snapshots and observations

Tuesday 4 May 2010

new york ( disappointing ) stories




i had an exhibition of travel photography a couple of years ago.
two of the prints which sold best were both taken in new york.
i think one of them is without doubt, my favourite ever photograph.
( what i mean is, my favourite photo that i have taken )

here it is...


it's used as one of my business cards and is also the home page of my website

i wish i had an interesting story about it, or that i could tell you about all the hard
work and preparation that went into taking the shot but...

i was in a yellow cab with a couple of colleagues the day after i did the new york
marathon... well, what i mean is, the day after i photographed the new york marathon.
i love yellow cabs and i'm always photographing them ( i'll put up a yellow cab post
tomorrow to prove it ) anyway, as we were driving along, another yellow cab drove 
alongside us. i wound the window down and took 3 shots of it with my
leica minilux. one frame totally out of focus, one frame pretty average and this
was the final frame of the roll of film that i had in the camera !

it's pretty much the full frame. maybe i'm biased because i like yellow cabs
but i love this pic. the colour, the stencilling and of course the reflections in the window.
especially the 'i love lucy' part.


the other photo from new york i don't like anywhere near as much, but it is the
print which i sold the most of. my friend andy hooper who is a noted
sports photographer thinks this is a great photo too. perhaps it's because
i don't have a story about it. i think it's just a snapshot, not something
i tried for ages to get right ?

here it is...


once again it was taken with my trusty leica minilux using kodak
something or other negative film. ( yikes i've forgotten the names
of the films i used to use )

i was with my friend neil and we had just had breakfast at a diner
and were walking back to our hotel. he told me he had to make a 
quick call from a phonebox and that he'd only be two minutes.
i just hung around near the phonebox and looked around.
i looked up at the empire state, probably photographed a few yellow 
cabs going by, then looked down at a puddle infront of me.
hmmm...
i took two frames and neil said "come on mate" and away we went.

i must admit that when i got the film processed and printed, i was
very pleased with this shot...

but it's not as good as the yellow cab shot now is it ?

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