honorable mention
Rodrigo Silva el salvador
title
Life of a Shoe Shine in a Box
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entry description
These photos came out of work I was doing for a Salvadoran newspaper. I wanted to capture the lives of poor people doing honest work, and learn their stories. I asked each Shoe Shine their name, and about how long they had been working in this profession. Some had been working for 30 years in the profession. Others for 10 or 20 years. Some of the Shoe Shines were shy; others more bold in responding to my questions about their lives. I felt privileged to meet these humble and hard-working men, and learn their unique stories. I did not photograph the men, but rather chose their shoe box, their principle work tool, as a symbol of their work. I took each box and put it on a plain piece of cardboard to take the photo. I needed to take the photos on site, as it would have been asking too much for a Shoe Shine to give up his most important work tool for a period of time so that I could take it to a studio. I had to ask for each one to lend me their box for only a few minutes in between clients, as I did not want to reduce their daily income. These Shoe Shines only earn $1 per shoe shine, and so they barely make enough to feed themselves and their families every day. Each photo is named for the Shoe Shine who owns that box.about the photographer
I am a photographer, born and raised in El Salvador. I studied photography at the Centro Nacional de Artes in San Salvador. Since early childhood, I have had a passion for photography. In my career, I started out working for a newspaper as a photojournalist. I have since decided to dedicate myself to more artistic endeavors, and so am working freelance. I love to feel the feelings of other people through the lens of the camera and to see life from a perspective that others do not have, capturing life in this way through my photos.back to gallery