single women # 21 / civilized ku # 2181-82 ~ picturing made easy

Single woman / indoor water park ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen
Green baby dinosaur ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen
Blue lockers ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggenThis past weekend it was cold and rainy, so, on Saturday afternoon, the wife and I took Hugo and his Au Sable Forks friend to a small indoor water park. While the kids were sliding and frolicking, I parked my butt in a poolside chair and made some pictures, all the while never leaving the chair. Picture making doesn't get much easier than that.

single women # 21 ~ gallery receptionist # 2

Robert Mann Gallery ~ NYC, NY • click to embiggen

single women # 20 (with variation) ~ caught in the act

Gallery receptionist ~ Chelsea / NYC, NY • click to embiggenGallery receptionist's hands ~ Chelsea / NYC, NY • click to embiggenOne of the challenges faced in the making of my single women pictures is the notion of stealth. That is to state, I do not want the target of my camera's gaze to be aware of my picturing intentions. In order for the pictures to work, voyeur / voyeurism wise, it is imperative that the woman being picture evinces no evidence of the fact they are being observed / pictured.

An easy solution to this imperative would be to make the pictures with a long-ish focal length lens. Something on the order of my 45mm (90mm, 35mm equiv.) lens. With its f1.8 max aperture, that lens would be well suited to most available light conditions (indoors or out) and it certainly would yield very flattering, almost portrait-like, results. Nice, but not what I'm looking for.

A long-ish focal length lens would not create the up-close-and-personal / intimate perspective I am seeking - a visual feeling of stepping into / violating (in a non-threatening manner) a person's "space". A feeling which would result - at least, that's my hope - in a concomitant sensation (on the part of the viewer of the pictures) of discomfort / ill-at-ease-ness. A feeling generated by the fear of being caught staring.

In any event, to date I have successfully made in the neighborhood of 20 single women pictures without being noticed. Or, if I were noticed, no recognition of that fact was ever demonstrated. I have never been acknowledged, confronted, slapped silly, or reported to any authorities by the objects of my camera/eye's affection. Either I'm good at the stealth thing - aided and abetted by the stealthy-ness of the diminutive / unobtrusive E-P1/2s - or my subjects have a high degree of tolerance / indifference to a creepy old man with a camera.

That is, until subject # 20. Well, not exactly ... I had already got the shot I wanted - FYI, I usually only get one click of the shutter - but was tempted to get another with a different POV to include more of the flower in the background. Unfortunately, as is made plain from the 'hands" picture, my cover was blown.

Fortunately, she was a very good sport. Upon dropping her hands, she had a big smile on her face. It was almost as if we had been playing a game and she had won the last move. I explained my single women series to her and she nodded thoughtfully - after all, she is a receptionist in a photo gallery.

She never made any mention of my first (successful) attempt and I suspect that's because she never noticed. However, if I have an exhibit of my single women work - and I believe I will - the invitation most definitely will feature the "hands" picture.

single women # 19 ~ bartender

Bartender ~ Old Montreal, CA • click to embiggen

single women # 18 ~ alone

hooded morning walker ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen I am slowly but surely expanding my single women body of work to include single women pictured small within the frame / environment I see them in.

single women # 17 ~ seeing double

Eating apple strudel ~ Oktoberfest / Bear Mt. Park - NOT in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenPrior to my acquisition of the E-P2 and when I was out and about with the E-P1, the most frequently asked question from strangers, camera wise, was, "Is that a film camera?" And it was a frequently asked question nearly every time I was stationary in/around a crowd or gathering of people. If I have heard the question once, I have heard it hundreds of times.

• click to embiggenNow that I have 2 visually identical cameras, albeit each with different lenses, the new frequently asked question (even from one of twins pictured above) is, "Why do you have two (identical) cameras?"

Interestingly enough, I never hear this question when I am out and about with my Oly E-5 and Pentax K20D hung on my body or, for that matter, the E-5 and the E-P1. My theory for this discrepancy is based on the fact that the behemoth DSLRs, complete with battery grips, scream "professional" which explains to most that no matter how many cameras I have in tow, it is immediately understandable*.

