Santa Monica is a very rich and liberal city by the beach with many in the "industry" meaning entertainment industry living or hanging out there. Being a liberal city, they allow the homeless to live unmolested anywhere and they even feed them, attracting more.

On Third Street Prominade, the traffic is closed off to cars for several blocks and street performers perform in the middle of the street while rich and attractive folks walk about in and out of trendy shops or dine al fresco on the sidewalk.

Its here in the middle of all this money and glamour where I shoot the poor and the homeless, seemingly ignored by most.
An old truck sits parked on a weekend day Farmers Market.


Asparagus anyone?


During mid weekend morning, a homeless man sleeps on a bench with a fresh laceration to his head. Perhaps from a fall the night before.

Man in a wheel chair with one prostethic leg watches the tourists and the shoppers go by.


A homeless woman sits on a bench with all her belongings in a plastic bag next to her.


A homeless man sits on a bench, airing out his foot while street performers sing in the background.


Moving away from the pier, a woman pushes all her belongings in a cart.


Sunbathers relaxing and enjoy the sun, seemingly unbothered by the rows and rows of crosses and a fluttering flag, placed to represent the dead soldier from Iraq.


Known as the bubble man, he has been blowing bubbles by the base of the Santa Monica Pier for years.


An environmental portrait of the bubble man


Bubbles over the pier.


Lovers by the pier.


Whole gallery is here.
http://tomyi.smugmug.com/gallery/632884/1
c/c welcome.

Simply amazing captures! There is a lot of impact in so many of these. Composition is fantastic!

Thanks for sharing them,
Michael

Atta Boy ... Good Job!

-G-

Great gallery! Nice variety not entirely focused on one subject. I really like your post processing treatment, I think it adds a lot. Definitely not a boring gallery! Some tough subjects to shoot done well...Good job!

Powerful shots, Tom. I'm glad there's someone who's willing to take these pictures. It's very sad, but a part of life in Santa Monica. My favorites are the Bubbles over the Pier, and the Farmer's Market Truck (really gives a feel from the 40s or 50s). The laceration picture is very strong.

Originally Posted by ChrisJ Powerful shots, Tom. I'm glad there's someone who's willing to take these pictures. It's very sad, but a part of life in Santa Monica. My favorites are the Bubbles over the Pier, and the Farmer's Market Truck (really gives a feel from the 40s or 50s). The laceration picture is very strong.

Thanks Chris, those comments were expressed by others as well. I was initially weary about the bubbles over the pier but after viewing it a few times, think it's a very relaxing shot.
What's funny is how easily that they are ignored by the public, perhpas b/c there are so many and/or perhaps they are there all the time.

Who knows.

Originally Posted by saurora Great gallery! Nice variety not entirely focused on one subject. I really like your post processing treatment, I think it adds a lot. Definitely not a boring gallery! Some tough subjects to shoot done well...Good job!

Thank you. I'm starting to become more and more elemental.
If something doesn't add to the pic, I crop tighter, unless the color adds something, I prefer b/w.

Less is more, they say....

Originally Posted by STLMach1 Simply amazing captures! There is a lot of impact in so many of these. Composition is fantastic! Thanks for sharing them, Michael

Almost all of these are shot from the hip, so composition is more by instict than anything else. I find that if I bring the camera to the eye and compose the shot, it affects the subject. They either shy away, are bothered by it, or ham it up for the camera. I want to capture things as they are with the least interference or influence by my presense.

Santa Monica is such a strange place... Beaches, Guccis and Pradas intersected with homeless people and their carts and sleeping bags..
Each time I'm there I am thinking about photographing them, but for some reason never had enough guts/heart to do it..
Glad you had, though :-)

these are very powerful, as others had noted. So often we stay in our own little comfortable world, but it's images such as these that keep us grounded in reality. Thanks for sharing.

C.

nice work!

Nicely done TY. I like the approach you took for these images. It's a nice photo essay.

Erich

Dig everything about SM

you did well here to isolate your subjects

Thanks for the comments everyone.
When I have time in a day or two, I'll post my Broadway collection.
Broadway was the original theater district in LA at the turn of the last century. Now in decay and inhibited by manily Hispanic immigrants and the homeless in LA. The magnificant facades of the old movie houses are still visible though and during the day, the street is lively with local hispanic shops that operate out of the first floor of the old theaters.

Nice work. I like (?) the irony of the sunbathers. And having been to the pier a number of times I like teh B+W portrait of the Bubble Man

Went back today, some new shots.
I think the T shirt says it all.

woman asks for change at an intersection.

Man pick through a trash can looking for cans and bottles.

And now the loot.

Man with a fishing stick and a Starbucks cup attached on a string to collect the change.

Shoppers ignore a man in a wheelcharir asking for medicine money.

Man asking for money.

A homeless man in front of United Colors of Benetton

A man kicking off his shoes and listening to a radio tied to his shopping cart.

Was shooting from the hip again?

Some of them have intereresting and noticeable vingetting.
I know you don't like PP, so I'd assume it was the lens.. Which one?

Cheers!

Yup from the hip.
Nope, burned the edges for the effect. Old trick to focus the attention on the subject.
I try to do the least, I'm not a fan of heavy photoshopping as they have a tendency to look fake.

Originally Posted by Tee Why Yup from the hip. Nope, burned the edges for the effect. Old trick to focus the attention on the subject.

I see, thanks!

Originally Posted by Tee Why I try to do the least, I'm not a fan of heavy photoshopping as they have a tendency to look fake.

This is only if you do it wrong :-)
Besides, one man's fake is another man's art

If PS has been done well, it adds to the shot without distracting attention to it. I don't want to get off topic here, but I've seen too many shots where the PS is too obvious and distracts from the shot. We've all seen shots with plastic like skin and effects that first have you saying "photoshop" which can distract from the visual impact of the shot. If PS is done well, it should not be noticable at all.

I don't like or really dislike postprocessing, as I shoot in RAW and post process all the shots. I use PS as well, but to me with PS, less is generally more.