"Strolling with bare feet, he looked relaxed and almost appeared as though he had stepped out of the painting, echoing the sentiments of "I couldn't care...""
With great weather and the feeling that it is a little safer to walk further and jump on trams these days, I've been getting out and about more and taking a few more street shots (as well as landscapes). A few weeks ago, I managed to get down to the pier on a warm day. As you can imagine, lots of people were out enjoying the sun and my goal was to take some photos for my street photography course while still social distancing!
A lot has changed around the pier in Scheveningen this year. Just at the start of the pier, I noticed a lot of new murals and street art along the walls. I decided to set my camera to manual mode, focused and at a narrow enough aperture to capture whatever happened next, and wait in front of this intriguing painting for an opportunity to shoot!
This is an area with a real holiday feel to it. Many people travel here for their holidays from around The Netherlands and also Germany. The beach bars were serving their cocktails, people were sitting at their socially-distanced tables enjoying live music and sunshine with a sea view, and families were playing on the beach. Behind me, a small group even seemed to be filming a music video on the sand with the pier as a backdrop. A very lively area indeed.
After a while, I noticed this man coming along. It was apparent his clothing matched the painting. It appeared that he had been to collect some snacks from a bar and was heading back to the beach. Some passers-by had noticed me, but he didn't see me at all, standing only several meters away pointing my camera at the wall!
Strolling with bare feet, he looked relaxed and almost appeared as though he had stepped out of the painting, echoing the sentiments of "I couldn't care..." The shoes in the painting almost could have been his, in a way.
The scene also got me thinking: how many of us are pretty good at portraying an image of "not caring" to the outside world? Look how he hangs his head - is he focused on where he is walking? Or is he lost in thought about something? Is he happy and relaxed, or is he thoughtful about something?
The boat seems to have been destroyed by the sea...does the owner of the boat really not care about this, have they literally let it 'wash' over them? 😀 It's all open to interpretation.
I continued to stroll around for a while, the smell of fries lingering in the air (such a seaside atmosphere!) I ambled between excited holidaymakers, who probably thought I was just one them, with my camera in my hand.
Maybe if we all saw ourselves as permanent tourists, even in our hometowns, we'd see a lot more that we usually take for granted and learn a bit more about the people sharing this space with us on a daily basis.
Let me know your thoughts on this photo, I would love to know what you think!
If you'd like to see more photos like this available in my online store, let me know! This one will be added soon 😊
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