* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #944 / Revived #164 on 2026 05 20 *

Re Calcutta. It has been a thought provoking discussion and I'm still chewing it over. Two further Calcutta shots are attached.
I think it is relevant to ask why the photographs were taken and what the photographer intended doing with them.
In the case of the shoe shine kid and the girl with the begging bowl, I was communicating with both and I think it comes through. The communication was personal and I'm sort of at ease with the photos. The begging bowl photo goes closer to the edge.
Number three is very different. It's over forty years since these were taken and I don't remember taking Calcutta 3. This is the photographer deliberately being smarty and arty. As with the shoeshiner, the photo restricts the other people to legs and street level. Clever huh? If the photo had been taken as part of a series where the photographer intended making a statement or creating a wider awareness of some form, then perhaps it might, in the name of truth and reality, be justified. But it wasn't. This was me taking photos for my personal pleasure. It isn't a photo I would take again.

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To Minniev. This is a stunning photo. The darkness both literally and figuratively is just at another level. It makes me feel angry and uncomfortable...because it's such a powerful image. The story of before and after is one worth hearing too.

.and so (for me) a sad image of the way dogs are treated in Peru...thousands of dogs on the streets with no apparent owner and not much care. I liked this because the sign says 'call xxxx' but this has nothing to do with the dog. I also like the 2 different type of walls...one using Inca stones.. and the decrepit doorway with a piece of wood blocking dogs from getting in

060426 cusco call this number - by softmarmotte, on Flickr

It may seem like an odd reaction, but when I saw this, I smiled. In SE Asia and India we came across many similar sleeping dogs. When cool stone is available, they stretch out to sleep and seem to be maximizing body skin area in contact with the cool. People can be suprisingly and unexpectadly considerate of animals.
Nice use of camera controls to emphasize the stillness of the dog and the human movement all around.

Thanks for your comments. I do understand your reluctance to take uncomfortable photos, given the convoluted legal aspects and customs. We all must be aware of the rules where we are, and that the rules in any given place can change, as can the cultural unwritten rules. We are in a time of great flux with this stuff.

On a personal level, I would describe my own motivations as those of a storyteller, assuming every person (and animal) has value, and has a compelling story to tell if we just pay attention. My street photos are a kind of storytelling in behalf of the individual photographed. The moment in that captured story may be sad, or ironic, or funny or joyful, but the story deserves telling nonetheless. These young men at awkward rest have a kind of innocent broken beauty that is set apart from the bright morning around them. I tried to tell that part of their story.

Thanks you so much. I am pleased you were able to find the meaning I did in it, the mix of darkness and light in both senses.

I can imagine the photo though I don't remember seeing it. In theory, I don't know that the gentle irony would have stopped me from sharing it, since the lady was carrying the bag herself and you weren't manipulating the scene. But I've had those thoughts about photos grabbed of some people in unfortunate situations. I would never want to be thought of as making fun of someone's looks or disabilities or circumstances.

In places like the French Quarter, there are a lot of people who dress for their everyday lives in attire that would appear extreme anywhere else. This is true for the homeless, the street performers, the artists, the elderly. It is impossible to sort the impaired from the eccentric, the deliberate from the accidental.

This is an interesting conversation, glad we are having it here.

Fine portraits, and I especially like your lighting choices and processing approaches. There is drama and elegance in all three. The first is a favorite.

Excellent street capture, regardless of when or with what. The compelling eyes form an anchor from which we explore the frame, where we have details in the boy's humble equipment, and an array of what might have been his customer base in the background. Nice subtle but distinct tonalities in the central figure.

Good example of creative composition, using something as innocuous as a puddle to turn an ordinary scene into something special. Well done.

The contrast of the sleeping dog and the blurred movement of the humans around him is what makes this photo. Brilliant shooting decision.

I always pay attention to the animals when I visit a new place. How they are treated tells us a lot. This dog feels safe to sleep in a busy public area. That speaks volumes.

There is a rich storytelling in this simple photo, and you pointed out the small details that make it interesting. The mix of the ancient and the modern and the patchwork in between tells a long story of culture. This dog is not sleeping, but sharp eyed while resting, probably keeping an eye on the photographer to see whether you are a threat or a possible resource.

