was never a logical person to begin with. i tend to choose the safest way--that one, particular road that gives priority to the feelings of others. my feeling is my least concern. i like to think that somewhere, somehow i will always have a control over my own feelings. that I can dictate as to which direction it should go. once again, i was proven wrong. heck.

9 comments:

Photo Cache said...

I am glad he didn't bug you for his "fee". I took a photo of a street performer in Chinatown and he gamely posed, but as soon as I started to walk away, he called after me for his "fee"; so I dropped some coins in his instrument case.

This is fascinating image. If you look very closely you can even make up stories for everyone in the picture.

JESS said...

nice to see photos like this, unscripted ones.

Anonymous said...

Nice photo. Very impromptu shot.

;)

Sidney said...

I always give some coins to the beggars...I find this an incredible hard job to be a beggar...and the salary is bad! ;-)

Nice action shot with all the flags around. An anti-Gloria manifestation?

Controling ones feelings is quite difficult... but it is definitely possible...;-)

escape said...

hi rayts, i cant see the photo.

my gulch said...

photo cache:
hindi naman n'ya ko siningil. buti naman. i got the impression though that he liked being captured on camera kase he was looking my way every now and then, tinitingnan siguro kung kumukuha pa ako or hindi. tas may time na ngumingiti naman siya.

but the "asking of fees" happened to me a lot while I was in Shenzhen, China but since I don't understand them I took it the wrong way. kala ko nagalit sa akin dahil kinunan ko sila picture, yun pala nagalit kase di ako nagbigay ng pera.

hi Jess:
thanks. it's really nice to catch people in public places. mas raw yung emotions na nakukuha ko. i love street photography.

kyels:
thank you, and I want you to know I appreciate your constant visit to my blog.

Sidney:
yea, an anti-GMA demonstration (who else?).

Dom!:
cencia na. nagkaproblema kanina sa imageshack, dun ko kase hino-host mga photos ko. anyway, i hope you can view it now. thanks for visiting.

escape said...

yan finally nakita ko na! galing ng shot na to.

buti nga at hindi ka nya nilapitan medyo delikado yata ginawa mo dyan.

alam mo bang, kapag nakikita ko mga kuha mo dito, nangangarap talaga akong magka DSLR.

pero tiyaga lang muna ako. in time. everything comes in time.

my gulch said...

Hi Dom!
thanks for the comment. i appreciate it. wag ka mainip, pasasaan ba't magkakaroon ka din ng dSLR. like you said, everything will come in time.

pieterbie said...

Ah, but that is what we do, isn't it: we shoot. Nice piece of street photography!

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