I wasn't sure what I'd do for my shot. I also wasn't planning to write an essay, but oh well...
I didn't have a specific photo in mind, a big concept, etc. The camera arrived in the summer and I just wanted to do something fast and get it out to the next participant. I brought it along when I accompanied my wife to one of the stores she manages, in downtown Hamilton, Ontario. I thought I'd walk around downtown with my digital gear and also make the film shot. When we arrived at the store, a man high on drugs was making a lot of commotion in the transit shelter outside the front door. I watched him a while and noticed his stuff lined up on the bench and a yoga mat unrolled inside the shelter where he would sleep after the inevitable crash.
He was doing the usual drug-induced zombie impersonations when I decided this would be my photo. Initially it was all about the visuals - his strange movements resulted in unusual looking 'poses' that I thought would contrast the 'normal' environment around him. But of course, there is a 'bigger picture' here; drug addiction and overt public consumption, which in the last 4-5 years has become a much more frequent occurrence/problem in Hamilton, across Canada, and around the world. In Hamilton this has particularly affected the downtown area, which has a concentration of social services and the most affordable housing options. But the affordable housing crisis affecting the city (and country) has resulted in a dramatic increase in homelessness and public drug use.
As I stepped out the door two women approached from the left, momentarily blocked from view by a pillar at the store's entrance. I rushed forward to time the shot with them entering the frame. It was no-look from the waist; I thought I did it too early and from too far away, but the framing turned out closer to what I had in mind. I only got the one woman and in hindsight it was probably better I didn't wait longer, but in my rush I eliminated the option to wait until the guy provided a more 'expressive' pose.
Along the lines of this photo being a 'bigger picture' observation: in addition to the proliferation of drug use affecting Hamilton's inner city area and to a degree being a consequence of the area's housing crisis, the woman waking through the frame is representative of Hamilton's (and Canada's) evolving ethnocultural cross-section (refer to information from Statistics Canada). Hamilton/Canada was very WASPy until around the 70s. Since the 80s-90s, immigration trends moved away from Europe to Asia, SE Asia, Middle East, Africa, etc. In the last few years, as Canada's immigration admissions have increased to about 500,000 annually, there has been more discussion about whether these numbers (one of the highest among similar countries) continue to bring the economic benefits used as the basis for this policy and how it affects the affordable housing shortage that has increasingly marginalized low wage earners, and the ability of the percentage of immigrants categorized as low-skilled to successfully establish themselves and become economic contributors to the country.
At its most basic, this photo is a reminder about some my summer in 2024, during which I often accompanied my wife to this store. She would ask me to join her whenever I was available and she was the only one staffing it at opening, in part to assist with heavy lifting and other chores. But also as an informal security guard to keep an eye on the customer area and that the washroom didn't become a drug user's crash pad. I spent a fair amount of time sitting at the window watching the streetscape of this photo. I learned the transit shelter was a preferred location for drug users to take their hits and sleep off the inevitable crash. It provided a safe space that prevented them from staggering into busy traffic, but of course prevented transit patrons use of the space. The bus stop brought frequent foot traffic and an ever-changing street scene. Many people would lean against the store's windows for rest and shade. The vast majority always faced the street and rarely turned around to look into the store. Except young children. They appeared to be restless observers of the world around them and I had many humorous interactions with children peering into the store, hands cupped around their eyes to block out the bright environment for a better view of the scene on the other side of the glass. So, occasionally I became the observed rather than being the observer. Overall, it wasn't all bad. Rather, it was fairly representative of life in general with the expected mix of the good, the bad and the ordinary.
We were having one of our peak bluebonnet blooms in Texas this year. It's rare that you can fill an entire frame with unbroken patches of them, and that's exactly what I had in front of me. I was stoked to send a little staple of the Texas summer along with the camera.
In my excitement of finding it, I...
