Man of Color

I noticed the red socks first.  Then the green papers.  Then the blue....  

Man of Color

Making of a Street Photograph

Street photography doesn't always work the way you expect.  Some of the time, there is a degree of luck involved in making a good picture great.  Upon occasion, what you think is the picture, evolves into something quite different.  

Here is an example... in the winter this time of year, light is extreme... long shadows, bright direct lighting, rays of light create some drama.  I was parked at one end of the plaza shooting in the sun's direction.  It was so bright, people looked very much like silhouettes (although the camera rendered more detail).  I was following the guy in the center and was randomly taking shots.  I was trying to isolate a person to create a focal point for the picture.  The light created a ghosting effect.  Here's the first one in the series.... a throwaway.  

He continued on, and the woman to the left enters the shot, unbeknownst to me as I continued to follow the guy.  The pigeons moved closer to me.  

The man pauses, the woman faces forward, the birds move into position, the people shadows echo the bodies to balance out the photo.  I discover there is a different focus than what I thought I was shooting.  She became my subject, a bit off center, with the superb backlighting and angled rays of the sun.  She reminds me of Gloria Swanson in the movie "Sunset Boulevard".  She said, "I'm ready for my close up, Mr. Demille".  

Ready for my Closeup

Of course, people may have different interpretations of a picture.  One of my Facebook friends, thought the guy looked like he was taking a pee.  Anyone can have their own interpretation of a street photograph.  And, in an instant the elements can change and make it become something else.  

EYE'EM Awards

The EYE'EM Award Exhibition 2010 is wrapping up this week in Berlin.  This is a competition of photos taken by mobile devices (like the iPhone I have).  Out of several thousand submissions, one of my shots was chosen by the grand jury to be part of the shortlist of 144 mobile photographs that are being exhibited in the final show at the Schlectriem Brothers gallery.  The pictures that were selected are absolutely fantastic, so it is an honor to be included. 

Here is the one that was selected.  I'm not sure that I could have gotten a similar picture with my DSLR.  The extra wide-angle of the iPhone distorted the picture in such an interesting way that it exaggerated the sizes of parties in an interesting way.  This is the blog entry that I original posted about this picture. 

Free Colonial Concert

The Recycler

Some people work hard for a living, I think this guy is one of them.  He passed by without attracting much attention. 

It took me a second to realize what an accomplishment it is to collect this many cans.  I'm not sure how many cans he assembled, but it's probably at least 1000... 2000?  5000? 

So, to gather 2000 cans, you've got to have some expertise.  You gotta know where the cans are.  I'm sure they are in garbage cans on the street.  That would mean reaching in and pull out what you find.  From the trash.  Maybe a bit smelly.  Unsanitary for sure. 

I'm sure there are other, less obvious places, that only an expert can collector would know.  On the floor where I work, there is a recycling bin for cans.  I wonder what happens to those cans after they are emptied out?  I'll bet this guy knows and is there to get them.

Also, there are probably certain times of day that are best to locate the cans.  I would guess right after lunch time is perfect.  At a plaza or park, on a nice day.  Like today.  It was probably the perfect day for can collection today.  Beautiful and great for drinking fluids out of cans. 

I think it was maybe an extra easy day to get cans today, but its still hard work.

 

 Off into the sunset

I'm Engaged!

There is a photographic concept called the "Decisive Moment" that originated with the photography of Henri-Cartier Bresson. It implies you have taken the shot at the exact right instance. Sometimes decisive moment shots are due to careful planning and a lot of waiting for that moment to come along. Sometimes, they are just dumb luck and the coincidence of good timing or being at the right place at the right time.

The shot below could be classified as a decisive moment shot from the right place, right time category. You do, however, need to be prepared with the camera ready for that coincidentally time when it does occur (which is not a minor thing).

The woman on the right, was showing off a good sized diamond ring to some friends on the street. Presumably this is an engagement ring and she's getting married. I'm sure the excitement of showing the ring, and this period in her life, will be one she always remembers. You can see the happiness on her face.

I was pre-armed with my camera as the scene unfolded with that perfect timing. I took about five pictures. I thought the guy in the rear was noticing that I was taking the shots, but looking at others in the series, he seemed to actually be watching the ring presentation also.

