30-DEC-2010
Reconstruction, Bridgetown, Barbados, 2010
A net, drape, and scaffold envelopes an old Bridgetown bank under reconstruction. I abstract it as a black and white industrial tapestry, a symbol of renewal and the labor that goes along with it.
31-DEC-2010
Sea Wall, Dominica, French West Indies, 2010
The huge earthmover, working on a new sea wall protecting Dominica’s coastline, frames what seemed to be a construction supervisor within its massive arc. It is a workplace image of man and machine, based on scale incongruity and primary colors. I liked the way the separate blue and green colors of the Caribbean fill the foreground, leading the eye to the yellow machine and the man standing below it. Two other men, slightly obscured and wearing blue shirts, work just behind the machine, while others take things easy in the background.
26-DEC-2010
Refreshment, Belem, Brazil, 2010
The streets of steamy Belem, near the mouth of the Amazon River, comprise the workplace for this balloon vendor. Here he retreats to the shadows to savor a cold drink of soda. I build this image around its colors – the vendor’s brilliant red clothing, the pastel balloons, and the yellow brick road holding an approaching child. The shadowy figure is invisible to the vendor. We wonder if he may soon become a customer?
07-SEP-2010
Window cleaner, Mission Beach, San Diego, California, 2010
While others come to Mission Beach to relax and play, some earn their livelihoods here. This man washes the windows of an elaborate beach house along the Boardwalk. I create an expressive image out of such a literal subject by emphasizing his reflected image in the window, as much as the man himself. The evening sun illuminates his arm and the back of his neck, as well as some of the clothing he wears. His intense expression, and well as the tool he uses, comes through in the silhouetted profile visible in the reflection. I compose the image as a study in repeating geometric rhythms. The diagonal thrust of the legs is repeated in the diagonal line of the ladder and the diagonal reflection. The repeating vertical thrusts of the window separators carry us through the image, as well.
30-AUG-2010
Quick build, Mission Beach, San Diego, California, 2010
This house, under construction during the two-week period while I was visiting this beach community, did not exist when I arrived, and seemed almost finished when I left. The construction workers who built this house worked quickly and constantly to get the job done. I found two of them working on the roof early in the construction phase, and using my long telephoto lens, photographed their efforts from a neighboring street. In mid morning, the scene was backlighted, abstracting the image for me and making it more symbolic than descriptive. I liked the way the light softly illuminates the framework of the building, making it seem to glow. The clouds in the pale sky echo the rounded shape of the tree leaves that seem to be blessing the scene. The utility poles and wires embrace the construction site – nothing gets done without the power they provide. Yet the key to the idea itself -- the speed of construction -- is the body language of one of the workers. One of the men hunches forward as he carries a piece of lumber towards the framework, while his colleague bends over behind him to pick up a tool or materials. There is a sense of urgency in the body language of the man carrying the lumber that makes him the focal point around which the entire image revolves.
09-JUL-2010
Laying cement, New York City, New York, 2010
There is a lot going on in this picture – a crew of workers is laying fresh cement at a construction site, beneath a towering backdrop of draping and concrete. I use a vertical frame to stress the high backdrop here, and made about twenty or thirty images, mostly on burst mode, of the interactive body language here. I chose the shot that best tells the story. The man in the center is the focal point, not only because of his central position, but also because he raises his arm as a gesture of leadership. He also holds a shovel in his other hand, which complements another shovel held by the man in the green vest at right. The cement is being shoveled out of a container decorated as a shark, which adds an aggressive touch to the image.
13-JUL-2010
Heavy lifting, New York City, New York, 2010
This man was moving boxes and bags from a truck, while other workers supported his efforts. At this moment, he stands with a heavy bag in hand, waiting for someone to come and take it from him. Meanwhile, the man at lower right, who should be helping him, is looking elsewhere at this moment, an incongruity in time and space. I frame the scene in softly focused trees, which add an incongruous park-like atmosphere to this midtown Manhattan street scene.
17-JUL-2010
Careful steps, New York City, New York, 2010
I noticed two maintenance men at work on air conditioning equipment on a neighboring apartment building roof and followed their exertions for a while from my window. I made this image at the moment one of them takes a ladder to a lower level. A mistake could mean a dangerous fall – he carefully supports himself by grabbing a metal bar and taking each step very slowly. At this moment, his rigidly extended arm echoes the diagonal thrust of the entire image, which flows from upper right down to lower left. The image is all about geometry, with rectangular elements and horizontal surfaces arrayed behind them and diagonal energy flowing between these men in the vivid blue shirts.
15-JUL-2010
Movers, New York City, New York 2010
I use the open door of a moving truck as the stage for the story here. The man lifting a carton within the truck is abstracted in silhouette. He is framed by a tree at left, and by the repeating rhythms of the vertical lines on the inside of the open door. I abstract the name of the movers by showing only a part of the truck at right, but the remaining star spangled decoration suggests a patriotic motif. The final touch is the carton already resting on the ground. We can’t tell if it is arriving or leaving, but we do know what is probably being moved here.
21-JUL-2010
Potter, Bennington, Vermont, 2010
In this photo of a potter shoveling clay around the floor below her workbench, it is the working environment, rather than the worker herself, that tells the story. While she wears a blue dress, the dusty colors of her smock and most of her surroundings convey the nature of the materials she works with and produces. I layer the image with racks of bricks and trays, and even a wheelbarrow. A fan keeps her cool, while a company poster and a calendar add visual context. Meanwhile, the clay product she is working on sits before us on its pedestal, looking very much like a chocolate cake waiting to be served.
10-JUL-2010
Window cleaner, New York City, New York, 2010
I built this image of a man cleaning a window in a New York City apartment building door around a series of frames within frames. The bars offer an initial frame, then the door itself, and finally the white decoration around it. The nearby window in a brick wall echoes the other rectangles here. I used my burst shooting mode, and chose the moment when he peered through the glass with one eye from behind his white cloth. The work seems to be routine – he probably cleans fingerprints off this piece of glass every day. We get a sense of that repetition here – he seems to know the job by heart and can probably do it in his sleep. The repeating frames within frames here intensify that feeling for us.
13-JUL-2010
Street performer, Union Square Park, New York City, New York, 2010
A street performer, spattered in gold paint, takes a break beneath a sequined fabric. He wears an “I love New York” shirt, but at the moment, his loyalties are rooted in sleep. The fabric abstracts him, yet its embellishments complement the golden arm that is left exposed to the crowds that surge past him. His performance – and that’s what this image is all about – is temporarily and incongruously on hold.