Reactions to a Street Photographer (Me)

Some people try to hide, or pretend I'm not there:

Some people get annoyed:

And some people are way cool:

Gloomy Day

Sometimes when I make plans to go for a walk and shoot the weather doesn't cooperate. Wait, let me rephrase that. The weather just does what it does, but it's not what I anticipated or what I might feel comfortable walking in. There is, after all, such a thing as wonderful rainy day pictures. If my camera gear was waterproof there'd be no issue. The Fuji X-Pro1 isn't even weather 'sealed'.

Wednesday was just such a day. I shoot quite a bit without looking through the viewfinder, so to protect my gear I took along a plastic bag with a hole cut into the edge through which to  poke the lens. Did the job just fine. I found a neat spot right at the corner of 58th street and Fifth avenue which afforded me just enough protection from the drizzle while being able to see clearly in both directions, and I set up shop. The gloom of the day created a wonderful atmosphere on the street - people seemed very often to be deeply immersed in thought.

But all was not doom and gloom. I had a wonderful conversation about Cuban cigars

And met a fellow photographer with a Leica M9 (well used)

More from my Sunday outing

Just a couple of shots in this post from my Lower Manhattan walk from the weekend.

What!?!?! I didn't do it!

Checkin' You Out!

SoHo Streets

On Sunday I spent some time in the SoHo district of Manhattan. Quite a few yeas ago it was a very old, run down neighborhood of cobblestone streets and warehouses - ideal for artists who needed large spaces at relatively cheap rent for lofts. The pattern for these neighborhoods in New York is that the artists move in because of the cheap rents and open spaces, then stores and restaurants open to service the artistic community. This then attracts attention of more upscale people who want to 'slum' for a few hours and dip their toes into the esoteric opportunities to shop and eat at those establishments. Then come the galleries that display the work of the local artists, and on their heels come the real estate developers who renovate the property, increase the rents - which drives the poor artists out of the neighborhood - and attract trendy stores which draw the crowds of 'cool' shoppers.  The artists are long gone to other neighborhoods where process starts all over again - to wit: Chelsea, Tribeca, Williamsburg, and now the Lower East Side.

For me, as a street photographer, it's a gold mine for characters and attitudes. On any given weekend afternoon there are many street vendors of books, scarves, jewelry, sunglasses, etc. And there are a number of musical groups who perform for the 'hip' strollers. I'm usually drawn to the groups because I like to photograph performers, but this Sunday I tried something a little different. I found a doo-wop group called Spank (I've posted images of them here in the past) on Spring Street, but rather than photograph the performers, I turned my attention to the audience to capture their reaction to the music. That's a more difficult subject to show with context and a story, but an interesting challenge. The performers are very close to the listeners and interact with them - especially when a pretty woman walks by.

There she was just-a walkin' down the street
Singin' 'Do wah ditty ditty dum ditty do'

Listen to it here. It ain't rap!

And then there's this, yeah 'She's MY girl!'

NOT Halloween

Today was the Jewish holiday of Purim. In a very small way kind of like Halloween - kids get dressed up in costumes and eat lots of sweets and have a blast. I took a walk in lower Manhattan this afternoon and ran across this very scary dude. After I took his picture he had quite a bit to say to me, none of which was particularly intelligible.

Harold Feinstein/Gene Smith

I recently read a blog post about Harold Feinstein and a book that presents a retrospective look at his works. He was a master of b/w photography and a disciple of one of my photographer heroes, W. Eugene Smith. You can see Feinsteins photos here. He wrote about his relationship with Gene Smith here. During my years as a darkroom silver based printer I occasionally worked with a very toxic compound that was commonly referred to as 'bleach'. I was initially drawn to using it because of Gene Smith's extensive manipulation of his prints using it. Feinstein reminisces about Gene Smith's use of Potassium Ferrocyanide here. Many of Smith's iconic photographs were altered using 'bleach' to accentuate very small details as highlights. Because of the shapes and sizes of those tiny details, which created much of the drama in Smith's images, dodging would have been impossible.

I would be quite interested to see what amazing things Smith would have accomplished were he alive today and had digital tools such as Lightroom, Photoshop, and plugins such as Silver Efex Pro 2 available to create his powerful images.

When I was first learning my craft as a silver based photographer, I pored over monographs of Smith's work. At that time, in the 1980's, street vendors set up long tables on the curb of Broadway and laid out piles of back issues of Life Magazine. I carried a list in my wallet of the issues of Life in which Smith's photographs appeared, and whenever I could I would dig up an old issue for my collection.

Apropos of nothing, I saw this happy couple on Central Park South one day this past week and asked them to pose for me. I was very curious to know, but was afraid to ask who did what to whom.

Happy Couple

A Very Cold Day On 57th Street

When the blustery winds make the temperature feel like 15ᴼf being out on the street gets more than a little uncomfortable. With the best of intentions I gave it a shot on Wednesday. On the corner of 57th street and Fifth ave. there's usually quite a lot of pedestrian traffic, but most people (with more sense than I apparently have) stayed indoors. A Chabad Lubavitch bus was parked at the intersection and one of the celebrants came out to invite me in and complete the group for a mid-afternoon prayer. I'm not a particularly observant or religious person, but the opportunity to warm up a bit and help out at the same time was very seductive - and, by the way, so was the chance to get a few interesting shots. Over the years of shooting street I've passed quite a few chances that were so easily handed to me, and missed golden opportunities. Not Wednesday .... hopefully, more to come.

First the street shots:

... and you won't believe what he did next ...

Dis guy tinks 'e's funny!

And a couple of shots inside the warm bus:

The Rabbi at prayer

Come here, I want to show you something ....