Straight from the pages of comic books, superheroes are appearing on the streets of major metropolital areas. From Pitsburg to Portland these caped crusaders are cleaning up our community one citizen at a time. But, unlike the comic book heroes, these do-gooders are no more than the average people who have a common desire to help others and uphold justice. Some call them vigilantes, some call them crazy, but to me they are just good people trying to make a bit of difference in our corrupt society. While I was in Portland, OR over spring break I had the opportunity to meet with one of their local real life superheroes named Knightowl. This 28 year old good samaritan is a volunteer firefighter and EMT student by day and superhero by night. When asked what his role in the community was as a real life superhero he replied "I think that if you can ease a little suffering or be that person who happens to intervene when you see something wrong, that’s something that anybody can do. The only difference is that the real life super hero community tries to show that anyone can".
As part of their service to the community the real life superheroes do such things as bring food or blankets to the homeless, serve as a deturant for predators of all sorts, or just to lend a helping hand to whoever may need it. Although, there are a few real life superheroes who've taken their role to the extreme and have taken it upon themselves to begin performing citizens arrests and seeking out known criminals. This has been the case with Phoenix Jones of Seattle. Recent happenings in the area with said superhero have caused a stir in the real life superhero community. Knightowl's view on this was "I’m not going to fault them as long as they’re doing it legally".
But other than the bit of controversy this has created the real life superhero is a good way to give back to the community and make a difference in a fun and rather unorthodox way. Knightowl commented that his favorite part of being a real life superhero is that "It’s just cool. The people I’ve met and the people I know in the community, they’re some of the most amazing people I think I’ve ever met,"
and when asked what he would suggest to anyone wanting to become a real life superhero he stated jokingy "Don’t! no just kidding. Set realistic goals be real about yourself. I mean above all be real. A lot of people get caught up and too fixated on the paraphernalia of the superhero motif that they don’t think about the reality of it"
So, next time you walk down the street and see someone dressed up in costume, and it's not halloween, instead of pointing and staring, respect them because they might just be a real life superhero.
Gabe, this is a really cool shot. I like that even though there weren't a lot of people in need of help from this guy the day you went shooting, you managed to capture what he does in those types of situations: look for people in need. His face says it all, and is very "superhero-like". Nice layers with the street lights & buildings; it really helps the viewer make sense of the image, and solidify the fact that he's walking down the street, also illustrated by the people in the background and the sides of the frame. The only thing I don't like about the shot is the light post coming out from his head haha. And I feel like it would've been totally awesome if you got down from a super low angle to make him look huge and place the outline of his body against the sky instead of the buildings & darker areas. But, that seems pretty unrealistic considering he was walking towards the camera, so if you got much closer you would've had to be super fast & step back after each frame. Nice job, this photo is really cool. & kudos for finding such a different/interesting subject!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the light popping out of his head, that really bugs me. Next time I would definitely be more careful about that.I actually was on the ground shooting but he was too far away to get that giant like effect. I also don't like that I accidentally cut off his legs right at the knee. All in all it was my best shot I think but I wasn't exactly thrilled by the photos I took. I got more story than photos.
ReplyDeleteI do not feel like the light detracts much from the photo. Maybe it would be nice further away from the guy's head but I think it is a needed element in the photo that helps frame the guy and keep us from leaving the photo out of the light part of the picture at the top. It needs something up there to keep the focus on the guy and it adds a warm feeling to the photo that adds more than the light detracts behind his head.
ReplyDeleteWow, that is quite a "caption"! It is more like a short story. You may not have been here for the class where we talked about it and Jerome's description of our assignment only says a little bit about it but the research portion of your information is a bit light. Why do we need superheros? Is there a shortage? Do they fill some kind of social gap or do they effect important situations in some measurable way? This is a bit more of a feature with some general information than it is about a greater social need.
Otherwise, I think you did a great job and were able to accomplish a lot with a single photo - I needed three to tell my story.