A disheveled man

Written By Christopher Pearce
A homeless man in a dark jacket kneeling on a brick street, holding a cigarette, a cup and messy food, looking directly into the camera with smoke rising around his face.

A disheveled man. 2012.

A man has dropped to his knees in the middle of the street, caught between a mouthful of burger and a drag of his cigarette. His eyes lock onto the camera, ringed with fatigue and smoke, while a tangle of plastic bags and spilled lettuce gathers around his hand. The sharp focus on his face and hands sits against a soft, indifferent blur of the city behind him, turning the moment into something suspended and uneasy. The picture hovers between empathy and discomfort, asking how close we are willing to stand to someone else’s unraveling.

50 mm • f/14 • 1/640 sec • ISO 200.

Christopher Pearce
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