FLICKR
Popular Posts
Creative on a Dark KnightJanuary 16, 2011
Shopping PainsSeptember 20, 2015
Corrective Kinetics Video & PhotoshootMarch 2, 2013
DVP Steps Into The World of VloggingJuly 20, 2016
The Ghost in The Shell
The best thing about taking a Vancouver Street Portrait is the unpredictable and unforeseen. It’s what makes it interesting and fresh. It’s a great way to keep you on your toes and always keep your eye on the world around you. There are no rules except for being ready and spontaneous. It’s a great way of making yourself step out of your shell and talk to people as well. To me… Street Photography is all about selective-opportunity.I was walking up the street and noticed this small, frail, thin man shuffling towards me with a bushy beard carrying a plastic bag of groceries. As we were about to pass each other … I stopped, got his attention and mentioned to him how ‘I like his look’ and for months have been trying to grow a beard like his. He looked at me but it was hard to see his eyes under the fold of his tuke as it was slouching down over his brows. The tattered, wooly tuke looked like it actually weighed more than him. He responded with a timid chuckle, quickly taking a glimpse of my beard… ‘It’s almost there’.
I politely asked if I could take his photo by explaining that I do Vancouver Street Portraits and when the opportunity arises I like to ask for someone’s portrait, if they’re welcome to it. He didn’t hesitate nor throw any caution towards me. He simply said with a curious smile, ‘sure man’. I took out my LG G5 mobile phone held it up and directed him to stare right into the lens. I took two quick photos and showed him the pics. He kinda laughed it off still inexplicable to my request for a photo and said, “why photograph me?” I told him straight, he has a look that I like and think you’d make out to be a great photograph.After hearing his story – he became my favorite photograph of 2016.
“He mentioned how he just goes about his day feeling like a ghost; no one to talk to or share a few laughs with, just invisible to everyone around him.”
We began talking and his story turned out to be unexpectedly interesting yet tragic… He is 60+ years old and has played the guitar since a very early age. He can’t even remember when he started to play but he emphasized his passion for playing guitar and performing on stage in front of a live audience. Back in the day, he used to share the stage with Glass Tiger and at one point he had claimed to have taught the late great Jeff Healey how to play some guitar. Whether or not anyone would have believed him? I gave him the benefit of the doubt.
Above is the final image after taken into Photoshop and Nik Collections ► Silver Efex Pro.
Unfortunately, he can no longer play the guitar and no longer listens to music. All because years and years of hard drinking have caused his insides to begin failing him. His liver is rotting and severe arthritis has settled in where he can no longer even hold a guitar pick. As we continued, he says he’s waiting to hear back from the doctor as he may have to tie-up the gloves for a battle with Cancer. He dismisses these ills with nothing more than a flinch. What seems to really pain him is being devoured by regret. That he let his addiction get the best of him causing him to lose what he loved to do.
He told me he doesn’t know how much time he has left. He just wants to be taken from this world because he can no longer enjoy the passion he once had. That passion was playing the guitar. He has fallen on hard times and is struggling to make it day to day. Sadly, he has no friends or family in his life. He is alone and that’s his reality.
He mentioned how he just goes about his day feeling like a ghost; no one to talk to or share a few laughs with, just invisible to everyone around him. In the sliver of time that I had shared with him… he politely mentioned how happy and grateful he was to have just been able to talk to another person. For someone that was more than lucid, approachable, and cordial you would think that he would have a fair amount of friends. Truth be told, Vancouver has to be the hardest and most difficult city to either approach people or to make friends. Vancouver is a lethal city to be lonely in.
Being told by another person they are ‘grateful’ you stopped to talk with them can make you feel a little bit awkward. Who am I… for him to think that talking to me is of some value? It’s a strange predicament to frame yourself in but at the same time it’s a powerful feeling when someone tells you how much they value and appreciate being acknowledged by you.
Before we went our separate ways, I handed him my business card and told him that if he wanted to see the final image (or a copy) to contact me. For some reason, I didn’t think about the fact that it might be difficult for him to get in touch with me considering his financial situation and access to the internet.
It was later that night after processing his photo I thought to myself that I should’ve asked for -his contact information. Its something I usually do when taking Vancouver Street Portrait. I would have actually liked one more chance to meet up with him because he would have been a great story to tell with a more in-depth photo session. I regret it now and hope to run into him again.
Until then his photo will haunt me like a ghost but at least I know his name…
Thanks, Malcolm for this defining and memorable Vancouver Street Portrait.
Malcom’s photo got a very warm and supportive reception on instagram from people who read his story and saw his picture. The kind words of strangers that saw his photo is what I would like to show Malcolm.
Footnote:
View more of Jamie’s street photography here.
Read an interview on Jamie’s Street Photography here at INFAME Magazine