1) did not think about black and white not really capturing, you know, BLUEbonnets effectively and
2) I had not looked at the FRONT of the camera on which the MFD was CLEARLY labeled, and instead I treated it like my Yashica in terms of MFD
I'm glad to see others had more success than I did
Alright peeps, I have updated the images with all the extra info provided so far.
Will do the rest as they come in!
@lifeandmylens I an so sorry for your loss of Niya. I know how brutal it is, and it never leaves. But I feel honored that this project remembers her, and she is a part of it albeit unwittingly!
People often say that the time with our dogs is a chapter in our lives. But to them, we are their entire book so make sure to fill that with love, excitement and adventures.
@rscheffler thanks for providing such a detailed backdrop to your photo. It really shows how these issues are not localised.
To everyone - thanks so much for being such good sports and participating. And not bolloxing up my camera! Pretty impressive the film was not cooked by xrays considering the borders it crossed!
I have uploaded the full rez files to Printique where you can view/order prints/download. PM for the link if you want it.
I wasn't sure what I'd do for my shot. I also wasn't planning to write an essay, but oh well...
I didn't have a specific photo in mind, a big concept, etc. The camera arrived in the summer and I just wanted to do something fast and get it out to the next participant. I brought it along when I accompanied my wife to one of the stores she manages, in downtown Hamilton, Ontario. I thought I'd walk around downtown with my digital gear and also make the film shot. When we arrived at the store, a man high on drugs was making a lot of commotion in the transit shelter outside the front door. I watched him a while and noticed his stuff lined up on the bench and a yoga mat unrolled inside the shelter where he would sleep after the inevitable crash.
He was doing the usual drug-induced zombie impersonations when I decided this would be my photo. Initially it was all about the visuals - his strange movements resulted in unusual looking 'poses' that I thought would contrast the 'normal' environment around him. But of course, there is a 'bigger picture' here; drug addiction and overt public consumption, which in the last 4-5 years has become a much more frequent occurrence/problem in Hamilton, across Canada, and around the world. In Hamilton this has particularly affected the downtown area, which has a concentration of social services and the most affordable housing options. But the affordable housing crisis affecting the city (and country) has resulted in a dramatic increase in homelessness and public drug use.
As I stepped out the door two women approached from the left, momentarily blocked from view by a pillar at the store's entrance. I rushed forward to time the shot with them entering the frame. It was no-look from the waist; I thought I did it too early and from too far away, but the framing turned out closer to what I had in mind. I only got the one woman and in hindsight it was probably better I didn't wait longer, but in my rush I eliminated the option to wait until the guy provided a more 'expressive' pose.
Along the lines of this photo being a 'bigger picture' observation: in addition to the proliferation of drug use affecting Hamilton's inner city area and to a degree being a consequence of the area's housing crisis, the woman waking through the frame is representative of Hamilton's (and Canada's) evolving ethnocultural cross-section (refer to information from Statistics Canada). Hamilton/Canada was very WASPy until around the 70s. Since the 80s-90s, immigration trends moved away from Europe to Asia, SE Asia, Middle East, Africa, etc. In the last few years, as Canada's immigration admissions have increased to about 500,000 annually, there has been more discussion about whether these numbers (one of the highest among similar countries) continue to bring the economic benefits used as the basis for this policy and how it affects the affordable housing shortage that has increasingly marginalized low wage earners, and the ability of the percentage of immigrants categorized as low-skilled to successfully establish themselves and become economical contributors to the country.
