Monday, December 2, 2013

French Legion of Honor

One of my joys in photographing on the street in New York is occasionally having the opportunity to engage in conversation with my subjects. This afternoon I saw this interesting gentleman on the corner of Fifth Ave and 59th street. I missed the initial opportunity to photograph him as he walked by me as some stray pedestrians walked between us. He stopped to look into a store window, and I moved to a better position to be able to get a good shot when he looked up and walked towards me. He looked up at me and said 'That's a good cigar!' And the conversation flowed from there. The medallion in his lapel button hole is the French Legion of Honor which he won having been a veteran of WWII. Every evening after eating dinner he enjoys a cigar with a glass of scotch whiskey. Been doing it all his life. He's 90 years old. And his mind is sharp as a razor!