It does seem to be a ring worth showing off, this is as close as I could get to it from blowing up the scene.
By the way, this picture was taken on Maiden Lane. I thought that was a rather interesting coincidence. I just looked up the dictionary definition of maiden, and it says, " an unmarried girl or woman" (or also "virgin"). I would add that as back story element to the decisive moment.

Instant Clicks

When I'm out photographing, after preparing the camera to take pictures (pre-setting exposure, focus, etc.), I find I become hyper-aware of what's going on around me. Scanning the activities to see what might be a worthwhile subject.

Rarely, maybe once a month, a glance in a direction will show a perfectly setup scene. Perfectly composed, perfect mood, perfect expression. Since I'm ready, I can grab it in a second.

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to have two of these instant clicks. These are them:

I was across the street and looked over between cars and saw this. Not only was his pose well positioned, but the neon sign is a really nice element above it. A mood comes through that was all put together.

I was passing by an office building and found her standing like this enjoying a smoke. Almost as if she was a model. The diagonal beam is a nice secondary element. I got one shot and that was it.

Street Photography Cropping

Pretty much all of my pictures are cropped in some way. Sometimes I pull out a little detail from a large picture. Sometimes I balance the composition. Sometimes I'm emphasizing something in particular.

One of the street photographers I follow on Flickr is highly popular. He has won awards and he has many people who comment on his pictures. He is generous in the way he interacts with other photographers. He is complimentary and insightful, which I think is part of his appeal.

When I look at his pictures though, sometimes I don't see anything special. Yet there are glowing responses from his admirers. He has become a superstar of street photography, to the point where I'm not sure his photos are being looked at objectively. He does however capture a reality and the grittiness of the street but not really that much of the art.

I've been trying in some ways to emulate his work, not because I think his pictures are that good, but due to the response he gets. There was a recent discussion about one of his photos, where it was suggested that he crop a picture that I did think was good, fantastic in fact. It was a bit more stylistic than his usual shots. He responded that he rarely crops his pictures because that distorts the reality of the situation, and life is not perfect.

This pointed out to me that his approach was in recording the scene, almost like a journalist, not making aesthetically pleasing photos, although that might occasionally be a byproduct.

A recent picture I took made me think of the two styles. Both versions I present here are of the same subject: an Indian family who were sharing a moment with their eyes. My ultimate version (above) cropped down to the core subjects, although reluctantly I needed to cut out a man who was watching from the far right. I would have included him if he was closer to the family, but aesthetically he was too removed and would have removed the focus from the family and made it harder to appreciate their eyes. Also, I thought there was a nicer balance in the cropped version with the boy becoming much more prominent.

I went back and reviewed this shot again and then looked at the uncropped version (below) with the man in it. I like this version also, and realized the star street photographer would have gone with that version. It captures the moment on the street, but I'm not sure that the story is as strong and the composition and focal points are different.

In the end, I come to realize that my style is different and while both approaches are valid, and he is obviously extremely successful by measure of the attention he gets, I will not try to emulate him anymore and will be true to what seems right to me.

Chain Bikers

Just noticed a kind of dual fashion/functionality statement by bicycle delivery guys. They are announcing that, "I look cool when I drape a very heavy, thick, bicycle chain and lock over my shoulder."

The Coffee Cart

Another rainy morning, this time I observed the activity at the coffee truck near Park Row, across from City Hall. I watched as various formations of people and umbrella made interesting patterns. It was windy and cold, shiny and bright.

Various people visited the cart for their breakfast, regulars mostly. Sometimes there are tourists but that is generally rare, and usually not on a rainy day during the morning commute. The tourists slow down the routine for the regulars.

As I took pictures, a construction worker stormed towards the truck. I could hear him even though I was fairly far away. He was steamed. "Look at this! Do you see what you did?" He held the bag up to display the contents to the coffee vendor, who looked puzzled. The coffee guy shook his head like he understood that the guy was complaining, but not what he was complaining about.

I was trying to think what was the issue? Was it the wrong order? In the end, I thought that it might be that they didn't put the coffee lids on tight enough and the pastries and rolls might have gotten wet. But, I really don't know. Any rate, it didn't matter if the vendor understood or not, as the customer is always right.

