This is a great capture; real and harsh, yet so theatrical... I love it...

A good shot. I like the red skirt and legs but I especially like the way the bloke's feet slightly turn inwards. It makes him seem even more vulnerable. A very sad shot, but a good one too.

aww man, what a powerful picture =(

Resigned, perhaps???

Very strong photo!

:)

Heartrending.

I hope there are angels to come.

Amazing shot! I'm curious as to how you ask your subjects if you can shoot them (if you do ask), and their reactions to your asking.

Dave,
I think John's shot is a little more aggressive than yours in the sense that in his shot the man does not show the suffereing halo this one does.
There is definitely something on the way he's looking that makes it hurtful. I also think that the other people in the shot make him look more isolated in his own world. I see this and think of death and sorrow. (maybe I am too creepy-minded ;o) )

This is on of those images, I think, that leave us wondering about the suject's fate.

This guy haunted me when I saw him on John’s site. I think that this image is even more disturbing. Your decision to include the bright red skirt and bag just adds to his story of depression. His gaunt look and ashen pallor tell a great deal about his life. Very powerful image.

Like Shaun I would really like to know if you ask peoples permission to take a photo or just take it.

Needless to say, i'm sure this image has an impact on anyone who views it. You can't help but wonder what his fate will be.

I do love this photo, but i can't help feeling that i am enjoying this image at the expense of it's main character. Maybe that was your intention, to provoke thought or maybe i'm being a little sensintive tonight, either way, this for me is a powerful image and one of my favourites - [Chuks]

This is an incredibly powerful image. There isn't much that separates people except for their circumstance. This man looks like his circumstances haven't been ideal to say the least. It is a haunting image and makes me feel sad for those in his situation.

Shaun/B-art: when people are living on the street, or begging, I always give them some money then ask if they mind if I take a few photographs. I've never had anyone say no, at lesat not after an explanation as to why I'd want to photograph them, but if they did I'd just thank them and walk away.

EOS Chaos: I've discussed this issue with various people - is it exploitative to photograph street people? - and I don't think it is. If you watch people on the street, and I mean average people, with money and somewhere to live, if you watch them when they're around street people, most of the time they refuse to look as they hurry on with their lives. If they looked they might need to justify why they won't give them any money. If they looked they might have to question the nature of the society they live in and actually see the unfairness, poverty and despair and recognise that they're just not prepared to do anything about it ... not even hand over a bit of spare change.

So, I guess that I hope that this sort of image makes a difference. That someone will see the despair in his eyes and recognise him as a human being. And maybe next time they walk down the street they might be a little more generous.

*steps down from soapbox*

It's a very sad image... There's even a little motion blur on the woman to the right, as if she's moving away from him, and he's looking her way as if he knows it.

Quite a "harsh reality" shot. I like it from a technical and documentary perspective, but I hate the story it tells. Please balance this with a happy shot tomorrow!

ohhh...everything about him cries out helplessness and Desperation...it makes me feel sad :(

The point of view and framing of this street shot is very nice. The expression on his face is great.

A stark reminder if ever there was one of the difference between the "haves" and the "Have-nots". Your last comment sums it up Dave.

It is hard to imagine how life must be for this man, and the countless thousands in his position. To be sat on the floor watching the masses going about their business, consuming, purchasing, getting wrapped up in the trivial decisions which ultimately don't really "mean" that much, when compared to having a warm house, food, clean clothes, company...

It's hard to imagine, but the look on the man's face goes a long way to helping us to get close... Stunning!

This is a very emotive shot and extremely well executed, it makes me think of the plight of the man and the indifference of the general public represented by the lady in red. The problem with living in London, and many large cities, is that you can witness deprivation so often that it desensitises you to it, but what never fails to amaze me is how close, in terms of distance, the very rich and the very poor live but how vast the gulf is in their lives.
For me this is one of your most memorable shots, very well done.

This is truly the essence of street photography, brutally truthful.

How you manage to take that pictures? you step closer to the subject? or is a zoom?
Great picture by the way :)

So this fella is tugging a fair few heartstrings. I wonder how many people who see him in the real world feel the same way. I have to be honest and say I'd be, 'Avoid! Avoid!' in the real world - it's *just another beggar*, just another bit of noise in a noisy city.

