chapter 338

Street Photography

3/24/2014

Bummed Out

They used to call them bums where I grew up, but now if you google that you get images more like the one below. I took this shot in lovely Saratoga Springs where the rich and beautiful flock to bathe and in the cleansing therapeutic natural mineral spring baths. Thought the contrast would be a good character study for the photo club. This street photography is not my thing, yet I the candid unposed images do have appeal. These subjects choose me more so than I am choosing them.

It's somewhat ironic that I was going to an Outdoor Show when I heard the commotion of the gang behind the Salvation Army a couple blocks off Broadway. The telephoto lens enables a scene capture without interference. It was heating up as I proceeded into the Civic Center for the kayak and hiking demos. As I came back out the police car was on the scene. Started to focus as the gurney with the strapped-in body just being slid into the ambulance. That picture would have told a story but a late shutter click, and the moment passed.

I suppose there is some guilt, in taking this picture of the seamy side of town. Searching a little deeper, I found that Shelters of Saratoga is a leading advocacy group and success story for homeless shelters here and it grew from the church where my Son was married.

A Syracuse Football player just a couple years back is now homeless; thought to have mental illness perhaps due to head injuries. The subject makes for readily available and colorful segments for the SU journalism majors. Sadly it's a no win situation with a variety of conditions that can lead to this predicament.

1/11/2016 update: Luke Cain now deceased at age 33.

Another bearded fellow "in-danger" was John Ozard, old DEC hockey teammate and Endangered Species expert. He was demonstrating the Kayak rescue technique at that Outdoor Show snapped by fellow Photo Club member Jim Gold.

Making the scene at Breakfast at Saratoga: I've used this reference perhaps too much, but I love the ambiance of this polar opposite environment. Not the seamy side but the side with seams. Just as these examples show we are always seeing or being seen. The woman here glancing toward the food is in sharp contrast to the woman peering into the dumpster above for food.

.