Invisible On The Streets
On a trip to Costa Rica, we walked the back streets to see the real conditions people line in. Turning a corner I saw this man sleeping in the rain, using an em...
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On a trip to Costa Rica, we walked the back streets to see the real conditions people line in. Turning a corner I saw this man sleeping in the rain, using an empty pop bottle for a pillow. I watched people walk around him in the rain like he wasn't even there, totally invisible.
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Nov, 2013Views
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Camera-Gypsy
January 16, 2014
Amazing story telling photo. This captures an incredible reality. great job
michelbissonnette
February 13, 2014
Beautiful capture of human harship.very touching picture,well done
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo in Costa Rica walking the back roads in town wanting to see the reality of life on & in the streets.Time
It was early afternoon. We were on a cruise and this was one of the stopovers. This day it was monsoon rains, typical for this area. The rains did not deter us one bit. The street vendors, markets etc were all busy.Lighting
The rains actually made for amazing shots, it wasn't a dark cloudy day, fairly bright, it seemed to enhance the colors, the people & buildings. The natural light enhanced the streets, engulfed the scene of the man sleeping in the rain. It added just the right touch of shadow and really showed the reality of his life.Equipment
I used a Canon 40D, lens 70mm-3000mm, no tripod as this was a candid shot. No flash needed, just natural lightInspiration
Walking with my family through the streets was a huge eye opener for our children. They saw the locals sleeping in doorways, sitting on sidewalks propped against walls as one man only had one leg. As I turned a corner I first saw a body laying in the rain, arms pulled inside his t-shirt with his head laying on a pop bottle for a pillow. As I watched, people walked by him without a glance, literally walked around him like he was totally invisible. I started to shoot! He sat up, pulled his arms out and hugged himself, the look on his face tugged at my heart, this has to be one of my favorite images of all time. Turns out my youngest was right behind me watching, she saw it too, had the same reaction as myself.Editing
The only post-processing I did was using levels to bring up more brightness and contrast. Then sharpened the image to really bring out the rain hitting the pavement.In my camera bag
First and foremost, I always have my three favorite lenses. 18mm-135mm because it;s an all round focal length. Then my 10mm-22mm wide-angle lens, I use it for most landscapes, waterfalls etc. and of course since my 70mm-300mm got broke I always have my 100mm-400mm for nature shots (eagles, osprey,hawks, deer and whatever else out there that moves) :)Always have an off camera flash just in case it's needed, although I prefer natural lighting most of the time. And of course my camera body Canon 7D. My tripod usually gets left behind unless I know I'm doing long exposures. Oh, and I always have packed a ND 10 filter for the long exposure photos in the sun.Feedback
If something catches your eye? take that shot! Don't hesitate because that shot can be gone in a second and you may never get that chance again. Usually you should look at the lighting, the scene around your subject. Think about why it caught your attention. But I find when it comes to photos of this nature, take it while you can. Candids are spontaneous, you capture so much emotion. For one fleeting second I felt like I was intruding on this mans personal space, but knew I had to take this shot, and so glad I did. One look at this image and it brings me back to this day & my heart tugs the same way it did then.
