the color of street photography - albeit 120 floors up

Holding on for life and/or love • click to embiggenIt must be obvious to most (from my last few entries) that I spent a little time in NYC this past weekend. The wife had to see a client in Hoboken, NJ on Friday so we packed up, grabbed the little guy (he loves to visit his girlfriend, Sophie, in Brooklyn) and headed out for a stay in the East Village with my best friend.

The visit had a kind of whirlwind character to it and I didn't really picture all that much but for some reason, during my last few trips to NYC, I have started to become interested in picturing "the streets", AKA, street photography. It's a somewhat sub-conscious thing in as much as I just seem to be seeing things to which I haven't paid much attention in the past.

What's interesting about the whole thing is the fact that, when I was finished processing a few of the pictures in color, they just didn't look "right". They seemed to be screaming, "BW. BW! BW!!!!"

At first, my thought was that I was just having a Pavlovian all street photography must be BW response. Nevertheless, I converted this picture to BW and, lo and behold, it just looked "right". Or, so it seems to me.

I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Update on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 11:39AM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: Jim Jirka wrote: ".... As for the b&W conversion, does this fall under "the color image is crap, so I will make a masterpiece with it in B&W". I believe you once said that B&W is a thought process, a mode of picturing with B&W in mind during the creation process, not as an after treatment to save a color image gone bad."

my response: no, I wasn't trying "to save a color image gone bad". I like the color picture. I like the BW picture as well. That said, I seem to "connect" better with the BW but I don't know if this is because I have been conditioned to seeing street photography as BW pictures or because there is a quality to the BW picture that helps me to "read" it differently / better.

here's Johnny

An inimitable cohort with the real • click to embiggenWe all know that photography has a special relationship with the real and, at times, is fully capable of capturing the truth of things.

The medium and its tools are uniquely equipped to capture those instantaneous and fleeting moments in time when life gives us ever so brief glimpses into the nature of things that otherwise, in the course of daily life, might elude us.

The camera, in the hands of an ever-vigilant photographer, can cut through the misty fog of human emotion to reveal, with stunning clarity, that which lies beneath the surface of things - truths that many choose to avoid or ignore.

That is the power of the medium.

And, it is also a great tool for capturing precious family memories that can be cherished for ever and ever and ever and ever in very large mural-sized prints ..... on a wall .... in the living room .... under track lighting .....

ode to Eggleston

Call me Oblio • click to embiggenLate Sunday AM, Hugo rolled into the kitchen with a wizard hat saying, "Pretend I'm the kid in The Point movie - Oblio."

So, of course, we called him Oblio for a while but I was immediately struck by an overwhelming desire to picture Oblio on his roll-y thing in the manner of Eggleston's tricycle picture. Now, if I can only sell the picture for something near the $250,000 Eggleston's photograph brought at auction in 2004.

well earned patina

Just like old times • click to embiggenI have a friend in north Jersey, Mel DiGiacomo, who is an extraordinary photographer.

In his heyday, he worked for Newsweek and was Sports Illustrated's #1 go-to guy on the pro tennis circuit. Until a few years ago, every time I saw Mel he had 2 beat up Leicas hanging from his neck. As a matter of fact, I have never seen Mel without a camera - at the dinner table, driving his car, at social gatherings, sitting with friends - name the time and place, Mel has a camera and is making pictures.

And get this, I have never seen him with a camera to his eye - all his picturing is done with the camera at arm's length, pointed in the general direction of his subject.

His "thing", you might even call it his obsession, is wide angle BW people in their environment. For all in intents and purposes, he does decisive moment street photography. In an interview in Rangefinder magazine, a photographer was quoted as saying, "My first true mentor was a crazy Sicilian named Mellshior Digacamo. He had the ability to capture the magic of a moment in almost any situation, and I began to see what it was to be creative." - a statement that pretty accurately sums it up.

A few years back, Mel made the switch to digital. While his picturing continues as before - Mel can make BW prints that have the look and feel of his former analog stuff - he has yet to come to grips with the digital darkroom. More accurately, he has yet to reach a peace with it. Every time he sits in front of a computer, he truly looks and acts dazed and confused. It's not difficult to see that Mel just doesn't feel at home.