Certainly looks contented enough. A couple of years ago in Albania we noticed that the street dogs all seemed to have ear tags, and again were docile and kept themselves to themselves. There was one that seemed to like sleeping right in the centre of a busy crossroads in the centre of Gjirokaster old town 😁.

With the last one (Calcutta 3) I think you are being a bit harsh on yourself. It is edgy, yes, close to the border of being exploitive, but it passes my own very subjective criterion of being ok. Did the actual process of taking the photo give the boy the feeling of his problems being exploited for titillation? Judging by his expression, probably not. Is the photo just voyeuristic or is there a valid social comment? Well, you belittle yourself for being smarty arty, but actually I think you did a good job. We can’t see anybody‘s face except the boy’s, they become the faceless general public, which concentrates attention on the boy and implies the rest of the world ignores him. I like the way the men are clutching their briefcases, as signs of bureaucratic socially acceptable norms and existence, in stark contrast to the unfortunate boy. The Dutch Angle adds to this and implies a world out of balance. Together, I interpret this as a difficult topic, but shown in a socially critical way. Would I have taken the photo? Probably not, but not because I am critical of you taking it, but because I would not be confident of pulling off a valid socially critical image.

[quote="@softmarmotte"]
.and so (for me) a sad image of the way dogs are treated in Peru...thousands of dogs on the streets with no apparent owner and not much care. I liked this because the sign says 'call xxxx' but this has nothing to do with the dog. I also like the 2 different type of walls...one using Inca stones.. and the decrepit doorway with a piece of wood blocking dogs from getting in

060426 cusco call this number - by softmarmotte, on Flickr
[/quote
]I found comparing my own response to this photo and to Pete's to be revealing. In the case of Pete's, I smiled. With this image, I felt sad. It is possibly an example of how we are never completely objective when we look at images - we always bring our personal prior experience to the table. In the case of Pete's, I've travelled in that part of the world and I recognized a dog taking advantage of a cool surface. I've never been to South America. All the hard stone and wooden suggested to me the dog wasn't happy when really, there is little in Pete's photo to make me feel the dog is comfortable. The textures and colours are playing a part as well. One surface looks much easier to sit on than the other. softmarmotte's shot is full of uncomromising hard edged lines. Pare's has more soft lines and visual variety.
Of course, these aren't statements about the relative artistic meites of the shots, I'm analyzing why they give me different responses. What makes art art, in my never humble opinion, is its capacity to provoke such responses in us.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about minniev's photo and the discussion of my shots.
We are about to drive to Yulara and everything is very busy. I want to come back to this but it won't be before Roel gets the coming weeks round launched. If it is OK I'll post again on this week's images during next week's round. Besides, I'll think further while driving.

This interesting conversation continues (I was away a few days).

Both of these images have merit, but I like one and dislike the other.

I don't like the first, not because of the subject that you shot or the fact that you shot this image, but because of the PP treatment.

You have given this image a dreamy, soft, artsy treatment that turns it into (excuse the expression) poverty porn.
A documentary shot of the young beggar making eye contact would be totally fine for me.
Not so much though the artificial softness in the processing, creating a David Hamilton "Bilitis" era vibe.
I really don't like that, but appreciate you sharing the image for us to make such harsh comment.

By contrast I really like the second image, because it is documentary, dynamic and does more than just portray an unfortunate person.

There is so much interaction here: * The eyes turned upward seem to connect (almost) with the photographer (not as in a portrait pose though like the first). * But actually I feel like those eyes were really connected at the anonymous person with the briefcase and the sandals who hurries past the beggar and seems to hold his briefcase a bit higher than strictly necessary for comfortable walking, which indicates to me that this briefcase is being shielded, as if the person carrying it, fears the briefcase being snatched away by the (literally) "lower-level" humans.

That makes the image powerful, with multiple layers and implied social comment.

Cool use of the reflection.
Many photographers shooting people and situations on the street, don't pay attention to shadows and reflections, while these can add so much to an image.