At its most basic, this photo is a reminder about some my summer in 2024, during which I often accompanied my wife to this store. She would ask me to join her whenever I was available and she was the only one staffing it at opening, in part to assist with heavy lifting and other chores. But also as an informal security guard to keep an eye on the customer area and that the washroom didn't become a drug user's crash pad. I spent a fair amount of time sitting at the window watching the streetscape of this photo. I learned the transit shelter was a preferred location for drug users to take their hits and sleep off the inevitable crash. It provided a safe space that prevented them from staggering into busy traffic, but of course prevented transit patrons use of the space. The bus stop brought frequent foot traffic and an ever-changing street scene. Many people would lean against the store's windows for rest and shade. The vast majority always faced the street and rarely turned around to look into the store. Except young children. They appeared to be restless observers of the world around them and I had many humorous interactions with children peering into the store, hands cupped around their eyes to block out the bright environment for a better view of the scene on the other side of the glass. So, occasionally I became the observed rather than being the observer. Overall, it wasn't all bad. Rather, it was fairly representative of life in general with the expected mix of the good, the bad and the ordinary. ...Show more →
Just so everyone knows, I did not crop any of the pics. So for young Master Ronny here to nail this from the waist is pretty darn impressive!
Image 15 by OwlsEyes (Bruce Leventhal)... Tunnel to Marine on the St. Croix. Every year MN DOT repaints this tunnel entrance a neutral color and within a month Wylie Coyote is back as a splat on the entrance. The tunnel is about 10 miles from my home outside the border of William Obrien State Park.
OwlsEyes wrote:
Image 15 by OwlsEyes (Bruce Leventhal)... Tunnel to Marine on the St. Croix. Every year MN DOT repaints this tunnel entrance a neutral color and within a month Wylie Coyote is back as a splat on the entrance. The tunnel is about 10 miles from my home outside the border of William Obrien State Park.
Info added!
C’mon people, still quite a few left that need attribution. And a comment would be nice too
Sorry for my tardiness. Lucky 18, always been my number since high school. Higher Key and Lower Contrast than I expected, but that’s film I guess. The Oak Island Pier’s cathedral view in the morning light. I had wished for calmer waters but I didn’t want to hold up the project and it got much rougher the next couple mornings. I wanted to capture the beach of my local area, funny that 16 had the same idea.
For my shot, the 30, I wanted to add a little commentary.
Jérémie and Fiona go to the Cinema
The photo was taken in the main projection hall of the cinema Le Cosmos, a cultural landmark of the city of Strasbourg. The cinema offers a variety of themed movies and activities related to cinema, art and news.
The theater is a protected historical building as it’s one of the oldest french cinemas.
I like stories more than anything so it was a fitting place to write that short one with a photo.
Going back to film photography, participating to the One Shot Photo, meeting Fiona, having access to that location, it happened very much by chance in the span of that year where the project took place. And now there is that one shot to remember it all.
My shot #4 is a casual portrait of a guy who lives down on the Boardwalk in Pacific Beach. He is often found contentedly smoking the Bong he is holding. Sometime playing his trumpet. He is a nice and gentle person. But obviously a victim of the drug culture. I am doing a multi year photography project on the boardwalk. So, I see him often and always enquire about how he is doing. I sometimes bring him a meal to help keep him well. Mostly in Winter when the Boardwalk is quiet. Other times of year he gets plenty of money panhandling the tourists.
1bwana1 wrote:
My shot #4 is a casual portrait of a guy who lives down on the Boardwalk in Pacific Beach. He is often found contentedly smoking the Bong he is holding. Sometime playing his trumpet. He is a nice and gentle person. But obviously a victim of the drug culture. I am doing a multi year photography project on the boardwalk. So, I see him often and always enquire about how he is doing. I sometimes bring him a meal to help keep him well. Mostly in Winter when the Boardwalk is quiet. Other times of year he gets plenty of money panhandling the tourists....Show more →
Sonnar-7 wrote:
For my shot, the 30, I wanted to add a little commentary.
Jérémie and Fiona go to the Cinema
The photo was taken in the main projection hall of the cinema Le Cosmos, a cultural landmark of the city of Strasbourg. The cinema offers a variety of themed movies and activities related to cinema, art and news.
The theater is a protected historical building as it’s one of the oldest french cinemas.
I like stories more than anything so it was a fitting place to write that short one with a photo.
Going back to film photography, participating to the One Shot Photo, meeting Fiona, having access to that location, it happened very much by chance in the span of that year where the project took place. And now there is that one shot to remember it all.