(BTC) Through a Dirty Window (Grey Cross)

BTC Stands for "Behind the Curtain". Its a look at work created by various artists, photographers and creators around the world. 

Its a small peak behind the curtain as to how the piece was created and the conceptual ideas behind it. 

All art comes with a story. 

It is not hard to find drunks sprawled out in every position in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Its such a trope for street photographers who are visiting the city, that I rarely bother anymore. I remember once where a fellow slid down a pole in slow motion to end in a heap at the base. His upper torso slowly flopped forward until his forehead gently touched the bricks of a garbage choked gutter and he began to snore. What he never realized was that there were at least a half dozen people snapping madly at his inebriated form. I walked away with a sigh. I never even bothered to try and capture the image.

But every once in awhile I see someone that I can't resist. When I passed this fellow it was 4am. There was something about his bald head and the curve of his neck that entranced me for a moment. I didn't try to force it. I took only this single image and hoped I'd gotten it right. 

It is a challenge to create a surreal image from such a basic photograph of humanity. There is a fine point where the image either remains a street photograph, or it transforms. If you miss the moment it often turns into crap. Color becomes very important. Consider this same image without color. It would not be the same. The jaundiced yellow orange moves the image to another level where (at least for me) I experience the nausea this fellow is or will experience very soon. By adding the color into the window instead of the background it moves the image to a more gritty location in the mind than the original (which was a Krystal Burger). Adding the final crack in the glass lets the viewer past the window and into the scene.  

The photograph is just the starting point. As I've said before, the difference between a photographer and an artist is that the photo is the end point for the photographer, but the beginning point for the artist.