Discussing lately with a friend about various aspects of society, I could not help noticing, how easy it is to think through stereotypes. This is moral, that is immoral, taxes are theft, freedom is good, this is white, that is black.
I normally do not like taking pictures of people lying in the street. It hurts me to see humans in pitiful states, and I find no kick out of showing hardship or misery for the sake of entertainment. I always strive to see some beauty in my shots. So?
Generalization is dangerous. Take the picture above. How on earth did he get under this bench? How come his knees are bent like that if he is asleep? Finally – did he get the kick from the bottle of Evian water, or was it something much stronger? Questions start popping up, while the entanglement of the body with the bench makes for an interesting composition.
This little kid was mounting a desperate scene, but his parents were a few steps away, and one could reasonably suppose, he was probably protesting against a denial of an ice cream. Again, it might not really be what it seems.
During the summer on the Cote d’Azur, you see a multitude of people out and about, in various states of careless conduct. More than clochards by vocation, a lot of them are seasonal free birds: usually young men that decide to roam around warm beaches and enjoy total freedom with only a few euros in their pockets. This one, captured along the Croisette in Cannes, epitomizes the same spirit found in Ginzberg and Kerouac, plus, he looks much more fashionable.
