Curiousity, The Mentally ill, and the Underbelly of society.

First I want to thank every one who has followed and commented on this blog. It really means a lot to me and it helps me know more about what people may find interesting or lacking. I so much appreciate all your critique. I hope my photos let you think, and maybe stir up some emotion.

I've been wanting to explore this for a while. On my other blog, you may have seen a few of these pictures before but in a different light. I'm often faced with deciding whether to portray something as funny or poignant. Here I get the ability to show you what the real meanings behind some of these pictures can be.

From when I was an early teenager, I always was curious about hitch hikers, prostitutes, seedy motels, schizophrenic's, etc...

I've never been so curious as to want to BE one of these people or even associate with any of them, it just draws a curiousity, and to be honest, sometimes frightens me. I've learned now that many of these motels are often refuges for criminals, junkies, and the mentally ill. Here are some pictures I've taken of people that are mentally ill, or in some cases just plain SCARY.

I will slowly ramp up the creepiness as you work your way through the following pictures. I hope you enjoy what I've done with these images, I've tediously added various amounts of grain, vignetting, monochrome, and contrast or lack of.

Let's start off with something safe...



I still have a hard time figuring out if this photo is actually poignant or not. I took it in an area where I know there are a lot of homes that house druggies and mentally ill. I'm pretty sure these people are not all with it, and the look of the guy staring at me gives me a safe, but strange feeling.

Generally where you find motels like this, you are more likely to find some much less desirable people.




This shot of a run down motel makes me sad. You may have to click on it to view it full size, but you'll notice little kids stuff that i've left in color, as well as the bed. Subjecting children to a life of growing up in these places makes me very angry, but even more saddened.

Something is wrong with a person to do this. If you can't click on the picture and view it larger, there is a cardboard sign on the truck scribbled "BEAGLE PUPS FOR SALE." I saw this guy in the parking lot of a wal-mart and had to take the picture. Notice the disgusting look he has on his face, and the open caged door to what seems to be where the Beagle puppies are kept, cleverly disguised as a tool box. This made me revoltingly sick to see, and I called the police right away.

This man above constantly was spinning around in circles, amazingly not seeming to get dizzy. In any good sized city, I think it's common to see mentally ill people walking around aimlessly. As a serious matter, this isn't really funny although you will often see me poking fun on my other blog. I can pass it off as humor but in reality, there are some unstable people always lurking around.


I like this picture. Not because I like junkie hookers, but I just liked this shot the best out of maybe ten I took. I like how the car is speeding by, paying no attention to this stumbling veteran prostitute working her way down the street. There are a lot of more things going on in this image, but ill let you form your own opinions as usual.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Now here are some more frightening images. Only two of them, but definitely the most frightening people I've captured. I got nothing but bad feelings when I photographed these two people/things. Two people I don't really ever care to be near again.