Canadian photographer Nick Wons took to the street to test the low-light performance of his new Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 FL VR lens. While wandering Queen Street in Toronto, he noticed a man walking away and thought it’d be best to take a snap. He wasn't prepared for what he captured.
Wons explains, “I was just taking a shot of the guy walking, I didn’t think much of it… I wanted to test the lens out (you know how it is with new toys.” Below is the photo Wons captured:
Timing really is everything. He posted the hilariously captured photo to his local photography groups until he was encouraged by a colleague to share to Reddit. He went on to posting the image on the discussion site and titled the image, “Just shot my first street photography photo where somebody randomly walked into frame projectile vomiting.” Shortly, the photo went to Reddit’s front page and went viral. His post now has over 1.5 million views and 147,000 upvotes, making it one of the most popular photos of the year in that subreddit. Considering over 20 million photographers are subscribed to that subreddit, I'd call that a pretty big achievement. "It's pretty wild," says Wons on the response to the photo. "I've had some hobby photos get a bunch of features and attention, but nothing like this."
Wons continues: "I went to bed and woke up to 131k Karma, texts from friends, and a flooded inbox on all my social media with requests from around the world to buy prints of the shot.”
People actually want to purchase prints of a random man projectile vomiting. Insane. Wons concludes, “This photo just goes to show why I always walk around with my camera out and at the ready, because you never know what’s going to happen next.”
Lead image courtesy of Nick Wons.
Really? I mean really? R thinking this article hits a new low.
Jordan Matter recently did a similar photo shoot with a 50mm f/1.8 prime lens at night in a city street to show the low light ability of such a lens, the photos were beautiful and the video was fun to watch, a similar project would have been more appropriate. This is just disgusting, just what I want to see, someone vomiting in public. If I saw this photographer in public I would be sure I was behind her.
I'm actually a 6'2" guy with a big beard and a shaved head who wears all black..not a her. Just for the record. :)
This wasn't a "project" I was just tracking the guy on the left side of the frame who was walking when the guy on the right came into frame and puked out of nowhere. It wasn't anything i could have predicted at all, it just so happens I was composed and already firing frames off when this guy came into shot. You can check out my instagram, you'll see the kind of stuff I usually shoot. www.instagram.com/nickwons
I'm sorry that you feel offended by this image, however, I suppose the realness of life, it's unpredictability, and sometimes it's mild vulgarity can be a little much for some people, where on the flip side of the coin millions of others have laughed, including the guy who's puking in the photo, so I take no offence to your comment.
No offence, Nick, but you have one of the best pro lens. Why not use it to capture something truly amazing and beautiful? It is sad to hear that "millions of others have laughed" seeing a photo of a vomiting man who suffered from illness he could not control, but seeing photos of vomiting people is not something the majority of people enjoy.
I'm not offended in the slightest, not nearly as passionately offended as you seem to be. I mean "suffers from an illness", you make it sound like he has some kind of incurable disease that you've diagnosed him with remotely from whatever location in the world you're in, in speaking with him he's just got a nervous stomach. He's not dying, he's not gravely ill, he just gets sick sometimes and he's already known by his friends for it and was telling his friend about an "epic half circle puke I unleashed on queen west" when his friend was like "oh, you mean this shot?".
Like it was stated over and over and over again, and I'll repeat it once more in case you missed it...you could walk by this guy on the street today and you would have ZERO idea. He wasn't even a part of my original composition or even in frame leading up to the fateful spew, he was a perfectly timed fluke. He's a blur, dude, a blur, you're absolutely losing your mind that I posted a photo of a blurry guy mid puke...I feel like you need a hobby, might I suggest street photography? ;)
You wanna see some beautiful stuff I've shot with that new lens? be my guest, I welcome you to check out my instagram and you'll see. :)
www.instagram.com/nickwons
Anyways, you have a great Monday, have a cup of tea and just chill, bud, nobody got hurt and nobody's been as upset as you have been, not even his mom.
Cheers
Nick, obviously you are not willing to listen. You keep defending yourself, trying to be sarcastic in the process (no need, really). If you would consider getting familiar with GDPR regulation if you ever go shooting in Europe, it may save you from trouble. Thank you for suggestion of starting to do street photography as a hobby. To be honest, it is not really wise or clever to make suggestions without being aware of what the person does for a living:) Photography is my job (not a hobby) for the last several years, including street photography. I do not really want to see any more of your photos. Reason being is - the image you made public may result in some people making incorrect perception of what kind of photos you like to shoot. This was the first photo of your work that I have seen, and any photos we make public is a representation of our work. Do you really want to be known or remembered as "the photographer who took photos of a vomiting man"? This perception (I appreciate that it is a wrong perception, and I am sure you have beautiful photos in your portfolio) is the same as with the guy you took the photo of - many people would think he was drunk, while in fact he was ill. All the best.
Correct, I don't really care to listen to somebody comes at me like I'm some horrible person for apparently exposing a blurry somebody who outside of their closest friends wouldn't be able to be identified by anybody else who doesn't know him.
