Donald Diddams
The Art of Digital Art
Different lives
Before the boat parade -- 2010
Different people, different lives. The image above was captured at dusk in a waterfront cafe, waiting for the Christmas boat parade to begin. A smiling older woman strolls through the crowds selling trinkets and candy from a bin in a baby stroller. Always ready with a smile, she is a fixture at the town’s events.
And below is a tall man, cigar and beer in one hand, cell phone in the other, apparently oblivious to the woman with her small basket of goods to sell, as the night’s energy swirls around them.
Cigar, beer and a cell phone -- 2009
Donald Diddams 
I have to say it again! Your photos are so artistically and emotionally intriguing. When I start selling, I will have to start buying. There are several that I have my eye on.”Before the Boat Parade” exudes excitement, fun, and lots of energy with the brighter colors and twinkling lights..and of course the striped poles. In the second photo, even with the yellow background, there is a subdued quality in the faded blues, mauves and greens. The man has made an obligatory visit to the show, so obviously detached from his environment. You have captured that feeling so well.
The first shot is so magical. It’s like a kinder, nicer version of Lautrec’s paintings in the Moulin Rouge.
The second shot is hilarious!
I like the candy cane poles in the first shot.
The man in the second looks like a caricature.
Catherine, thanks so much for the fine compliment! I think you have read the pictures well!
Thanks razzbuffnik! That first one was a magical moment… and I’m glad you see the humor in the second. It was a bit of ambidextrous magic, too, with the cigar,beer and cell phone all going at once.
Hi planetross! it was Christmas-time in the tropics… Now that’s a funny thought… a bunch of people standing around licking those big candy canes! A little later in the night after a few more beers and maybe they were.
Once again Don, you found a way to isolate a poignant slice of contrasted existences. I used to see that elder lady with her baby stroller and bags of peanuts or coconut cookies pushing through the cobblestones streets and wondered why more people couldn’t find it in their hearts or wallets to whip out a dollar and buy something from her.
Maybe it’s the complimentary colors against the blues of the background but I think had I been there, she would have been more my focus than the festooned boats dressed up for commercial presentation lasting 4 hours.
And the gent below? What can I say other than you’ve given him the small head that he deserves.
I think I’m feeling more sensitized than ever to the disparity of excess versus suffering post Haiti earthquake and sometimes wish I could smack those cigars and cell phones right into the water.
Your photos tell great stories and these are just spot on.
Thanks so much, Bonnie for your supportive comments. I think we all are a little more sensitized to these differences right now — for a variety of reasons. We watched the boat parade from the Brew Pub, an excellent spot where we could sit and be entertained by the great people-show, while the boats floated by on the water! The colors of the sky contrasted with the lights just at dusk really added to the feel of the top image.
Ooo, this is freaky, the tall man one. Gives an Alice in Wonderland feel. It’s great.
Also everything else on the site!
Thanks, Jala! Some might call the Alice in wonderland guy, “Bean-brain”…