Men With Something to Offer
I’ve been hanging onto these three images for some time; they seemed to go together, but each time I tried to articulate their connection, there was always one odd image out. Two of them were taken out the window of a car, two of them show men at work, but what was that instinctive common thread that caused me to view all three as belonging to the same family of images? Ultimately, I realized that each image shows a man with something to offer. Some of the offerings are explicit, some more mysterious, but each man confronts us with the promise of something.
Above: Man outside 7-11, Portland, OR
Above: Haircut Sale, Newberg, OR
Above: Tobacconist, Victoria BC, Canada
Your biggest fan.
November 20, 2011 | 8:09 PMThe man from outside 7-Eleven stuck with me the longest. I’m so curious about his life. I bet that he has seven tiny dogs, and that he doesn’t own a tv, and that he is illiterate. Those are my bets.
Elvira
November 25, 2011 | 5:16 PM#1 I love the combination you caught of offering and just a slight hint of menace: Would you take the Double Gulp? Not me! Might be the modern equivalent of Persephone & the pomegranate seeds. (Is the 7-11 man looking at us or not? He seems to be but his eyes aren’t in the proper place for that, are they?)
Is #2 verifiably a man?
#3 All points to MUCH to offer, not the least of which is a past of much to offer–coat of arms, ancestors–and of course all of those new shiny things.
GREAT pictures.
Joffry
December 17, 2011 | 2:07 PMI daresay that first man appears the not the slightest bit of thirst, despite the size of his beverage. Something is afoot, perhaps.