This photo going viral has brought the world's eyes to my work. Is this my best photo? absolutely not. was this the photo that I was gonna hope would be the catalyst for global attention? not in a million years. Did I plan to get this shot? How could anybody even plan this randomness? No. But it happened, and it is what it is, and I've had hundreds of requests for prints, emails, have been invited to participate in a photography exhibition, thousands of follows, and offered other opportunities...so..as much as you absolutely hate this shot, it's opened doors for me and I'll take it because at the end of the day nobody was hurt.
And just so we're clear I'm not the only person to have shot somebody puking, here's Getty's archive of vomit photos of (easily identifiable) people who's lives, who according to your belief, would have been ruined by Getty photographers...and are available for licensing.
https://www.gettyimages.ca/photos/vomit?sort=mostpopular&mediatype=photo...
Thanks again for all your concern on Chuck's behalf.
Cheers!
Nick…really…”This photo going viral has brought the world's eyes to my work.”.
Are you really feeling proud that the photo which “brought the world's eyes” (sounds soooo ambitious:) was the photo of a vomiting man? Are you ok with people making reference of you as “that guy who took a photo of a vomiting man”? It’s totally up to you if you want to consider thinking twice but this photo may create a reputation you may not really be grateful for afterwords. Totally your choice, of course:) As for the new opportunities, - of course, go for it, nobody is questioning it, we were talking about the ethics of making public a photo of a man suffering from illness. If he has children, do you think they would be happy to see their dad like this? Rhetoric question.
Thanks, no one really needed another bunch of pictures showing vomiting people. It is amazing that you made a research, thank you, but no - we don’t want to see it.
Yan, why are you so stuck on this topic? the guy got a funny shot, the person on it had a laugh, he even signed a release allowing it, he got it viral on reedit and people have seen his shot, thus connecting more with his work. it is what it is.
I've seen about 20 different comments from you alone sharing negativity towards a topic that has no drama. why ??
is it the most beautiful shot? no. but it's a funny story and if you don't like it, you can open other posts on fstoppers.
I honestly don't get why some people can't let go some topics... why so much negativity if no harm was done to anyone?
If you are not willing to read my comments, you are absolutely free to pass by. No one is forcing you to read it. Why am I concerned? Simple: if we all keep quiet and let unethical things happen, they will happen more and more,until one day you will turn around and think "What happened with this world?". "but it's a funny story and if you don't like it, you can open other posts on fstoppers." - same applies to you. It is funny that you don't apply your advice to yourself. If you had enough of my comments, skip it and move on. Negativity has nothing to do with subject of ethics I raised. I take responsibility for what I said. I cannot take responsibility for how you take it. If you took it negatively then this is the way you took it. I also don't get it what people find funny about this photo, and wanted to understand it. Yet, I did not ask anyone to shut up. Everyone is free to express their opinion.
I can't speak for anyone else but I'm not outraged and outraged by the possible suggestion that I might have been included in the faux outrage group. ;-)
I just thought it was inconsiderate. There is, or rather should be, a wide margin between "that's cool" and outrage.
it's the hot new trend.
kinda crazy how offended for somebody else that isn't offended people can be. ah well, there's always that one crayon in the box.
Yeah, this is not impressive. What's next to come, someone pooping on the street?
Dang! I was in SF, last summer, and forgot to photograph the poop on the sidewalk! I could have been famous on... um, Reddit. Maybe not!?
Yes. Open defecation. That is what it is called. It is photographed and shown as a tool to get government entities to install more public toilets, especially for women. Not only do public toilets increase safety they also sanitize the city. Seriously. Google it. We laugh here but many developing nation consider this a problem.
How is this problem exposed and talked about? By photographing it.
Yes, absolutely in a solid context it can make sense.
Ahh, we’ve all done it. Now I know what I look like when I huff my guts like that. Cool!
Tabloid event, not newsworthy at all. Career booster because it’s popular on social media? Awesome. Next.
People wanting to buy prints of this shot ?
Shakes head.
The world we live in ( or the lies we are being told )...
Hard to believe, agree. From photography perspective, the photo has zero value to be wanted to be purchased, and bad quality to be printed.
Oh my, just get over yourself. The photo does not have 0 value, the fact that this went viral gives it value.
Going viral means squat for quality.
Just check the magnitudes of half naked woman selfies on the internet going viral every day.
Once we consider viral-ability as a measure of photo quality, we better stop consider ourselves photographers.
Well said.
No reason to be so irritated by my comment. If you think it has value, that's fine, it has value for you. For me, it has zero value. If you would consider reading my previous comment, it says "from photography perspective, the photo has zero value...", not from perspective of how much noise the photo makes. You can try to measure this photo from "quality" perspective, but it will be a very hard job to justify any.
You know Yan, it would have been great if Reddit gave us some stats on who really liked that image. Just gender and age averages would have possibly been useful for me to understand why I don't get it.
Thank you for your thought, Benoit. Yes, it would have been great. Makes perfect sense. It might be related to the fact that different people have different criteria of what they consider "fun", "aesthetics", "good taste"...By the way, you have amazing images of cars, great work. Very powerful, and they have a charm and character, especially the one with a plane and a yellow car. Pleasure to look at.
Daaaaaaaaaaamn. Poor guy :(