13-SEP-2008
The observer, Dunsmuir, California, 2008
Dunsmuir, not far from Mount Shasta, is a tourist town of about 2,000 people. It still looks much as it did in the 1920s and 1930s. At the base of a hill, near the town’s main street, I found a man wearing a seaman’s cap chatting it up with visiting tourists from his perch behind a large red curb. More important, at one side of him was a large mural featuring the Sacramento River, and a magical weed was twisting its way skyward just over his head. I pulled the three elements together for this street scene. It was the most expressive image I was to find in Dunsmuir.
03-SEP-2008
Oblivious, New York City, New York, 2008
Advertising is often based on incongruous imagery, and so is street photography. I found two sets of incongruous posters on the wall of a building facing a relatively quiet, tree-lined residential street in the heart of Manhattan. The pair of posters closest to the camera uses grim abstractions to promote a cable television series. The next set of posters warns of blindness, using the phrase “You’ll never see it coming.” The two sets of advertisements create random incongruity in themselves, and the man who walks between them here strengthens it. I saw him coming in the distance, and using a 28mm wideangle lens, I waited for his arrival. As I made this image, he looks neither at me nor at the advertisements. His expression and body language seems determinedly oblivious to everything around him, and that makes this image work all the better.
29-MAR-2008
Rickshaw traffic, Varanasi, India, 2008
Long lines of cycle-driven rickshaws carry visitors and locals about town. Rides cost one to two dollars, depending upon bargaining skills. I made this image with my longest focal length -- 420mm. The morning light illuminates my subject, while shadows embrace everyone else.
29-MAR-2008
Street corner, Varanasi, India, 2008
I spent about ten minutes photographing activity at this corner, set deep in the winding streets leading to the city’s principal shrine, the Vishwanth Temple. This motorcyclist and his passenger pulled up when they saw my camera and waited as I photographed them. There were no smiles -- I made this image and they continued on their journey. A policeman is lighting up a cigarette at the counter of a small shop at right. Many of the shops in the area were still shuttered -- I made this image early in the morning, using a wideangle lens to stretch the scene.
23-DEC-2007
Street game, Hoi An, Vietnam, 2007
I loved the energy this young boy puts into his volley on the historic streets of Hoi An. The child just behind him seems to stand in awe of his prowess. The emotional contrast between the two children is astonishing. I photographed these children at play for more than 15 minutes until I was able to find the right moment in time, light, space, and context to tell this story.
11-JUN-2007
In the alleys of Chinatown, San Francisco, California, 2007
The narrow alleys of Chinatown, built 100 years ago following the great earthquake, are lined with small shops and haunted memories. I entered this alley in the late afternoon – as the sun gets lower, the alleys of Chinatown get darker. Using spot metering, I exposed on the white awning of the jade shop, making the shadows bring a feeling of night to the scene. I photographed many different people walking down the opposite side of the street. This man was the most evocative – he is an abstraction, and timeless silhouette. He carried a cigarette to his lips just as I shot, his motion frozen by the shutter, and his body caught between the shadows.
06-JUN-2007
Bus Stop, The Castro, San Francisco, California, 2007
I photographed this street scene a bus stop on Castro Street. The Castro area became, along with the neighboring Haight Ashbury district, the core of San Francisco's counter-culture in the 1960s. The glass enclosed bus stop acts as a divider here – separating those waiting for a bus from the street life behind them. These two people are unaware of each other’s presence. Separated by a divider, each seems lost in their own world. It is an encounter that never took place.
09-JUN-2007
At the River, Petaluma, California, 2007
Time seems to stand still in Petaluma. The great earthquakes that rocked the Bay area in the 20th century spared this town. With old buildings and a vintage car behind him, this man takes his coffee down to the Petaluma River to muse on times gone by. I built this image around its geometry. The fence between the man and the river is a series of vertical lines. The trees and posts in the background carry the vertical theme throughout the image. The diagonal white lines on the street and the line of the curb connect the man to the old car -- the eye is drawn back and forth along that diagonal between the man’s head and the spare tire on the back of the car.
11-JUN-2007
Bow to the bird, Chinatown, San Francisco, California, 2007
Thousands of Chinese laborers came to San Francisco between 1850 and 1900 to work on the railroads and in the gold fields. They created a community that became the largest Chinatown in North America. Iconic examples of Chinese culture are everywhere, including on the wall of this building. This woman lowers her head at the exact instant she passes below the painting of a huge bird curling into a deep bow. The overhanging trees and fire escape ladder add to the scene by providing an overhead frame within a frame – the bird seems to be bowing because of them.
07-MAY-2007
Heat, Phoenix, Arizona, 2007
Phoenix is hot in the spring and hotter in the summer. And this office worker, wearing an ID badge around his neck, shows its effect. I shot this image on a hot day in May from across the street, using a telephoto focal length of about 240mm. I focused and exposed with a spot meter on the highlights of his white shirt in order to prevent burning them out. The image becomes darker as a result, which helps hold detail in the bright sidewalk as well. He covers his eyes with his hand. Does he see the signboard for the Deli that seems to be in his path? Or has he often walked this way before, and no longer needs to closely watch his step? This image asks such questions to the viewers, as well as expressing the effect of the climate on those who walk this street.
07-MAY-2007
Lunchtime, Phoenix, Arizona, 2007
When I photographed these restaurant windows from across the street with a 170mm telephoto lens, the subject matter within them becomes flat – making these windows seem almost as if they are paintings or color photographs on a wall. It is a slice of street life expressed here as geometry. The two women at the window counter seem oblivious to all that is going on around them. Behind them is a chaotic jumble of lights, color, signage, and reflections, yet from our vantage point, this jumble is neatly contained within a large window frame. The window on the right offers a more restrained view. It offers the head of just one abstracted diner. A fragment of a huge poster lends a splash of vivid red color to the scene, echoed by similar colors in the other window. The juxtaposition of these windows offers a sense of contrast and tension – the levels of activity are different, as are the sizes and shapes of the windows. They raise some interesting questions as well. Are we looking at two scenes from the same restaurant? Or is there an inside wall between these windows, giving us views into two different restaurants at once?
26-DEC-2006
Moment in the square, Place Jemaa el-Fna, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2006
This square is at the heart to Marrakesh. It teems with life. I was photographing this overloaded wagon as it rumbled across the square towards me. Suddenly, two children, who had been walking behind their mother, began to spontaneously play with each other. They look as if they could be dancing, but they are really engaged in a game of push and shove behind their mother’s back. They don’t even acknowledge the huge wagon passing only a few feet away from them. I like the incongruous contrast between the happy kids and the not-so-happy men on the wagon. I also like the fact that they appear to be off in a little world of their own – nobody sees them, except the photographer.