Some time passed while the order was fixed. It appeared to be a rather large order.

Finally, the construction worker left, appearing satisfied somewhat. He walked right up next to me, oblivious, and pulled out a walky talky and called his supervisor to explain why he was not yet back on the job with their food.

Under an Awning

Sometimes the best shots just happen as you're moving along... something catches your eye, you take a few shots and you're done. But, if you exhibit patience (hard to come by), you can stay in one spot, setup and hope something manifests itself.

In the rain the other day, I took the latter approach (because it was wet) and parked myself at a doorway and just shot as people walked past. I didn't realize it was an "active" doorway until the door behind me opened and pushed me out into the rain. I repositioned myself underneath the awning of a corner Sushi fast food restaurant. This spot was dry and I could look in multiple directions.

I waited and shot, and waited and shot. All together 117 shots. And, I considered these three of the most worthwhile.

"Wet"

"You Look So Relaxed"

"Jealous"

Distinct Activities

It was a rare warm February day and I took a lunch time stroll along the river looking towards Jersey City (the tower in the distance). I was watching the work being done by the two men on the crane on the huge torch (I think based on the Statue of Liberty which is out of frame off to the left). I noticed in the picture all the distinct individual activities happening. Besides the torch workers, there is an overall balance to the others. None are in groups, and all have their own agenda.

Characters

Some characters noticed on the streets of Manhattan. It was after I selected them that I actually realized they were all on cell phones. Yak Yak Yak...

Hailing Yakker Cigar YakkerSilent Yakker

Below the Waist

I've noticed that a good number of the pictures that I favor tend to cutoff people around the waist and focus on their lower extremities. There seems to me to be a certain action and harmony, especially when combined with the geometric elements found in the streets.... the vertical lines of the crosswalks, the circles of the manhole covers.

I looked through my collection and pulled out the ones that fall into the "Below the Waist" category.

"Click Away"

Lunch time on an unusually warm day. It is cloudy and dark, rain is in the air. Pictures taken in this kind of light are evenly lit and lights pop. A favorite time to wander and shoot.

I headed down Broadway in the Financial District, near Wall Street. I came to focus on a man in a red jacket. Red always is flashy in pictures, and I noticed he had a cigar grasped behind his back. I moved under a portico overhang of the building and watched from behind. The position of the cigar was interesting. I tried a couple of different settings and shot rather consistently. Sometimes one shot out of 30 may be something special. I knew, slowing down the shutter speed, would show cigarman still but the people passing on the street in front of him would blur, so I tried that. I kept shooting oblivious to my surroundings.

I came to feel the presence of two rather large gentlemen standing rather closely to me. One, with a walkie talkie, spoke "May I ask you, sir, what you are photographing?" I jerked up to see who was talking to me. I know it's legal to shoot pictures on public ground, and kind of organized my thoughts to put up a fight. Although, this I might have been just off the sidewalk, potentially on private property.

Also coming to mind, was an incident from a few months ago. I saw an interesting light fixture on a building, and reflexively took several pictures. I was halted by a security guard who said I wasn't allowed to take pictures of that particular building, which happened to be the Federal Reserve building. I really didn't think much about its security as it was in quite a public location frequented by tourists. You can take pictures outside of the NY Stock Exchange (certainly a secure location). But, that time the guard made me delete all the pictures of the light fixture, plus a shot of a stop sign that happened to use a tiny portion of the facade as a solid background. I concluded that was a power play by the guard, as I later went on the internet and found hundreds of pictures of the building, so I'm not sure how much more secure it was without my pictures.

With that in mind, I was concerned about the possibility of being asked to delete the cigar pictures. At that point, the guy said must have sensed my trepidation, "You're not in trouble, what are you taking pictures of. This is a sensitive property." I understood the guy's job, and hunched over and pointed. "You see that guy's cigar? That's what I'm taking pictures of." The guy turned and looked then grinned. He said "Take as many pictures as you want. Click away".

I took another 15 or so, waved to the guard who went back to his post (which was inside the lobby) and headed off downtown. I didn't bother to turn around and inspect the building to see what it was. I didn't really care. After all, it was all about the cigar.

