Trash Collector Photo

Photographer’s Note

The weather is 40C and the humidity is 85%. The daily income from this job is maybe 10 dollas US yet there is an army of old people (I have never seen young one) collecting trash. The hours are brutal, sun up to sun down, 7 days a week. I think this is the official infrastructure because I have also never seen a truck collecting trash left alongside the roads. Most Koreans are concerned with getting sun on their skin and as you can see this Ahjuma (woman) is pretty well covered up, I was in shorts and soaking wet from sweating.

Cretense, delic, gunbud, MLINES, bakes888, jlbrthnn, dareco, mvdisco, snunney, pboehringer, john_c, plimrn, claudeD, fanni has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

rminkow (1566) 2007-07-28 22:04

Hi Greg..I like the composition and clarity of this picture...Good work.

Roger

wolf38 (12728) 2007-07-29 3:23

Hello Greg. A beautiful and worth seeing snapshot . One is astonished, which can be transported everything on a small truck. Also the clothes of the woman and the sun protection are beautiful to regard. Very beautifully. Best regards, Wolfgang.

lancehannah (1307) 2007-07-29 7:07

Hi Greg,
Only the outfit of this old lady is allready worth for a shot.I´m just a bit surprise to see this scenario that is still exist in a highly thecnical skills/production in a country like south Corea.
Enfin,a magnificent and interesting shot with nice details and colors.
Regards from Spain,Lance

Cretense (55848) 2007-07-29 7:33

Hi Greg!

Excellent daily life scene and a beautiful portrait at the same time. Very impressive tight framing and simple but great composition. Beautiful colours, too!

Congratulations!
Hercules

delic (6735) 2007-07-29 11:35

Hello Greg,
I admire these folks who are instrumental in recycling garbage. Sad though that they have to do this at advance age. Excellent capture from a fine pov. Regards,
Hakan

Charo (31665) 2007-07-31 1:32

Hola Greg,
Excelente toma de la vida cotidiana. estupenda luz, colores y definición.
Buen trabajo.
Cordialmente
Charo

WepWaWet (3955) 2007-07-31 4:56

Hello Greg,
Very nice daily life scene with your instructive note. Lights and colors are very nice. Good framing. Regards,
Seref

MLINES (10870) 2007-07-31 17:55

Hi Greg. Good daily life shot in Korea. Super clarity and colours. Many countries around the region have this style of recycling going on. Agree it looks a tough way to make a living. Murray.

Tezic (16927) 2007-08-01 2:15

Hi Greg,
perfect captured.... details and the colours are very nice... a very nice daily life composition... congratulations...

jurek1951 (25930) 2007-08-02 20:18

Hi Greg,
Your composition is excellent. Nice natural colours and great sharpness.Very well framed.

Budapestman (41686) 2007-08-03 5:52

Hi Greg,
This is a very impressive genre photo, details are effective. Very good observation and realization, talkative work, Great! Have a nice weekend
George

bracasha75 (22017) 2007-08-03 15:41

Hello Greg
This give today in all countrys and they have maybe difrent skin color but alway the same point...Trash.
Why,i don,t now but is so ...
ok this lady do it her job but many other do it not and colect trash. Nice image.
Cheers,Braca

bakes888 (18155) 2007-08-04 0:46

Hi Greg. Interesting photo and note. This I believe is probably the most environmentally friendly trash collection system I have seen. Well captured and presented. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers, Paul.

jlbrthnn (37749) 2007-08-04 1:48

Hello Greg,
I like this image of everyday life, superbly taken. This very expressive photograph does not leave me indifferent, the life is difficult and for much, without fortune and glory. Cheer.
Good Day
In a friendly way
Joel

mvdisco (11480) 2007-08-04 19:16

Hello Greg,
Excellent composition and beautiful catch, good colors and excellent POV. very clair picture ,very impressive photo, Well done.
Michel
Many Thanks for your comments on my picture: Sunset at Cinconcine Lake.

snunney (34732) 2007-08-05 2:59

Hello Greg,
An excellent portrait and daily life shot. Well framed to allow us to concentrate on the subject. Very good colours and sharpness. What TE is all about.

dareco (17104) 2007-08-07 3:38

This really amazed me as well when I was there. Those poor old people working so hard! This is a really good picture.

jwmunro (6571) 2007-08-07 6:36

Hello Greg -

A very good Daily Life image as well as an interesting story to accompany the image. Everything is spot on with this image. Well done.