With the E-P1 and E-P2, people tend to think they are P&S cameras and therefore scream "amateur", which makes it un-understandable why I am carrying two of them. That said, I wonder if the former group of questioners (the "film camera?" group) will ever ask if the reason for two cameras is the bygone film-days obvious one - "Is one camera for color and the other for B&W?"

Back in the good ole days of analog picture making, many pictures makers, professional and amateur alike, carried two cameras for just that reason. Other reasons could have been: 1)one camera loaded with slow film (fine grain) and the other with fast film, 2)one with color transparency (slide) film, the other with color negative film, or, as in my case, 3)each camera with a different lens. Also, most pros and some amateurs had an "extra" identical cameras just in case one when down in the middle of a shoot.

In today's digital world, many of the analog day reasons for two (identical or not) cameras are no longer applicable. However, I have noticed that many digital shooters are going the DSLR + highend P&S route. My assumption for this is based on the notions of: 1)bulky to carry but bigger files from the DSLRs = potential for bigger prints, and 2)easy to carry and smaller files from the highend P&S camera = good enough for most print making needs.

All of that said, whether it be two cameras or one, I am curious - do any of you, when you are out and about, ever field questions from strangers regarding your camera(s)?

*While I was standing in a shuttle bus line at the New York State Fair, one observant person asked if the E-5 and K20D (with battery grips) were digital cameras. My response was, "Yes.", whereupon she asked, "Why do they have motor drives?"

civilized ku # 1139 ~ picturin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues (same as it ever was)

Bear Mt. picnic ~ Oktoberfest / Bear Mt. Park - NOT in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenWhile in Peekskill this past weekend, we all went over to Bear Mountain State Park to attend the ongoing Oktoberfest (every weekend in October). The day was gloriously warm and sunny so, unsurprisingly (close proximity to NYC and all), there was quite a crowd which resulted in traffic jams, overflowing parking lots, and long lines (with unbelievably slow service) for kielbasa and bratwurst. Fortunately, the beer lines were long but fast moving. They got that right, however, isn't that the point of an Oktoberfest?

Unlike in Bob Dylan's Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues, the only sign of a Bear Mountain Massacre on this day was that evidenced by the urine assault on the men's restroom floor - it was covered, wall to wall, with a fine sheen/layer of urine. Taking into account the quantity of beer consumed, I guess hitting a urinal with liquid flowing from a flexible instrument is a real challenge for some.

That said, I have linked to Dylan's performance of his Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues because, in the spirit of Occupy Wall Street, his lyrics are as topical today as they were back then* (same it ever was). The last verse is the kicker ...

Now, it don’t seem to me quite so funny
What some people are gonna do f’r money
There’s a bran’ new gimmick every day
Just t’ take somebody’s money away
I think we oughta take some o’ these people
And put ’em on a boat, send ’em up to Bear Mountain ...
For a picnic

*Dylan's song is based upon an actual event - a 1961 Father's Day boat cruise up the Hudson River to Bear Mountain gone awry due to counterfeit tickets and overcrowding - A Harlem social club had chartered the Hudson Belle, for a Father's Day cruise up the Hudson to Bear Mountain. As the picnickers were crowding the pier... rumors (later confirmed) spread that about a thousand counterfeit tickets had been sold around town and that those families with fake tickets would not be permitted aboard. The boat docked a couple of hours late and there was a mad scramble to get aboard and a good deal of panic and fighting on all three decks. The cruise was called off and about a dozen people were taken to a hospital for treatment of their injuries.

FYI John Linn, et al) - unlike yesterday's ku 1106-09 entry's pictures, this entry's picture was made with a 3 exposure (ISO bracketing) blend.

single woman # 14 ~ lunch and a phone

Woman with phone at lunch ~ Saratoga Springs, NY • click to embiggen