Sweet red peppers
Sweet red peppers

Image by Ed Yourdon
These peppers were visible in a fruit/vegetable stand on the southwest corner of Broadway and 77th Street — just past Fairway. Most of the fruits and vegetables were in the shadows, under a canopy, but there were a few things that caught the full rays of the mid-day sun…
Note: this photo was published in a March 2009 Foodista blog entitled "Food: Sweet Red Peppers." It was also published in a Jun 17, 2010 blog titled "El poder de las vitaminas."
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This is part of an evolving photo-project, which will probably continue throughout the summer of 2008, and perhaps beyond: a random collection of "interesting" people in a broad stretch of the Upper West Side of Manhattan — between 72nd Street and 104th Street, especially along Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue.
I don’t like to intrude on people’s privacy, so I normally use a telephoto lens in order to photograph them while they’re still 50-100 feet away from me; but that means I have to continue focusing my attention on the people and activities half a block away, rather than on what’s right in front of me.
I’ve also learned that, in many cases, the opportunities for an interesting picture are very fleeting — literally a matter of a couple of seconds, before the person(s) in question move on, turn away, or stop doing whatever was interesting. So I’ve learned to keep the camera switched on (which contradicts my traditional urge to conserve battery power), and not worry so much about zooming in for a perfectly-framed picture … after all, once the digital image is uploaded to my computer, it’s pretty trivial to crop out the parts unrelated to the main subject.
For the most part, I’ve deliberately avoided photographing bums, drunks, drunks, and crazy people. There are a few of them around, and they would certainly create some dramatic pictures; but they generally don’t want to be photographed, and I don’t want to feel like I’m taking advantage of them. I’m still looking for opportunities to take some "sympathetic" pictures of such people, which might inspire others to reach out and help them. We’ll see how it goes …
The only other thing I’ve noticed, thus far, is that while there are lots of interesting people to photograph, there are far, far, *far* more people who are *not* so interesting. They’re probably fine people, and they might even be more interesting than the ones I’ve photographed … but there was just nothing memorable about them.
The sexiest bicycle man in town. Seriously.

Image by Ed Yourdon
I saw this guy waiting at the northwest corner of Amsterdam & 84th Street; when the traffic light changed, he pulled out into the street, paused for a moment to make sure he wasn’t about to be run down by some maniac taxi driver, and then peddled off. I have never seen such tight, bright spandex pants before…
Click here to see an alternative view of this guy, surrounded by the ordinary traffic that cruises up Amsterdam Avenue…
Note: this photo was published in a Nov 18, 2009 Hungarian blog titled "A BICIKLIS RÉM."
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This is the continuation of a photo-project that I began in the summer of 2008: a random collection of "interesting" people in a broad stretch of the Upper West Side of Manhattan — between 72nd Street and 104th Street, especially along Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue.
As I indicated when I started this project in 2008, I don’t like to intrude on people’s privacy, so I normally use a telephoto lens in order to photograph them while they’re still 50-100 feet away from me; but that means I have to continue focusing my attention on the people and activities half a block away, rather than on what’s right in front of me.
I’ve also learned that, in many cases, the opportunities for an interesting picture are very fleeting — literally a matter of a couple of seconds, before the person(s) in question move on, turn away, or stop doing whatever was interesting. So I’ve learned to keep the camera switched on (which contradicts my traditional urge to conserve battery power), and not worry so much about zooming in for a perfectly-framed picture … after all, once the digital image is uploaded to my computer, it’s pretty trivial to crop out the parts unrelated to the main subject.
Thus far, I’ve generally avoided photographing bums, drunks, crazies, and homeless people. There are a few of them around, and they would certainly create some dramatic pictures; but they generally don’t want to be photographed, and I don’t want to feel like I’m taking advantage of them. I’m still looking for opportunities to take some "sympathetic" pictures of such people, which might inspire others to reach out and help them. We’ll see how it goes …
The only other thing I’ve noticed, thus far, is that while there are lots of interesting people to photograph, there are far, far, far more people who are not so interesting. They’re probably fine people, and they might even be more interesting than the ones I’ve photographed … but there was just nothing memorable about them.
Who are all these guys?

