25-NOV-2011
Student celebration, Valletta, Malta, 2011
These are local pharmacy students, celebrating an event by marching through the streets of Valletta carrying balloons and blowing whistles. I was able to capture their exuberance here, spontaneous gestures expressing feelings of joy and prankishness.
25-NOV-2011
Revelry Valletta Malta copy.jpg
The students in the previous shot --
http://www.pbase.com/image/140361476 -- were part of a large group of revelers that were roaming the streets of Valletta, singing, blowing whistles, and chanting slogans. I abstract them here as they headed up a hill under the city’s holiday decorations. One of them raises her arm to extend a finger – her gesture seems intended to guide and inspire those who march behind her.
08-SEP-2011
Greetings, Ricaurte, Ecuador, 2011
While visiting this small village just outside of Cuenca, we were exuberantly welcomed by a pair of schoolchildren. One of them waved a scarf, grazing the head of the student standing next to her. The flying scarf complements her arm gesture, while the gap-toothed grin of the other schoolgirl adds another dimension to the image.
08-JUN-2010
“I’m over here,” Depot, Durango, Colorado, 2010
A throng of tourists crowds the door of Durango’s depot shortly before the Durango and Silverton railroad’s morning steam train departs on its three and a half hour run to Silverton. One fellow apparently caught in the middle of the hubbub is frantically trying to hail a family member – his gesture provides the focal point of this image.
12-MAY-2010
Thought, Scottsdale Library, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2010
These women had stopped just outside the Scottsdale library to have a discussion. Expressive images can come out of such simple events as this. As the woman in the background took out a notebook to jot something down, the lady in the foreground suddenly brought her index finger to her lips, closed her eyes, and simply focused on whatever she was thinking about. The gesture she uses here symbolically seals her lips, forcing her to converse with herself for a moment through the power of thought.
11-NOV-2009
School’s out, Kayenta, Arizona, 2009
The six children in this image offer a striking contrast in gesture. Three of the children are waving at our cameras, which we were shooting through the windows of our van as it moved through the town. Three others stare at us as if we were aliens from another planet. The focal point of the image is the expression on the face of the child in middle of the image. As one of the older children, she realizes what is happening, and is making the most of an opportunity to make a memorable impression on us.
24-OCT-2009
Visitors, Suleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey, 2009
Three Muslim women share a bench in the park that runs alongside of Istanbul’s most important mosque. Their gestures reflect their feelings at the moment. The woman at left seems tired. The woman shrouded in black looks intensely at the camera, her gaze intensified by the fact that much of her face is veiled. And the woman at right adjusts her head covering at they wait their turn to enter the mosque. By relating multiple gestures to each other, I strengthen the image’s message: although sharing a common experience, each person responds in their own way.
20-SEP-2009
Callers, Montreal, Canada, 2009
Phone conversations often produce expressive gestures. In this case, the sharp person in the foreground seems to making an appeal to a higher force, looking upwards and using an open hand for emphasis. That hand holds a cigarette, and so does the hand of the softly focused woman in the background, who is also talking on the phone. The subject is forceful, while the contextual subject is relaxed. Yet in our mind’s eye, we can imagine them talking to each other.
26-JUL-2009
Family, Newburyport, Massachusetts, 2009
Gesture, body language, and expression are at the heart of this image. An abstracted man cradles a child in his arms. A little girl wearing an oversized hat throws back her head as she seeks approval from a man who thrusts his open hand towards her. Another child seems to see none of it as she retreats into her own domain. Meanwhile a woman nurses an infant behind them. Such is the nature of family life, as human responses flow back and forth around the vividly colored shopping bag anchoring the image.
25-JUL-2009
Decision, Ipswich, Massachusetts, 2009
Folded arms and pursed lips can indicate deep thoughts leading to profound decisions. In this case, it seems to be a matter of choice. The young lady in question is studying a rack of clothing at a village craft fair. To buy or not to buy? This decisive photographic moment invites the viewer to stop and ponder the question along with her.
08-APR-2009
Awestruck, Old State Capitol, Phoenix, Arizona, 2008
Arizona’s Old State Capitol building is now a history museum. Among its exhibits is the old House of Representatives chamber, which offers visitors a trip back into time. The room is kept exactly as it looked in 1912, when Arizona became a state. Every day, school groups tour the museum, and all of them spend some time in this room, listening to guides tell them stories from out of the past. I made this image of a schoolteacher, seated at a desk on the chamber floor. I used a 400mm telephoto lens from the second floor chamber gallery, high above her. I framed her behind two softly focused antique light fixtures, and found her brightly illuminated hands clasped before her as she gazed around the room. I found a catchlight in one eye, and an expression of awe upon her face. I hope her students were as impressed with the stories of Arizona’s political history as she seemed to be.
22-MAR-2009
Bethesda Terrace, Central Park, New York City, New York, 2009
Built in the 1870s as the centerpiece of Central Park, Bethesda Terrace is the weekend home of amateur performers who sing, dance, and ridicule their audience. I photographed the reaction of this spectator in red, who, along with her friend in the green hat, makes this part of the old terrace into her private viewing gallery. Her vivid coloration contrasts to the mellow 19th century stone embellishments that surround her, and adds emphasis to her enthusiastic gesture of delight.