Last week on my way to PA, Mel and I got together at my inlaws in north Jersey. As usual, he had his camera in tow as well as his laptop. For the first time, I noticed that Mel's digital stuff is as bunged up as his trusty Leicas - scrapes, gouges, tape, scribbles, and some general all-around crud was the order of the day - and it dawned on me that Mel was "making himself at home" in the digital age.

It was one of those mini-epiphanies when you see something familiar in a new way - jamais vu. Even though I see spanking new looking digital gear all the time, I never really thought about the passing of a photographic tradition - the era of the "brassed" and bunged camera, which at one time, was the mark of a hard working pro. A beat up Leica or Nikon was a patina-ed badge of hard-working honor.

In most cases, just like many of the photographers who carried them, the cameras acquired a time-worn character that spoke of interesting pictures, times, and lives. In the case of Mel Digacamo, he wears the badge with distinction.

guess who

Taghkanic Diner and featured person • click to embiggenA couple years ago I made a tv commercial as part of a complete campaign - magazine / newspaper ads, a lavish brochure, etc. - for the NY State Scenic Byways program. It featured the person shown here leaning on the old mustang.

The featured person commanded a high 6-figure fee for the assignment - a 30 second commercial (1 day of shooting) and 1/2 day of still photography. His fee consumed the lion's share of the $1,000,000 budget for the project. The client figured he was worth the $$$$ because of his instantly recognizable voice - he just might have the most familiar voice in North America.

The featured person is the voice of a single national corporation. At first, that company saturated the radio airwaves with his voice. When they started producing tv commercials, they decided to use only his voice, not his face. They did this because research determined that his voice alone launched a million different mental-image ships. Upon hearing his voice, people tended to create a mental picture of him that most resembled themselves, or, if not themselves, an image of a person they would most like to share time with. It was the voice of a friendly chameleon. What more could an advertiser want?

In any event, I had my own mental picture of the guy and when I went to pick him up at the airport, that mental-picture guy was nowhere to be seen. Fortunately, it was a small airport, very late at night and I was only person awaiting the arrival of another person so he picked up on me. He came over, asked my name with that voice and we were off.

What I find interesting, is the fact that, when I show pictures of him to people who know his voice, his actual appearance is rarely ever close to the picture of him that people have in their head.

I mention all this because somehow I think that there's a lesson in there for photographers when it comes to the notion of meaning and/or the connoted in pictures - that, irregardless of the intent of the photographer to put their meaning(s) into a picture, the observer will always layer their own meaning(s) into it. In some cases, perhaps many cases, their own meaning(s) will be the only meaning(s) they garner from a picture and that meaning(s) will be no where near the neighborhood of the photographer's intended meaning(s).

IMO, this is a good thing and one of the hallmarks of good Art - Art that is rich with emotional texture, ambiguity and intrigue.

And, BTW, "I'm __________ (featured guy), and we'll leave the light on for you".

Update on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 12:51PM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comments:

Steve Lawler wrote: "... Funny: he looks pretty much exactly like I imagined.~ 700k? What an ego."

my response: Actually, Tom had very little ego (in the negative sense). He asked for no special treatment - no limos, no special accommodations (we did stay in a very nice country B&B - a converted barn), no 'perks' of any kind. I spent 3 days with him - breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and, of course, working with him. He was a well-versed and interesting / engaging conversationalist and he worked with absolutely no attitude, ego, or affectations - a professional through and through.

Re: 700K - you can't begrudge a guy for knowing (and getting) his worth in the marketplace. Would it bother you to know that, in addition to the 700K, he also got all expenses?

Non-north american Mike Odonoghue asked: "who's Tom Bodett?" - By profession, he's an author, primarily of children's books with a career minor in ocassional public radio bits. However, he's made his millions (literally) as the long-time advertising spokesperson for a national chain of motels. His trademark phrase, with which he ends all ads and for which he is well known is - "I'm Tom Bodett and we'll leave the light on for you."

nfscd # 6 ~ a pictured woman

A look both ways • click to embiggenWhat makes a great portrait? That's a question posed by Miguel Garcia-Guzman on his blog, [EV +/-] Exposure Compensation.

