Skilled Tradesman

Canon 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4L | Available Light
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I saw this brother on Woodward Ave near Merchant Row a few weeks back. He was walking a really cool dog and had a general personal style that I thought was distinctive.  I told him about the project and he was nice enough to play along.

I told him that I usually caption the photos with something that describes the person's role in the community, and he told me that he was some sort of person who does something technical with tools with I didn't comprehend at the time and comprehend even less as of the writing of this post.

I mean, listen: I don't know much about electrical, and plumbing type shit.  I ain't got no daddy and I grew up in public housing... so when something broke in our publicly subsidized housing unit, the welfare mechanics fixed it...and they didn't take time to let my bastard-ass apprentice.

In any event, what I did glean is that the technical work he does quite literally puts his hand on the pulse of the city...

"I've actually worked on a lot of the buildings right here in downtown.."

So there you have it. The downtown Skilled Tradesman. At least I think that's an appropriate description of the skill set that I was unable to comprehend.

Photographer's tip:
What I've discovered about shooting in downtown areas, is that the nearly setting sun often reflects off of office building. The result is a redirected, attenuated, softer shaft of light that makes for really good directional lighting. Before I saw this young man, I first looked for the area in the street where this shaft of light was shining. I then positioned him in that area.

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