Peter Kun Frary, Professor of Music • University of Hawaii, Leeward
Peter Kun Frary, Professor of Music • University of Hawaii, Leeward
Photo by Peter Kun Frary • Canon EOS 40D and EF-s 17-55 2.8 IS USM • Next Image
This image was among the last batch of pictures I took in Amsterdam, my last stop in Europe. It's certainly the most photojournalistic. I'm mainly a landscape and travel photographer, so my images normally have little or no social implications. I strive to produce images that speak of universal beauty and stand on their own graphically. Simply put, you don't need to understand the scene to enjoy it. So, yeah, this image sucks but exudes social implications. It was the best I could muster under the circumstances. I shot from the hip while on the run! The mere sight of my camera set off a chain reaction of curtain closing and verbal threats. I didn't go back for a reshoot.
Perhaps the lack of a face illustrates the impersonal nature of prostitution: intimacy without affection, attraction or much of anything save an exchange of Euros. Mayhaps it also says human nature has not changed since Biblical times: women still sell themselves and men still buy. Hell, we still make war and enslave one another. We really haven't come very far in 3000 years.
I was surprised at how modest the red light area was: a narrow alley lined with rooms the size of music practice studios. I had imagined blocks of ornate whorehouses fronting cobblestone streets! Each room was fitted with a glass door, illuminated with red light and just big enough for a tiny bed. Each woman posed in the window or reclined on the bed to display her assets. If she was busy with a client, the curtain was closed.
The girls weren't terribly attractive but maybe I walked by during off hours and saw the second string shift. Plenty of creepy looking guys hanging around in the alley. I figured they were losers unable to get laid any other way. I felt sorry for the women having to do it with rejects all day. But I guess that's why they get paid the big bucks. Here on Honolulu's Kukui street things are much the same, except there are lots of ladyboys and druggies trolling for dips.
Finally, note my handsome reflection in the window...
Galleria Europa Home ©Copyright 2008 by Peter Kun Frary • All Rights Reserved