It's a good question and the answers from a number of great photographers, editors, curators and bloggers are also good answers. It's well worth your time to check it out.

And, while you're at it, what do you think makes a great portrait? Do you have one to share?

FYI, re: today's picture - Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine ... Now, just replace 'gin joints' with 'photo studios' and you'll get the point.

scary weird

basking in the 'glow" • click to embiggenThis Saturday evening entry may seem like a 'proud grampa' boast, but it's not really intended to be so. Rather, I am curious to know if my grandson Hugo - he's 42 months old - is a bit of an anomaly or if he's just plain average in this day and age.

Hugo stays at out house every other weekend - we love the time spent with him and mom & dad love the 'time off'. Hugo loves it here so much that mom & dad don't tell him it's a Papa weekend until I'm on my way to pick him up because, if he knows too much in advance, he stands at the front window for hours looking for Papa. So, it seems everyone is happy with the arrangement.

That said, this picture was taken this AM. In his young life, Hugo has access to 4 computers - 2 at his house, 2 at ours. He started sitting at the computer (at his house) to watch movie trailers about 2 years ago. At that time he mastered the return key which functioned as the 'play again' button. He also learned the volume keys as well.

His primary use of the computer now is watching videos on YouTube - mostly power rangers, transformers, and spiderman. After he turns the computer on, he knows how to start Safari and go to YouTube on the 'favorites' bar. Because we have entered 'power rangers' in 'search' on YouTube previously, he has mastered typing a 'p' in the search window and hitting the return key after the phrase appears in the window, which takes him to a list of videos.

He also uses this 'p' search technique when he gets, as he puts it, 'lost' on some video tangent.

He knows how to click and drag or use the up/down scroll keys to peruse the various offering and select the ones he wants. He uses the 'back' arrow in the browser window to backtrack, the volume keys, the pause key (to stop a video, come find me to show me something "really cool"), click and drag the progress slider to go back to see a segment again, amongst many other basic computer skills.

About 8 months ago he started in on video games - not kid's games, no, not for him ... it was Grand Theft Auto and some kind of Ninja fighting game. Now he's up to Hulk, War of the Monsters, Power Rangers and a few others. Some how he has learned how to navigate through many levels of set-up options to set the games up exactly how he wants them. Add to that his uncanny both-handed dexterity on the control thingy - all the buttons and levers - and he can occupy himself for hours.

As I am typing this entry, he is downstairs entertaining 3 college freshmen and 1 high school senior with his video game prowess. (Aside: Normally seizure girl (home on Spring Break) and her friends would be out and about on a Saturday night but the roads are so totally iced over that driving a car is more playing a demolition derby video game than we would like.) They are amazed.

Hugo's a very smart kid but I am assuming that there are others out there like him, computer / video game wise. But I am also assuming that there are a lot who aren't.

Now, my question is this - I am I witnessing the start of the new haves / have nots world. A world of kids with early-age unfettered access to computer technology vs. those kids who do not have that same access?

His early-age skills seem very weird to me. The idea of a new age of haves / have nots scares me.

PS lest anyone think otherwise, Hugo is not just a 'pinball wizard' - we went downhill skiing today as well.

Cop with pumpkin

In hot pursuit • click to embiggenIt's D-Day, or, more accurately, it's Aaron's big day. His NYC gallery opening is tonight (on Thursday night - I'm posting this late Wednesday).

In the AM, the wife, Hugo (aka, the cop), his mom and I are off to NYC to meet up with Aaron who has been in the city since Monday tending to business. Lots of other family are coming in - the Jersey crowd, my Ex, and my other son Jason (who was scheduled to have a show in Seattle, that is, until his computer with all his image files was stolen last week - no backup).

Should be fun and interesting to say the least. I'll have my laptop so I'll keep you posted.