HOME | DD

JeanFan β€” the fragility of morality by-nc-nd

Published: 2011-08-05 20:32:55 +0000 UTC; Views: 8459; Favourites: 229; Downloads: 0
Redirect to original
Description This image is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License .
Licenses for commercial and derivative use of this image are available for purchase. Please contact me if interested.
*
*
*
Facebook
Website

-----
The busy streets of Paris are lively with scammers...
-----
Nikon D80 + 18-55mm Nikkor + Tiffen Grad ND 0.6. S-curve on RGB channel to enhance contrast. Inverted S-curve on Green and Blue channels for color. Spot healed some patches and visible dust blobs in the sky. Selective desaturated rainbow banner/signs to grey. Desaturated entire photo also slightly. See my FB page for the before and after: [link]
-----
I like this photo. Not necessarily because of the architectural details, color scheme, or the cool lighting effect you can sometimes achieve right after a light thunderstorm. I like this photo because it captured that girl in the bottom left corner. She holds out her clipboard with one hand and gestures with the other. She puts her hand to her mouth to ask for food and opens her palm to ask for money. She asks the girl in red and her friend to sign a petition and donate 10 euros to help deaf mutes - deaf mutes like herself...or so she says. The unfortunate truth is that the girl is neither deaf nor mute. And the money those girls donated would not be going to help any deaf mute children. She is just one of many many scammers praying on the generosity and naivete of tourists. Even though I frown down on that fake deaf mute girl for her scamming, it is because this photo captured her that I like it. For me, this photo is a reminder of the fragility of morality and its dependence on cultural background, economic condition, and personal greed...and of course to be street smart and research charitable organizations thoroughly before donating
*
*
*
Under the CC license, this photo may be displayed on other websites as long as:
1. Attribution (credit) is given to Jean Fan
2. A link is placed on the website linking back to the original photo
3. All other conditions under the CC license are met (photo may not be altered in any way)
Any use of this photo other than as authorized under this Creative Commons license or copyright law is prohibited.
Related content
Comments: 25

ersatz-moon [2012-03-09 08:11:14 +0000 UTC]

i love the title and i often feel like this
the fragility of living. people walking by, i'll never know any of them.

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

ullamaron110384 [2011-12-12 19:48:58 +0000 UTC]

nice view

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

katchaphrase [2011-08-18 04:00:08 +0000 UTC]

I really like the lighting in this.

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

enigma-rain [2011-08-13 20:06:42 +0000 UTC]

Paris is so incredibly gorgeous. This shot definitely does it justice.

Adding on to your reasons for liking this photo...I think it's great that the girl is but one tiny person, pushed off to the side. Sure, what she's doing is in a moral grey area (Lying is bad, but she might be doing it to feed herself or her family), but it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Plenty of people scam others, but the city (and the world) is so much bigger than them, and there is so much room for good to out weigh the bad.

As always, your photos make me think about things that I never really would think about otherwise.

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

Sarah-Jessica [2011-08-10 01:01:26 +0000 UTC]

My Home!!!!!

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

SpamSp4mSpam [2011-08-07 21:55:55 +0000 UTC]

The story and that beautiful, beautiful light really made this image work for me. Thanks for telling it

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

Amir-whisper [2011-08-06 23:04:39 +0000 UTC]

I always love reading the artist description for your photo. It's interesting to find out the truth behind this seemingly innocent captured moment.

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

LisaKx [2011-08-06 21:56:12 +0000 UTC]

this reminds me of a Lowry painting! x

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

cupfulofstars [2011-08-06 19:55:40 +0000 UTC]

that's really cool, that you captured the scammer in the background. The scamming isn't cool, but how you captured it is. XD
Great photo. c:

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

quiroz2 [2011-08-06 15:19:01 +0000 UTC]

Wow. It's interesting that you emphasize a single detail over the entire piece. Nicely done catching the scammer on film.

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 1

JeanFan In reply to quiroz2 [2011-08-06 16:06:59 +0000 UTC]

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

GatoDet [2011-08-06 03:07:23 +0000 UTC]

look nice!

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

Dabug123 [2011-08-06 02:35:17 +0000 UTC]

thats so cool.. its a great shot

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

Jed101 [2011-08-06 01:37:05 +0000 UTC]

Did you go up to her and say "I think you're a scammer" in French? If she reacted, you would know it is.

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 1

JeanFan In reply to Jed101 [2011-08-06 16:10:33 +0000 UTC]

You can tell them in French, sign language or English (their "petitions" are written in English for some reason) and they'll just walk away. If you pretend to be police though, they'll talk

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 1

DerShaker In reply to JeanFan [2011-08-27 08:40:51 +0000 UTC]

I had the honor to meet two of those people in my holidays in southern france. Really annoying.
Anyway, i got here because of your window sill-composition. It is beautiful

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

alban-expressed [2011-08-05 22:37:40 +0000 UTC]

The buildings and sky are perfectly exposed, but the people are too dark imo. Looking at the people it is hard to make out a story or the like.

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

Fire-Ferrets [2011-08-05 22:00:22 +0000 UTC]

Great shot!
I love the gloom(:

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

edgomez [2011-08-05 21:10:44 +0000 UTC]

You still in Paris ? It's fun to realize i may have been a few hundreds meters from this very same spot at that date

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

darkmag07 [2011-08-05 20:42:11 +0000 UTC]

Interesting. Too bad there's no way to really know that's what's going on from the picture itself. I myself like the architecture quite a bit.

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

Mod-a-holic [2011-08-05 20:36:27 +0000 UTC]

Amazing D: were is this? <3

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 1

JeanFan In reply to Mod-a-holic [2011-08-05 20:38:27 +0000 UTC]

Paris

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 1

Mod-a-holic In reply to JeanFan [2011-08-05 20:49:41 +0000 UTC]

yea i saw i've been to that exact same place thats why i wanted to know were this was quiet a coincidence C: when was this picture made? i went a month ago C:

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 1

JeanFan In reply to Mod-a-holic [2011-08-06 16:10:53 +0000 UTC]

I was there like two weeks ago.

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 1

Mod-a-holic In reply to JeanFan [2011-08-06 16:32:11 +0000 UTC]

Ahhh, well, i loved parΓ­ <3 C;

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0