Whenever you take a photo especially of the homeless or those down on their luck, do you feel guilty?

Sometimes I do but most of the time I restraint from taking pictures down on their luck. I once did and got a shock when the guy who pretended to be a cripple leaped up and ran away thinking I was some sort of enforcement officer. Talk about getting better.

In any event, if I cannot resist taking photos of beggars, I would then give them about RM5 for the photo and walk away.

I took this one when I was in Japan waiting outside of Yodobashi at Akihabara waiting for my film to be delivered.

I wanted to get a good picture where everyone was moving except him but I guess I didn’t open the shutter long enough. I took this photo “blind shot” meaning I just point my lens with the focal length which I think would have captured what I wanted (Luckily I got it right) without looking through the viewfinder hence I won’t know what I took until after I’ve taken the shot.

I only took 2 shots, the first one was too blurry while this one was tacked sharp but the shutter wasn’t long enough. When I saw this guy I instantly knew I had to get a black and white shot of it along with what mood I wanted to convey.

When I think about it, I don’t know why I felt bad back then when I took the shots. I still don’t know why, I didn’t break any laws or rules. I didn’t exploit the homeless or the unfortunate.

In any event, lesson I learned here is that I should have opened the shutter long enough to blurred the surrounding environment.

So until then pleasant dreams!