People in Pictures (PIP) - Downtown LA
Watching as people go about their lives. Capturing them as they go through their daily routines. A part of the ebb and flow of society. Their paths a mystery to me, all I get to see is just a moment. My goal is to capture that slice of time and show it to you.
A street decked in gold. A street decked in poverty. The rich, the poor, they walk side by side on this busy street in LA.
The people who walk in these streets, who live in these streets, they have stories. I'm afraid to ask about them even thought I'm really interested. Not because they'd tell me to piss off, but because they might answer. Their stories would change my life.
Some people are P.I.M.P. wherever they go. They take their style with them. Through the places where it matches and the places where it doesn't. But this is a place where everything matches. Los Angeles.
No one sees the people who are the most obvious. They walk by them. Look through them. Ignore them. Life is better not noticing. To recognize the problem would mean they might have to act. To lift themselves out of their daily comfort into the grime of reality.
We had such dreams when we were young. Castles in the sky. But, not everyones reaches those lofty places. The weight of the world takes them down until their shoulders sag with the burden.
Life's a rush. Everyone's trying to get somewhere. One foot in front of the other. Head down. Moving forward. Why don't we look around more often. There's so much to see. Just past the fence, outside our daily blinders, beauty.
Thus ends my second edition of People in Pictures (PIP)
I hope you enjoyed my little walk through the city and the thoughts behind the images I take. When I take myself out of the equation, and watch the world around instead of trying to participate, it gives a unique perspective. You see the people as they are, actors on a stage, ready to placed in any role their environment might dictate. Some people transcend their places, others revel in them.
What do you see when you walk down the street?
Do you ever wonder about the stories people have lived?
Do you wonder if people ever wonder about you?
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I have read several of your posts and this one is the best so far!
Nicely done all three.....topic, pictures and thoughts
Thanks @nananini! :) Sometimes things just come together right, hehe.
LA is a gross place
LA is a place of mixed environments. There is a lot to hate, but also a lot to love. It's hard to find good people, but when you do the whole world here changes for you.
The pictures are very interesting, even more so because they portray the mundane. It's not easy to make the everyday captivating, so well done.
I know you're not alone in that. You do advocate for all of us to do it, though. So, I'm sensing you're trying to motivate yourself along with us.
Why do you think we avoid? Is it selfishness? A feeling of superiority? Or is it something else. Guilt?
I'm not sure what the answer is. Maybe there are many. I know I wonder whether or not I'm capable of helping, or if I did help, would it really matter or do any good? Some things take resources, or at least that's a popular rationale.
I also think of all the choices we make in a lifetime. There is some ownership for our station in life. Not where we start out, and not necessarily where we end up, but what we attempted in between.
That doesn't mean that those of us who have shouldn't be looking at ways to give. It means that we can help one person at a time, and try not to get overwhelmed by the size of need.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
I like the point that you make
I think I had that revelation while watching a cheesy super hero show. One of the people was freaking out about saving the world, and their companion replied that all we can try and do is help one person at a time. Because, it's true. Thinking of saving the world is impossible, it's too big, too complex, but the path to progress starts with smiling at the person who's right next to you.
And, I have asked people their stories before, and the changes on my life and perspective were profound. I don't do it often, because, unfortunately I'm not equipped to help the people who I'd interact with, financially, emotionally, psychologically. The issue of homelessness and rampant mental health issues in that community is a societal thing that needs to be looked at as a group. So few want to help...which is mind-blowing. I mean, you can judge a civilization best by how it treats those that are worst off. And, if we were judging our society by those rules...damn...we are so far from civilized it's sickening. But, that's not really that surprising given our economic systems...
But, anyways, hehe. Could drone on for pages about that. Thanks for dropping by and leaving an insightful comment :)
Beautiful post! Having worked in downtown LA for a few years it brings me back. Definitely a dynamic place with lots of sights, sounds, and for better or worse, smells.
Hehe, downtown is definitely a place of many things :) Think I'm gonna head down there again today and capture some stuff. Really feel like creating.
There's nothing like the accelerated decrepitude of urban blight while people walk by on the sidewalk, as if they're ignoring the waves of neglect radiating from the walls.
The future was always imagined in the 50's as a bright place with shiny buildings and smiling faces, clashing directly with the entropy of decay and disparity of every day living.
I've always subscribed to a more realist view, that the future is layers of accreted past cemented in place and almost immovable. The worn tracks of a chariot on a roadway that gets paved and bricked over, but still betrays the deflections worn in them centuries ago.
People pass and you want to ask, but knowing every bit of input changes the chaotic trajectory of your own mind. Is it safe? Should I learn about their struggle and compare it to my own? Would I then change into something that I don't recognize years later?
It isn't so much a question of compassion, but the willingness to allow the outside world to change who you really are.
I'm not sure if I have it in me, honestly.
Yeah, allowing another narrative into ours is a scary proposition. Especially when they are likely to be so extremely different from our. So many micro-environments within the greater environment. And, most people never even give it a moments thought. The depth and complexity of the world we live in is incomprehensible, so that's likely why we try to limit our exposure to certain things. Almost like avoiding an infection.
As for the future...fuck...I'd say it's up in the air...but, like you said, a lot of it already there due to the past we've built up. Right now there needs to be a lot of extreme action to stop the snowball from going where it's heading. But, even to say things like that...man, you gotta worry because you don't know what can or will be used against you if you piss off the wrong powerful person. Once again we are in a time of revolution...though so few see it past their cell phone screens and Facebook petitions...scary, but exciting... :)
Life is really a rush, and everyone's trying to get somewhere at all times. I like how you brought subtle things to light in this piece and photos. Kudos
That's life. Movement :) Thanks for dropping by.