On here, you get to look, but not do, and that's just fine.

Maybe you could give him prints of this photo to sell?

My earlier comment was aimed at the myself the viewer and not the photographer. Images like this have to be captured and commented on as we have done here. StuartR put it better than i did, "I like it from a technical and documentary perspective, but I hate the story it tells".

You can't help but take a moment to think of this man, and others in his plight. The sensitivity i spoke of earlier comes from an incident at the weekend, where i was approached by a young man at a petrol station who asked me if i had a pound to spare. My initial response was that i had nothing and could not help, but even as the words left my mouth i was regrettiing them. I was about to walk in and pay for a tank of petrol, and some chocolate for the kids and felt very bad indeed. On my way back to the car, i went over to the young man and gave him some cash, but i have not stopped thinking of him and what may have happened to him. Seeing this image brought it all back i guess. This really is a powerful image - [Chuks]

The colors in this picture are great! But what I really like about it is the woman's leg just out of the shot. There is something about her (in a vibrant colored skirt... and I assume life) being jsut outside his world that really makes his situation hit home. I'm not sure if it's 'luck' or 'talent' that brought you to this location just in time to capture these two together, but it really makes a great shot. Once again you have amazed me.... and made me jealous at the same time.

Wow Dave... I normally am inspired by your work, but this shot makes me unbelievably sad. I keep looking at him and wondering what led him to that corner. I go back and forth between the life that the lady in the dress will go to that night, and the bridge/bench/ally that he will retire his head on. I wonder how many times I have done the same thing she is doing? Not out of cold-heartedness, but out of my busy day and life I lead. You truly caught his emotions PERFECTLY! A+

my first words while looking at this picture
'HOLAY PHUCKIN SHIT THATS AWESOME"
...nuff said

I wonder how it would look like if the picture was black and white, while the skirt and legs and the guy were the only things left with a hint of almost desaturated color. I want to see how powerful that will look!

wow nice photo, try it on black and white see if it has the same effect.

Wow - a very emotive image Dave. The colours and contrast, along with composition are fabulous and compliment it so well! The H&M bag of shopping through the window adds a really nice touch too. Great work :)

I wish I had the words to describe this one in english, but I'll use just one spanish word that I think expresses exactly what this photo is:
"Desgarradora"

Moving, to say the least. The discussion about permission before taking pictures is valid, though beaten to death. I'm sure it's similar (if not more common) in the UK as it is in the US for your picture to be taken by any number of cameras in public space.In fact, many times here, if a bad car accident occurs on a busy intersection that has a camera (many do) they broadcast it on the news. I seriously doubt they get permission from the victims before airing the tape.

This is no different to me. It's a public space, and you even give some these less fortunate individuals some money. Seems like a win/win to me.

It's funny to see how many more people question the privacy issue when the subject is a street person verses a pretty young lady like the photo you took yesterday. Although you may have asked her permission, one could be lead to believe you didn't; due to the fact you didn't catch her name and the length of the lens you used (and thus, your distance from her), verses this one in which you were closer. Great shots, either way.

That is very moving.

what was he eyeing?

Can't stop looking at it. Everything is perfect.

Hey, I have shoes like that.

How do you get the saturation of your colors, I can never do that on a 20d without intense photoshop work...

He's got an interesting expression. I'm curious to see how the pic would've come out without the woman's leg in the picture though.

awesome,IS it A PIC FROM THE madame tassaud-?.GOOD WORK.

I like how there's a very raw lifestyle feel to this. I especially like how the red dress is so bright compared to the rest of the photo and how it fits with the context.

This is really a great street shot. He has such a classic face.. I see judgement and wisdom. Maybe it is envy or sadness.. who knows besides him, thats what makes this such a great shot. The other life represented by the womans leg is the finishing touch that makes this photo exceptional. As far as the photographing strangers discussion I think both styles are valid but will produce entirely different images. For the first time I have begun to ask strangers to pose for the cameras and I enjoy the pride and "false faces" that the subject create to represent themselves. This is also revealing of a person's soul but in a more subtle way than a shot like this where you are capturing a very honest, raw expression. Anyways... excellent work!

