Artist of the Week : Louis Mendes

This photograph of a woman on the streets by Louis Mendes is extremely powerful in demonstrating the face of poverty. The way in which her body appears is incredibly moving, the bloody scars on her legs, the facial expression that seems normal yet is smothered in age and wrinkles. The tattered hair and paper bags and cigarette in her hand. It demonstrates the evils of alcoholism and addiction to nicotine that cause people to roam the streets of New York. I really like this photograph because of Louis Mendes's directness in capturing her.

Although this photo is not taken by Louis Mendes, it's of Louis Mendes and shows a very nice scene in which he is photographing. Very rarely do you see both the full scene of a photograph and the photographer. The coloring of the photograph with the light shades near the photographer creates a vivid scene that gives off a bright atmosphere. Louis Mendes is a famous NYC photographer, whenever people see him on the streets, they are all excited and eager to meet him. That element of this photograph is surprising to me, as those people on the horses are drawing the attention.