
Street photography is such a unique form of art because the images play off each other so well. They can be powerful alone, but sometimes the collection can be more important than the individual images themselves. It's like a recipe, where the different ingredients enhance one another and it's why the book and street photography have such a powerful connection.
The problem is that it's extremely difficult to group the images, to figure out the themes, and to foster them over time. I struggle with it and I have a lot of fun with it, so I thought it would be a good idea to put up a large 36x48 inch cork board on my office wall where I can mix and match and play around with images over time.
It came out MUCH better than I expected and it will evolve over time. I wish you could see it in real life on the exhibition fiber paper. I'm going to put up two small cork boards next to this and put painting lights above them all to illuminate.

1/90th at F1.4, ISO 400 (50mm).
This one's from the archives from 2003. I've always loved this image but could never think of a title that didn't detract from it.

1/500th at F9, ISO 800 (28mm).
Can't think of much to say about this one, except how truly awesome these guys are.

1/500th at F8, ISO 800 (28mm).
Continuing with the theme from yesterday. I like the play here where the shopper almost looks like the mannequin and the model on the bag looks real.

1/250th at F5, ISO 1600 (28mm).
Reminder: today is the last day of the Holiday Print Offer.
I'm spending most of the day printing today. There are few things in this line of work more enjoyable than printing. There's something so final about it; it's the last step in a long process. And you get to blast music while you do it, so there's that too. I generally don't listen to music when I work because of my ADD. Music makes it a lot worse.
I think I'm going to be focusing a good amount on shoppers this month, since that is what Manhattan is all about in the month of December. This capture was taken outside of the Vince Camuto store in Soho. The man is part of a doorway video that they play on repeat of a man getting undressed with his Camuto accessories on (watch, necklace, belt, etc.). It was hypnotic and there were a couple shots (especially where he's taking off his pants where you could see the hairline down to his junk) that were slightly inappropriate for a street corner. Not that I'm a prude or anything, but for a store that is all about 'high-end' taste, it was so utterly lacking in any semblance of real taste. It was the equivalent of the naked models that stand outside of the Hollister store. But hey, I guess it works.
Anyway, there is about a 5 second duration in this 7 minute video where the model's eye looks back at the passersby. It was the highpoint of the hypnotism and I wanted some interaction between the model and a person. You can imagine how long it took waiting in the cold to get this. Probably an hour, but I'm extremely happy with the result. The pose of the shopper is minion-esque.

1/500th at F11, ISO 800 (28mm).
It never ceases to amaze me the interesting people that you see here on a daily basis.

1/200th at F7.1, ISO 1600 (28mm).
It's pretty unreal what goes into creating a building of this size. Sara's an urban planner, and from what I've seen, the hardest aspect of creating a building like this is the initial planning. For some of the massive buildings, it can take 5-10 years, just for that.