With Or Without?

Photo: © Stan Banos

I think a lotta people thought that everyone staying at home would open up a slew of apocalyptic, end of the world photo ops. Who doesn't love eerie, isolation themed, big city vistas?  And in some cases, it has generated just that. But for the most part, empty streets pretty much depict... empty streets- the fewer people out there, the fewer opportunities to document instances that are  truly memorable.

When I saw this particular piece of graffiti,* I immediately thought possible photo op. So I set about framing it from several vantage points, and just as I found the spot and was about to press the shutter, I noticed the person pictured about to enter the frame. The human element can so often be the one deciding element that can make or break a photo, the icing on the cake that can make it rise from mediocre, to exceptional. And these days when people are a particularly scarce commodity on the street, I bided my time, counted my blessings, and pressed the shutter when I thought most opportune... Got it!

 

Fortunately, with a few years of experience under my belt, I then proceeded to take the shot I was originally attracted to, just-in-case. And good thing too- instead of being the icing on the cake, the human element in this particular composition is extraneous, unnecessary- a distraction from the the main subject. It also seems that one of the most popular 'street photography' memes these days is: find a sign, wait for a person to walk by and... Voila- Instant, genuine, bonafide 'street photograph' extraordinaire... a veritable formula of mediocre photographic repetitiveness. And that's not to say that the human free photo pictured here is all that, but it is the better of the two!

Of course, if I was Paul Graham, I wouldn't have had  to choose between the two. Rather, I would just print them as a diptych- and let the critics ooh and ahh about the 'genius' of depicting the passage of time...

*When we usually think of those "maintaining order," we think of those on top who suppress those beneath- not those of us unattuned and unconcerned who allow it to occur daily.