A WEEK IN NEW YORK - PART FIVE : 

THE ROOKIE STREET PHOTOGRAPHER

APRIL 25, 2025

                                                                   OBLIVIOUS IN NEW YORK

On my last full day in New York, I left for the city early in order to explore one of my old haunts, Greenwich Village. I resolved to try my hand at something I almost never do, photographing people on the street. I am usually photographing subjects like architecture that are standing still, far away, and never talk back. The idea of actually photographing people on the street was very intimidating, but here I was in New York, the prime subject of street photographers for at least one hundred years. If I could spend an hour or so alone without a serious confrontation I would consider my experiment a success. As usual, very low expectations opened the possibility of actually coming away with a few images that were not total failures.

                                      A BAKER FROM THE STREET, COMPLETE WITH REFLECTIONS.

My new Fuji camera was half the size and weight of my old camera. While certainly not stealth, it promised a more unobtrusive footprint on the street. It allows me to shoot in both Raw and JPEG, which enables me to “see” in black and white while holding the camera, knowing that I am also capturing all of the color information so that I can convert back to color later. So I ventured out on the street and into Washington Square Park to New York’s denizens in their native environment.

                                                                  SHE DID CATCH ME BUT SHE DIDN'T SEEM TO MIND. OR MAYBE HER SCORN IS HIDDEN BY MY LOUSY FOCUS.

I learned a few things during my first hour as a street photographer. One was that I was not at all ready to actually photograph people if they were aware of my presence. I realized that while I was not interested in actually spying on people, it felt most comfortable to photograph a scene in totality before I shot one last image of a person alone. That way I became part of the environment and could be ignored by most of my subjects. Of course it helped if these subjects were in their own little world, unaware of what was going on around them, including me. Since this was New York, I was far from the only guy walking around with a real camera, so that also helped me fade into the environment.

                                                                  HUMAN WITH PHONE. I HAVE ANOTHER DOZEN OF THESE.

I soon realized that a Tuesday afternoon did not provide enough activity to really take advantage of finding subjects in the park. I was not ready to take photos of the chess hustlers, especially since they had no takers - there was not much need to take images of hustlers waiting around with nothing to do. Ditto for the jazz musicians, who seemed to think that they deserved donations for photographs. Thus I just started walking around, seeing what I could make of a quiet day in the park.

                                                                  HUMAN WITH BOOK. OLD SCHOOL!

The disconcerting thing that I discovered was that almost everyone was on their stupid phones. I could have taken dozens and dozens of people of all ages and races, all glued to their phones. It was refreshing to actually come upon the rare person that was actually reading a book - they instantly achieved status as a NYU student. Even someone just zoning out and starring off into space provided a little more interest.

                                       HUMAN ZONING OUT.

After reviewing my results I found that I need to get a lot quicker in both my framing and my mastery of quickly focusing on the subject at hand. I was so off of the “decisive moment” that I could only hope for another moment while I fumbled my way to an image. Upon inspection, most of my images were not sharp enough to survive observation at full size. Thank God for the limitations of the web. While it was frustrating, I did have fun. I also realized that street photography is even more of a solitary pursuit than my usual walks around the city looking at the built environment. I don’t see how anyone could do this with someone else either whether they were also shooting or just tagging along.

                                                                  SHADOW PLAY IN THE PARK

                                                                  SHADOW PLAY A FEW STORIES UP

I also realized that I could also occasionally take some more standard “Rich” images even while I pursued my street goals. Just because I was out to shoot people didn’t mean I couldn’t notice my usual shadow play in the park or on the street. Having a mission doesn’t mean you have to avoid any distractions that might catch your attention.

                                                                  PUTTING THE STREET INTO STREET PHOTOGRAPHY. THIS LITTLE SHORT STORY ACTUALLY REQUIRED A CINEMATOGRAPHER. THE TWO UNSEEN TRUCK DRIVERS IGNORED THE REALITY OF NEGOTIATING THIS TURN WITHOUT HITTING ONE OR BOTH OF THE PARKED CARS FOR A GOOD TEN MINUTES WHILE ALSO BLOCKING THE CROSS STREET. TRY TO IMAGINE THE CURSING AND HORN BLOWING. IF SCORSESE HAD BEEN AROUND, SOMEONE WOULD HAVE MET THEIR DEMISE.

                                                                  OBLIVIOUS. A QUICK SHOT MADE POSSIBLE BY MY SUBJECT'S DETACHMENT FROM THE WORLD. POST-PROCESSING ALLOWED ME TO FURTHER ISOLATE HIM THROUGH CROPPING AND LIGHTENING THE SUBJECT AND DARKENING EVERYTHING ELSE. HE DOESN'T KNOW AND HOPEFULLY YOU DON'T EITHER. I'M JUST TRYING TO TELL A STORY HERE PEOPLE, NOT WORKING FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES.

So I am satisfied by my results even while I realize that this was even harder than I thought. I hope you like some of these images straight from New York. And rest assured that even though I hope that none of these images are over-processed, there is no way that those Fuji “straight-out-of-camera” JPEGS even come close. Extraneous limbs on the edges of your frame do not make for great photos. If you saw most of my spontaneous horizon lines you would think that I didn’t do half-bad while I was drunk. I still do not understand people who think that taking stock of your results on the computer is somehow cheating, or just takes too much time. I spent much more time on the street than at the computer for most of these images.