Cropping Decisions

I was wandering at lunch time and headed towards a school on the lower west side. In the shot below, I first noticed the woman hunched over the baby carriage (think she's on a cell phone). I rattled off about 5 shots and noticed an interesting number of elements, each of which could be a picture. As a whole, however, this shot seems to hinge on the man in the center, not the baby carriage woman. He's the hub of the photo but not really what I wanted to emphasize. So, it made sense to do a little cropping.

Besides the woman to the right, there is some interest on the left side if you draw attention there. The guy with the sunglasses is still the main draw, but there is a balance. The school bus is a nice background piece, the little crosswalk symbol saying to walk is a nice element. There could be a pleasing composition if it was done like this (right).

You could even take this same shot of the grouping on the left and move in closer, drawing attention to the guy even further behind. He seems to be inspired and looking off into space. Being out of focus kind of adds to his mood of thoughtfulness. Also the little crosswalk man could be what is in his imagination.

Getting back to the original focus on the right side of the shot... The look of happiness on the woman with the baby carriage seems like it should be emphasized. But, looking above her to the rear, there are two guys speaking. Another nice compositional balance. They could also be a focal point (right).

In the end though, to emphasize the woman in the baby carriage, the balance needs to be redistributed on the right to minimize the prominence of the man in the center. To do this, the left side of the picture needs to be eliminated completely. After cropping for this, I found a shadow on the sidewalk to be distracting and removed that. Also the backlighting is dramatic but made the buggy woman's face a bit hard to see, so I isolated her and brightened very slightly.

That could be enough, but classic street photography tends to be more gritty if it is rendered in black and white. To do that though, the trade-off was to lose the attraction of the yellow school bus in the rear. As I find the color of the bus draws your eye away from the woman in the buggy, the black and white tends to help to meet the original objective of the original street observation. The final shot looks like this below.

Corner scene

There are three different sets of people in this photo. I was initially attracted to the man with his arm on the pillar. I took about 6 pictures of him as he put his arm up and down. Finally he got into a position that worked.

I didn't notice the girls approaching from the right when I took the shot. Their matching outfits work well in black and white. And, I didn't notice the guy with the pizzas who slipped in on the left. He doesn't look like a delivery guy, he looks more like a guy who has a big appetite.

The whole thing seems kind of European to me, although I'm not sure about pizza being delivered like this in Europe... and there is a US mailbox in there.

Body Art

Body Art
Originally uploaded by jfraissi

There is a lot of infrastructure construction happening on lower Broadway. Centers of streets are torn up and construction workers are digging holes and laying huge pipes. To separate this dangerous work from the average Joe, plastic barriers are constructed, sometimes with green mesh behind. The plastic is in bright yellow, green and orange colors. Holes let you see through (it's probably cheaper also as holes are free).

This photograph shows a spot where two of the colored plastic strips come together. This guy's arm and his striped shirt turned out to be a great compositional element. I like this on its standalone art value, it really means nothing so I would consider it an "abstract".

Top and Bottom

Traffic gloves
Originally uploaded by jfraissi

The traffic cop stands for hours at a time. He get ignored, passed by, and sometimes respected. Some are bored, aloof, or relaxed. I think this guy has all three of those traits.

The two shots here are the same guy. I originally thought they were taken from the same source photo. But, now that I have them up, you can see they were different shots (the other legs don't match). But, it is definitely the same guy.

Restless Legs Syndrome
Originally uploaded by jfraissi

There's the top of him above, and then there is the bottom of him.

Cigarette swing

Cigarette swing
Originally uploaded by jfraissi

A rainy day around 6pm. I went up some side streets looking for something to shoot and I saw this woman walking purposely. As she walked, she did a full arm swing with her cigarette in hand. I rattled off about ten shots and this one was my favorite. I like the balance between the various levels of umbrellas and the woman looking on (probably looking at me).

Below is a color version of this which is a little less standard.

Cig

Cig
Originally uploaded by jfraissi

I saw this guy casually standing in front of an office building around 6pm. I rattled off three shots at the cigarette as I approached from behind and this one isolated it best. There was very little color to it, so it worked best in black and white. I worked a little bit on the cigarette itself to make it a little clearer.