people

on the street

i like night the best for taking photographs on the street. something happens, the work day is over, people are more open. they let you, to varying degrees, see a little inside of their lives, intentionally or not. it never stops surprising me who is willing to be photographed and who is not.

that elusive street life

i took this first picture a couple of years ago out in brighton, just a couple of girls waiting for the bus one night after having come off the elevated subway. it kind of almost captured one of those elusive street moments i'm always trying to get in a photograph, but the camera is too far away. they weren't that psyched about me photographing them, so i couldn't get any closer without pissing them off. since then i have had the idea to take "real-looking" models out on the street and recreate this kind of moment, so as not to have to rely on luck so much to be in the right place at the right time, and perhaps to perfect the camera angle and lighting a bit.

the second photo is a recreation, using a lovely model named yesenia, who was is a former miss dominican republic! i used a 5D to take this one as well as the original.

the third is another restaging, at the original location, using a leica M3 and some kodak 800 asa negative. i like that the camera is closer to her, but i'm not sure about the overall effect, if i've captured that note of random humanity... gotta keep working on this one i think.

staged street photos

these are some of my attempts at recreating the feel of some of the scenes i have observed on the streets of new york since i was in my teens. i find this to be most challenging work, it's so easy to be either too subtle or too heavy-handed... the vibe of the street is very elusive. props to the models who have been able to capture it for me.

nicole

nicole is a special model, she is one of the most interesting i've worked with. she is at the same time bold and reluctant, which i find endlessly fascinating. her ink is some of the most unique i've seen, slightly bizarre but stopping short of disturbing, and in seeming opposition to her midwestern plain-speaking nature. but in reality she is not a paradox, all of her facets blends nicely into a beautiful human creature. we have been like old friends since almost the moment we met, and i feel lucky to have found her.