The most expensive photograph of a homeless person ever taken
This is the most expensive and interesting photo ever taken of a homeless person:
I had filled up my camera with photos for the day, and I had one shot left. I was walking home, and I really wanted to take a picture of someone, some person, some thing that was alive. My joy was realized when a tall, black, homeless man waved me over. We said hello, and I told him I had a deal for him. “I’m coming home from work, I’ve got one more slot on my camera. Lemme take your picture, and I’ll pay you a couple bucks.” That seemed agreeable to him, after inspecting the contents of my camera and receiving assurance that I wasn’t gonna sell it.
Of course, the photo is CC licensed–I’m giving it away, and someone else might sell it.
I then took his picture, got him to smile a little. A random homeless guy, bumming around seattle in my neighborhood. I thought it added a little hometown touch to my otherwise humanless pictures of the day. The closest I had gotten up until now was the remnants of humanity: its trash:
Then it was time to pay up. I pulled out my wallet, and the first bill was a $10 bill, and as he was watching with eager anticipation, I gave it to him. That was my first bad move. Probably, I should have asked if I could take his picture for free, and then toss him a couple bucks. For my generosity, I got pestered with:
- Can I get $15 dollars so (points) this other guy can eat too?
- He has diabetes, really
- We both haven’t eaten today
- The extra $5 would buy me beer
- Do you know my picture is worth a lot more?
- I’m related to some famous basketball player and his family
- Delete my picture and take back your money (as he puts the money in a pocket)
My response to this was silence and “hey, don’t try to play me. You got 2 hours of salary out of 1 minute of your time.” I then cut out, and left. Mr. homeless decided it would be fun to follow me home. This is the route from where I met him to home. You’ll notice there’s a sharp bend in the road there. I took advantage of the bend to sprint across the street, against a wall, and up the hill until I could run into the pacmed gardens, out of site. I then finished my climb to the top of the hill, and went home. The guy was nowhere in sight.
The experience was definitely worth $10.
| This entry was posted on Friday, July 15th, 2005 at 11:38 pm and is tagged with hometown touch, eager anticipation, couple bucks, minute of your time, homeless person, basketball player, homeless guy, bad move, homeless man, walking home, remnants, generosity, coming home, wallet, photograph, salary, silence, diabetes, neighborhood, trash. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback. |
11 Responses to “The most expensive photograph of a homeless person ever taken”
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“No good deed goes unpunished” – Guess there is a reason for that old cliche.
Sorry to hear about what happened.
I am entertained through this post nontheless…
I did a likewise thing here (South Africa) watching the homeless go over the road and spend R20 on booze…
nice picture nevertheless
Well, at least you got mugged or killed, you got a definite shot of the homeless.
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it got me all amotional im onli 15 and im doin an assignment on homeless people 4 senior english. Thanks for the article it came as alot of help and it realli made me think of how life is. My family and I r realli well off it jus goez 2 show u wat itz realli like out there……
Hmmn, hope he ain’t waiting for ya in some alley to get pay back, once someone tells you to rid of the picture and you can’t use it, that means you do not have any right even letting me see it. ALthough it seems he kept the 10 bucks, so sounds to me you are in the clear legally.
I wasn’t here to “flame”, just wanted you to tell that homless guy about: http://www.SpareSomeChange.com is the homeless search engine I made, please give this web address to other panhandlers and homeless people (they can use free computer/internet at the library) you come accross.
Not true. A photograph may be taken of any individual in any public place and generally used without profit. This is considered fair use and not an invasion of privacy.
Wow. I have never seen a photograph more lacking in composition, technical skill, or meaning. Way to go. You photographed a person whose face is completely eliminated by underexposure, standing dead centre in front of a painfully uninteresting landscape and a washed-out sky. You should try opening your aperture a few stops to compensate for the light sky in the background and show w bit of your subject. Or try a slower shutterspeed. Then again, it looks like you’re using a fairly basic point-and-shoot camera, so maybe you don’t have those options?
This isn’t even a decent snapshot.
Sorry, just thought somebody should tell it like it is.
Oh yes, it’s horrible
But at the time all I had was a point and shoot…
I dont see the problem?
You took advantage of him and he in return took advantage of you.
It is too boring!