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Don’t bother me: I’m thinking deep thoughts. It looks even more impressive when you hold a cellphone while you think…
Don’t bother me: I’m thinking deep thoughts. It looks even more impressive when you hold a cellphone while you think…
Image by Ed Yourdon
This guy was sitting at an outdoor cafe called ‘Arte Around the Corner" at 73rd Street and Columbus Ave in Manhattan.
Note: this photo was used to help illustrate a June 2009 Boorah blog titled "Amsterdam Cafe, New York – 79%."
Moving into 2012, the photo was published in an undated (early Jan 2012) blog titled "Amsterdam Cafe, New York."
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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.
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Weird hair!
Indeed — that’s exactly why I took this shot!
it looks as if his hair is "naturally" pink. (of course, only if that were possible)
ummm,ed…your a creeper
I think your photography would be better served investing in a portrait lens and actually interacting with the people you want to photograph. I know it’s legal to photograph anyone in public, but really??
Well, I appreciate the advice and I respect your opinion. But everyone has their own style of photography, and this seems to be the one I’m comfortable with…
I agree that it does seem a bit unusual, but it isn’t a drastic sin. I know a lot of people wouldn’t appreciate being photographed candidly (frankly, i wish someone WOULD shoot me without my knowing it), and in that way, i guess it isn’t the kindness thing to do. But i can see the appeal of it
True, it is it’s own style. There is an electricity and intimacy to NYC people shots you can only get one way though. You can get such voyeuristic shots as well, one of the masters is Bill Cunningham, who must be in his 70s, and there is a fantastic Times documentary on him. Just watch him work, the master of NY street shots!
Yes, I’m quite familiar with Bill Cunningham, and have seen a wonderful movie/video documentary on his work — as well as the images that show up in the New York Times almost every week.
Interestingly, Cunningham is very well known and very recognizable; among other things, he often stations himself at the same spot day after day (e.g., Madison and 57th Street). So many subjects (victims) recognize him — and while a few of them object to being photographed, many are quite anxious to get their picture taken because of the publicity it provides.
In my case, I try to avoid taking photos that I think will be considered embarrassing, insulting, humiliating, etc. And I very much respect the common reaction (at least here in NYC) on the part of parents and teachers, who typically do not want their children photographed…
Once or twice a year, someone spots me taking their photo, or notices a photo that I’ve published or uploaded to Flickr, and asks that I remove/delete the photo. If I were photographing politicians or movie stars, I might behave differently; but if ordinary people don’t want their picture publicized, I respect their wishes and remove them…
The whole children thing. It is a shame that there are so many crazies and weirdos out there. Because kids do a lot of cute things, and it would be fun to photograph them. Candid shots of my nephew and niece just being kids are still a pleasure for me to go back and watch. But i fully understand why people do not want children photographed by random strangers. Indeed, sometimes i get wackos looking at my paid pics of kids and have to block and report them
Yeah, it has become a complex world out there … I think you just have to follow your instincts and do the best you can…
I am in no way defending Ed here, but i do want to ask you Albaby to express your views without dirty language. Not everyone appreciates that kind of talk
Haha … Ed, I’m the guy in the photo, and Jeremy is my cousin. I didn’t realize that he’d posted to the board, but the truth is that I discovered this photo a year ago and I’ve been meaning to bust your balls a little. The fact that I’m now on WikiHow’s site for How to Break Up in 7 Steps makes for a fun story, and I’d rather not have the picture taken down … but I have to say that the sarcastic commentary in the tagline is a bit of a cheap shot.
Again, I don’t want you to change anything about either of the pictures you’ve taken of me, but I want you to know that when I tell people the story of discovering my picture on the Internet, a part of the telling deals with the dickish behavior of the photographer; it adds some spice to the tale. I hope we can consider that fair payment for the picture.
Also, I’d love to get the original files in some way, if I can.
Cheers!
-Ari
Ari,
Thanks for your note, and for the details (including the fact that the earlier criticism had come from your cousin!).
I apologize if the tagline/caption seemed like a cheap shot; it was meant to be humorous in a slightly sarcastic manner, but I do sometimes go a little bit overboard with my humor. And honesty compels me to admit that I discovered that *I* had been photographed in a similar fashion, with a similar tagline, I would probably be somewhat annoyed. (OTOH, I was criticized in a much more bombastic fashion several years ago for the remarks and predictions I was making about the Y2K computer problem, but that’s another story).
In any case, whatever comments you make to people about the nature of the photograph and the "dickish behavior" of the photographer is indeed fair payment; let me know if you change your mind and want me to edit the tagline or remove the photo etc.
As for the "original files": I’ve uploaded the full-resolution JPEG version of this photo (and every other photo that I upload to Flickr) to this URL, and you’re more than welcome to download it. On my own computer, I’ve got the uncompressed Nikon RAW version of the photo; if you would like me to send that to you (which only makes sense if you’ve got an appropriate photo-editing program), let me know.
Cheers,
Ed
Ed, thanks for this; I didn’t realize that I could DL the original JPEG (I don’t usually use Flickr). I think that’ll be enough for my needs.
Interestingly, the Wikihow site seems to have gone down in the last couple days. Is that just a coincidence? I rather liked telling the story of finding the picture, but I guess I already got my mileage out of that one.
Regards,
-Ari
Ari,
Sorry, I don’t access the WikiHow site very often, so I have no idea if it’s a rare occurrence, a regular occurrence, or some kind of coincidence. But I suspect it will be back up again at some point…
Ed