DEfinetly the expression gets all the atention here. He really seems kind of deseperated but tired at the same time. I also can't avoid looking the red skirt on the rigth side. For some reason it seems to me that you captured the two sides of the coin. The man representing total passivity before the rithm of some other's daily routine. One of your best scenes. For me it tells a whole story. Well done Dave.

Reminds me of the Weegee shot from the 40s. All about contrast, this one - social and spectral! I think the vibrant red would have made Weegee envious! Nice pic.

It touches and comforts me that you left an ethereal imprint of yourself in the soft reflection in the window, to watch over this man closely and gently.

It's not a world without angels. Now that you have brought him to all of us, and us to him, he is surrounded. I hope it will help.

what despair in this shot!

:(

It has always been a strange phenomenon that poverty makes beautiful images, be it Sebastiao Salgado's biblical goldmines or Dorothea Lange's intimate portraits of the US depression. But as well as the aesthetics I find I am drawn to the wretched nobility that the best of these images convey; something unique to photography.

A powerful image and I agree with an earlier comment, he does have a theatrical look about him, accept he is real and not an actor!

What I always wonder with these types of photographs is, do you ask the model to do a certain pose or do you just take pictures as they're doing as they please??

Great framing, great colour saturation. The anguish on his face was really hard hitting. I could understand the 45 comments immediately. The contorsions down the side of his neck remind me of "The Scream". Definitely the colours for me though, Oliver Twist type browns.

Dug out a link to the Weegee pic in my earlier comment:

http://www.coldbacon.com/pics/weegee/weegee-critic.jpg

Have to say, I think yours punches harder!

Check your site every day (and love it) but don't often post. This pic was a bit like a slap in the face - I'm sitting at my desk, full after a nice lunch and there's this image of someone who literally has nothing but the clothes on his back. His face is just so full of despair and resignation, it makes me want to go and give him my bank card :o(

Very well captured. Impressed by this shot.

To me this is a little too contrived. The compostion and other technical elements are superb as always.

Great photo capture. Before it gets too maudlin I thought I'd pass on some information about "street people" here in the U.S. In two large east coast cities a large number of these folks were picked up and transported to homeless shelters where they were provided with warm, clean beds, showers, clothing and meals. The majority of them left to go back to living on the street where they felt "free" and in charge of their own lives. They didn't want rules or confined spaces.

Some newspaper commentaries were rather harsh and called them mentally unbalanced. The definition might more appropriately be abnormal. Guess it just means they live outside the bell curve. Some by choice, some by happenstance. Not sure we'll ever resolve the issue to everyone's satisfaction.

Keep doing what you do. They'll keep doing what they do. Life goes on until the last frame.

that is one hard photo .... brutal

tugs the heart strings

this guy may be an angel, because he truly does look out of the ordinary.

suffering for a cause.

a very engaging photo.

Thanks everyone, I'm pleased you like this one.

This photo definitely evokes a feeling of sadness and dispair. His face looks so aged.

it's so beautiful and so sad at the same time... reminds me of the song 'streets of london' by roget whittaker...

"have you seen the old man, in the closed down market"... "so how can yoyu tell me... you're lonely, and say for you that the sun doesn't shine? let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of london, and i'll show you something, to make you change you're mind"

good luck with the server move. i forgot to say how much i like this photo, i keep coming back to it. unfortunately i can't say it's something i would want a print of or anything like that.

this is an interesting image for sure! without the legs and the red spot on the right it would have been boring. the only thing which appears strange to me is the skin color of the guy. looks weird.
greetings,
martin

Ah, this is really beautiful. Sad, though.

His despair is Passive yet powerful. It changed my day.

Honestly, this is the best photoblog photo *ever*, and without a doubt the best photo i've seen in the past few months... You can win some award with it...

I'm not sure how I missed this one but I'm glad I caught up with it through your Daily Shooter interview.

It's just such a strong image, and as you said in the article, it's an image with a lot of weight behind it. Excellent.

This is far one of the most dramatic portrets i.ve seen, very good

details, really great shot...somehow it reminds of our homeless people...

Like my country position is a world without angels, where politicians beg for

a spot at the table of power to the old lady `EUrope`.