Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Homeless in San Francisco

Homeless in San Francisco

The cold nights that we've recently had in the San Francisco area reminded me of this photograph I took a couple of years ago (December 2008).



It speaks to me of the extremes that we have in this area - from the nicest people to the a-holes rudest people on the freeway (well, maybe LA has us beat there), from the beautiful scenery to the long traffic jams, from Ferraris and Porsches to cars that should've been off the road several years ago... from people living in million-dollar homes to the homeless.

This photograph highlights to me the thin line betwen rags and riches, happiness and sadness, glory and defeat.

I'm reminded of a school teacher and her family, who's rent-controlled building caught fire and she and her family had to vacate their apartment.  They couldn't afford a new rental in the area (they had been there for several years, and were paying well below the then market rate) - so they had to move to a homeless shelter.  I believe they ended up moving out of the area after a little while.

Or friends who discover their parents have cancer.  Or being in a life-changing accident.  There are so many things out of our control that can change our lives forever.

Other times, we make decisions, take actions that seem trivial at the time - only to discover later that that ended up being a life-changing point in time.  Think about your life, can you pinpoint such moments?  Maybe you were angry, and said something that you shouldn't have?  Maybe someone said something to you, and you couldn't forgive?

I'm sure every one's heard of Ted Williams.  I guess he still hasn't learnt his lesson.

Don't get me wrong, it's not always for the worse - sometimes that moment is when you overcome your shyness and ask a girl out - turns out she's the one that you ended up marrying and have been living happily ever after.  Or, you slow down for some reason, and something bad happens where you should have been.

Personally, I've had several of these moments/decisions, and am thankful that overall, things have turned out okay.  I have plenty to be grateful for - and of course, I have my share of regrets.  But isn't that always the case?

Back to the photograph, it's a couple of homeless men sleeping next to the Emporio Armani store.  The money for any item in the store could probably buy a few nights in a warm motel for these guys... but I digress.

I took two photographs - one to get pretty much everything except for the lit "poster window" in a good exposure, and another one to get the poster window.  The two exposure are composited in PS Elements.  I didn't want a perfect exposure for the poster, as I think it would have looked unreal in the dark setting - so I kept it a bit overexposed. 

To wrap up, live every moment and consider each decision like it could be that "moment".  And, don't be afraid to apologize if you've done something wrong, and on the flip side, be open to forgiving people that have done "bad" to you.

Good decisions and good friends are hard to come by ;-)

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