Some young kids were playing in a Vancouver street when I wandered by with my camera. They shouted, "Mister! Mister! Take our picture!" - and I did. In fact, I shot a dozen or so, mostly from my knees, to get them at eye level. But I ended up liking this one best - the first shot - looking down at them. Why? Probably because they look smaller and more vulnerable from the lofty height of an adult. As you likely can tell from their clothes, we weren't in an affluent part of town. Life won't be easy for any of them.
There wee more than three - I think there were seven or eight in all, and they swirled around me, excited to be receiving adult attention. I have no idea how I managed to isolate three in this frame! I've always found the three different expressions interesting. The little boy front and centre looks happy and trusting; the boy behind him, not so much. Maybe fearful, or just puzzled. The little girl looks like she is reserving judgement.
I would hope that they all went on to have good lives, but I'll never know, and the odds are against them. It's a sad photo. Exactly three years later, I found myself up in Whitehorse, Yukon, sliding into a job as a "youth service worker", in a position to make a difference in children's lives - at least once in a while. It was a job that brought me some satisfaction, and over the next three decades I had stints in family counselling, in a psychiatric hospital for children, and in a youth shelter. Most of these were casual or part time gigs, leaving lots of free time to pursue photography. The latter, especially nature and wildlife photography, tends to be a solitary sport, so this other work probably kept my life balanced, kept me engaged in my community.
Photographed somewhere on the east side of Vancouver, BC (Canada); scanned from the original Tri-X negative. I used a Pentax Spotmatic with 24mm lens. Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©1979 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
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