Pedro, Armando, Borge, Frank, David, Akira,
Thank you for commenting.
Frank,
Krass?
By that I assume you mean "crass".
And I disagree.
Yes the picture is not pretty, but it wasn't meant to be.
I would have been insensitive had I run up past the man and taken the shot from in front, possibly embarrassing him at that instant, and later by posting an identifiable photo (however unlikely that he or anyone who knows him would see it on the internet).
By taking the shot from behind him, I was trying to capture a picture of reality for many elderly people.
Telling stories is all I ever want to do with my photos, and if they make you think to the point that you are mad, sad, glad or bad, then I've achieved what I set out to do. And based on the reaction that the picture has gotten, I think I've done that.
Robert