Spare change

[Michaelaw]

Today was the most discouraging day I've ever had as a photographer. spent all afternoon shooting, some in the rain and this was as close as I got to a good shot. Even then I messed up the focus and cut off the feet. I thought I'd go out and shoot only at f8. Trying to get some candid street shots...Well not at 300mm on a cloudy day you don't





Shame of it was I had a real good study going with this guy. I knew him years ago in the early eighties and have watched him over the years turn into this. But you see, this is a total scam, an act. He spent a lot of this begging time putting weight on the wrong foot...The one in the cast. He made almost twenty dollars that I counted in the space of an hour and that was just the bills I managed to see through the telephoto. When he left, I followed him. I had a really hard time keeping up. About three blocks away from his office (the place he was panhandling) he started to carry the crutch, a short time later he was jumping in and out of dumpsters. About six blocks from his office he went into a seedy east side bar, maybe to spend his loot who knows? I left him there and went off to shoot more fuzzy photos. The last time I saw him before this was about nine years ago when he opened the door for a group I was with as we entered a downtown club. As he opened the door he held out a plastic coffee cup for change. Looking back to the eighties, I'm not too surprised at his lot in life today.


Mom sends junior back with a fiver




Umm Dude...That's the wrong foot!




Hot to trot





A speedy recovery





Still one has to applaud him for the act

[JAS_Photo]

Ha! Ha! Love the expression in the first photo. Living just off 17th avenue in Calgary, I encounter many panhandlers and hear many sob stories and scams. There is a group of them athat are quite aggressive and friendly. I do not mind them when they are alone or in pairs but if I see three four or more of them together, I avoid them.

[Mad Aussie]

Busted. Print the photos off on a contact sheet and give them to him M

We have the same here in Brisbane ... I think some of them make more in a day than I do.

[casil403]

Busted indeed! I remember a story a while back in Calgary the evening news or paper...can't remember which... did on a local panhandler guy who hangs out in the downtown core. He was in a wheelchair and had the usual sob story. The camera secretly followed him and photographed him at the end of the day going to his car, getting up, out, then stashing his wheelchair in the car and driving away!

[Marko]

I like the story here in these shots Maw. I always find it sad that people (particularly people 40 +) choose to do this to make cash (even if it is a scam). What bothers me more are perfectly healthy young adults (20 and younger) begging for cash.

[tirediron]

Great series. Well done!

[hoyinsiu]

I really like the story. the pictures actually tell you everything.