Image by Ed Yourdon
Note: This photo was published in a Mar 24, 2010 MatadorLife blog titled "Photo Essay: People Watching in Verdi Square, New York City." It was also published in a May 9, 2011 MBAtiger-dot-com blog titled "????? ???????? ?????? ?????."
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This woman was sitting alone on one of the stone benches in Verdi Square; at first, I thought the white graphic image on her t-shirt was part of a newspaper she was reading. But it obviously wasn’t; and I think it was actually some kind of magazine that she was reading…
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This is part of an evolving photo-project, which will probably continue throughout the summer of 2008, and perhaps beyond: a random collection of "interesting" people in a broad stretch of the Upper West Side of Manhattan — between 72nd Street and 104th Street, especially along Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue.
I don’t like to intrude on people’s privacy, so I normally use a telephoto lens in order to photograph them while they’re still 50-100 feet away from me; but that means I have to continue focusing my attention on the people and activities half a block away, rather than on what’s right in front of me.
I’ve also learned that, in many cases, the opportunities for an interesting picture are very fleeting — literally a matter of a couple of seconds, before the person(s) in question move on, turn away, or stop doing whatever was interesting. So I’ve learned to keep the camera switched on (which contradicts my traditional urge to conserve battery power), and not worry so much about zooming in for a perfectly-framed picture … after all, once the digital image is uploaded to my computer, it’s pretty trivial to crop out the parts unrelated to the main subject.
For the most part, I’ve deliberately avoided photographing bums, drunks, drunks, and crazy people. There are a few of them around, and they would certainly create some dramatic pictures; but they generally don’t want to be photographed, and I don’t want to feel like I’m taking advantage of them. I’m still looking for opportunities to take some "sympathetic" pictures of such people, which might inspire others to reach out and help them. We’ll see how it goes …
The only other thing I’ve noticed, thus far, is that while there are lots of interesting people to photograph, there are far, far, far more people who are not so interesting. They’re probably fine people, and they might even be more interesting than the ones I’ve photographed … but there was just nothing memorable about them.
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David Hockney would have photographed each pepper and pasted them into one composition.
Yeah, that’s probably what he would have done. And that’s why he’s a famous artist, and I’m just an amateur …
Colourful; but maybe some traffic in the shot would have spiced it up a bit???
XpatScot,
Thanks for the suggestion; it had not occurred to me that the viewer would not have seen all of the alternatives that I had considered and rejected, and might be frustrated by the "sterile" (traffic-free) nature of this scene.
Indeed, I had taken about half a dozen different shots of this guy, some of which did include the surrounding traffic. I’ve added a note near the beginning of my annotation for this photo, which includes a link to an alternative, traffic-filled photo; I’ll let you and other viewers decide which one you think is best. (This also reminds me of advice I’ve gotten from a few photo-instructors: perhaps I should also have considered a black-and-white alternative to this shot, to ensure that I wasn’t allowing myself to be distracted by the gaudy color of the bicyclist’s uniform.)
I find it interesting that you call him sexy. I live in Auburn, AL, USA, home of Auburn University whose colors are orange and blue. http://www.auburn.edu
Granted we are not a big city, but we have lots of cyclists. And, many of them often sport the orange and blue spandex. Some of them, I am sure, might like it when you called them sexy.
Nice shot.
aafromaa,
Hmmm … interesting. Well, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen anyone in NYC with such tight, bright orange-and-blue spandex tights on a bike. Maybe he’s from Auburn …
Hi, I’m an admin for a group called SPANDEX, and we’d love to have this added to the group!
His outfit says "euro cycler". European men tend to be more "flamboyant" I noticed.