Thank you for sharing.

John

pboehringer (770) 2007-08-07 6:42

A quite interesting documentary, Greg. I'm amazed to see how well organized and clean even the garbage car is. I never would have guessed the purpose of this feature. Despite your relatively high shutter you got a slightly blurred tire that gives an interesting dynamic element to the shot.
Why are asians so keen in avoiding the sun? Is that precaution and prevention for skin cancer or is there some other reason. It always amazes me to se asian tourists completely covered up and some even wearing gloves while every one has bearly a short and flip flops (males) and minuscule tops (females).
Regards, Peter

john_c (24635) 2007-08-08 7:45

Hi Greg,
Very fine lighting and a good exposure level combine to help make this a most effective daily life shot. I like the dynamism here and the unabashed expression of the woman. A crisp, clear shot with good clarity of detail. Well captured.
John

Heaven (0) 2007-08-09 13:16

Hi Greg!

Your picture is very well done: a well balanced contrast, great colors and sharpness. I also like the composition and especially the content of the picture. It's pleasant to look at it, and it shows a moment of that ladies life in a captivating manner.

Best ragards
Markus

plimrn (19602) 2007-08-13 12:33

Hi Greg,
You quite clearly meet the standards you defined in your profile with this wonderful photo. You are right, people shots are hard!! I place people at work in their own special category because they teazch us so much about the world. The framing is perfect, you even manged the feat of showing her face wll in spite of the hat. I think I like her shoes as much as I like her hat. The detail and colors are. great. Wishing you health, Love & joy (HLJ) pat

cam (8880) 2007-08-15 19:39

Hi Greg
I have noticed the same thing in Peru.
If you stop working, you do not eat and you die.
No matter the age or your handicap.
Good daily life picture, she seems well organized and I think, selecting the garbage she wants, as it looks more recycling to me then garbage collecting.
Good light control as the whites are perfect and the colors rich,
Have a good evening
Charles

claudeD (11280) 2007-08-16 6:34

Hello Greg,

I like this daily life shot very much.Excellent colors, sharpness and composition.Well seen and well done.

With regards from Luxembourg

Jean-Claude

Photobones (338) 2007-08-20 11:00

Interesting picture with a fine note. I don't suspect this would draw much notice in Korea where the sight, as you say is fairly common. Westerners are largely awed by the old ways of Viet Nam, Korea, the Philippines and the like.

A nice composition from a far away place.

meltemi (9746) 2007-09-02 4:18

Hello Greg,
your eye for the correct moment is really impressive. Great photograph as if straight from the pages of life magazine.
Well composed, good placing of subjects...good use of sunlight. I like it, but it makes me also a little sad. Poor people there.
Regards.
Stella

gunbud (27789) 2008-04-18 18:38

Hi Greg,
Wow what an effective use of two wheels! She has not wasted a bit of space on the little cart. Many homeless in the US do this type of work which makes one wonder that such effort could be put to more productive and satisying work.
Regards, Tom

fanni (8735) 2009-02-20 16:07

Hello Greg,
very interesting daily life shot (and a very good note to it!)
Well, what can I say? Excellent composition and good natural colours (I don't know why I appreciate "natural" colours in photos so much). It is a pity that the lady's face is hidden. and we can only guess what she really looks like.
She did not mind you taking a photo of her?
Best regards,
Elena

mafegan (4139) 2009-09-16 18:17

Hello Greg
The trash collector I am sure has a hard life but she still has pride in her appearance and is concerned about the effects of the sun. Such an organised person with all trash appearing to be ready to be recycled. A documentary style photo of daily life. Tfs, Marlene