Fifty Favorites, Number Thirty-Six

18 March '12 -- Now this is really street photography. It's actually a self-portrait. I used the headlights of the taxi and the street itself to create the shadow.

Fifty Favorites, Number Thirty-Five

29 February '12 -- This is what I call an "islands in the stream" shot. Using the zoom lens I shoot from a distance at a group of people walking along, usually towards me.  Often the result is an image that is intriguing, perhaps even revealing, of people captured in time as a group, yet in worlds of their own.

Fifty Favorites, Number Thirty-Four

4 October '11 -- The "hail" is a unique form of communication found in only a few large cities in the world.  It means that an oncoming, passenger-less taxi (indicated by its illuminated roof light) has been spotted and is wanted.  Of all the shots I've taken of people hailing cabs, this is my favorite.  Her New York swagger is on display not only from the way she is dressed but by the nonchalance of raising her arm in the middle of an avenue with vehicles approaching. Quintessential New York City.

Fifty Favorites, Number Thirty-Three

6 June '11 -- When I take a shot of a person whom I find intriguing and who is not engaged in some sort of activity, I call it a "portrait". This elderly woman was standing on the sidewalk at 43rd Street and 9th Avenue in Manhattan. Click on the image to better see the details. 

Fifty Favorites, Number Thirty-Two

13 May '11 -- "Transportation options" is another of my favorite types of shots. This one is really unique because it's one of a kind.  This thing is sort of a tricycle, or pedicab, clearly designed to carry a child. I've never seen another, before or since this shot was taken.  I love the expression on the kid's face.

Fifty Favorites, Number Thirty-One

8 January '11 -- I was driving without a passenger in the cab on a side street in the Upper East Side when I noticed in my peripheral vision these two girls sitting behind a translucent window in a restaurant. The basic skill in street photography is simply the ability to recognize a shot when it shows up.  What you're supposed to do is immediately pull out your camera and shoot.  However, in this instance I was in moving traffic on a narrow street with cars right behind me, so I couldn't stop nor could I pull over.  So what I did was I flipped on my "off-duty" light and drove around the block, hoping they'd still be there.  They were, and I got the shot.

Fifty Favorites, Number Thirty

8 December '10 -- I've taken many pictures of destitute people.  For one thing, they are often sitting still, so it's easier to get the shot. And then, of course, there are so many on the streets and as a taxi driver, that's where I am, too.  After being able to study their pictures, inevitably I wonder, who are they?  How did circumstances conspire to bring them to the point at which I find them?  Do they seek help?  Other than pigeons (I count 46 in this picture), do they have any friends?

Fifty Favorites, Number Twenty-Nine

2 December '10 -- An abstraction shot using the rain on my windshield to give a Crown Vic a different look.

Fifty Favorites, Number Twenty-Eight

15 November '10 -- Most of my collage/montage shots -- creating in two dimensions an other-worldly, dreamlike reality --  use reflections of images on windows. This East Village capture was an exception.  

Fifty Favorites, Number Twenty-Seven

31 August '10 -- No, not a carnivorous zombie nor an aboriginal hunter.  He'd been at a KISS concert earlier in the evening. 

Fifty Favorites, Number Twenty-Six

26 August '10 -- Inevitably I have taken many pictures of taxicabs. Here just the roof light and the brake lights create a nice aesthetic effect.

Fifty Favorites, Number Twenty-Five

10 August '10 -- Another "body language" shot that tells a story without need of words.  

Fifty Favorites, Number Twenty-Four

31 July '10 -- This shot is in the category I call "body language".  Here it looks to me like mother and daughter were shopping together and some sort of misbehavior is suspected.   

Fifty Favorites, Number Twenty-three

7 July '10 -- "Hey, that's me!"... This lovely lady was a passenger in my cab and was telling me all about her experience as a participant in the reality TV show Top Chef when, as we arrived at her destination, she spotted an advertisement for the show at a bus stop.  So I asked her to pose.  Of course!   

Fifty Favorites, Number Twenty-two

4 May '10 -- I call this kind of shot an "abstraction".  It has enough resemblance to physical universe reality to give you an idea of what the subject is, yet at the same time it looks as if it were painted by an artist who is intentionally altering the normal appearance of things.  

Fifty Favorites, Number Twenty-one

14 March '10 -- This picture combines two subjects which attract me -- silhouettes and children being given a ride on the shoulders of their parents.  

Fifty Favorites, Number Twenty

8 October '09 -- This picture was taken on a Monday night at 2:20 a.m. at the intersection of 7th Avenue and 47th Street, facing downtown.  It's a remarkable photograph because it is showing Times Square with no vehicles, and perhaps only one person, present. Although you might assume something special was going on like a movie being filmed, in actuality it was just an extremely rare moment of emptiness, which lasted only seconds, in the busiest intersection in the world.

Fifty Favorites, Number Nineteen

12 October '09 -- If you're doing street photography while behind the wheel of a car, the rearview mirror is one of your tools.  

Fifty Favorites, Number Eighteen

24 October '09 -- Every once in a while some girl suddenly shows up on the street wearing practically no clothing.  We could use more of that.

Fifty Favorites, Number Seventeen

7 September '09 -- This is what happens when there are more drivers than there are cabs, there is no union, and owners of taxi garages have nothing to stop them from splurging on their own greed.  Five years after this picture was taken Uber comes along, the drivers defect to Uber in droves, and the value of the medallion drops from over a million dollars apiece to virtually nothing.  That, owners of taxi garages, is what is known as "karma".

Fifty Favorites, Number Sixteen

20 September '09 -- This "angel" is a type of street performer who simply stands there without moving, statue-like.  It's not easy!  

Fifty Favorites, Number Fifteen

6 April '09 -- Here's a good example of the "all kinds of people crammed together" aspect of New York City.  Just by looking at the way they're dressed, particularly what's on their heads, you know that there's diversity going on here.  Note the bird.  

Fifty Favorites, Number Fourteen

11March '09 -- This shot of the skyline -- I call them "cityscapes" -- was taken from the other side of the Hudson River in Weehawken, New Jersey.  

Fifty Favorites, Number Thirteen

                            

13 March '09 -- Now here is a really cute message that I think well expresses the sense of humor of New York City.  At first glance this looks like just a typical sign which was handwritten onto a fence beside a vacant lot.  But if you look carefully between the letters P and I in the word "DUMPING", however, you will find that some wiseass has added -- in red ink -- the letter L.  Considering that this was in Chinatown,  a place where every other shop is a Chinese restaurant, I thought it was very funny.

Fifty Favorites, Number Twelve

16 March '09 -- Certain people have facial characteristics or expressions which make them ready subjects for portraiture.  This shot was one in which I had to be quick on the draw.  While sitting in my cab waiting for a fare at the Columbus Circle taxi cue, suddenly he came walking toward me on the sidewalk.  The juxtaposition of his countenance with the softness of the baby creates, I think, a dramatic effect. 

Fifty Favorites, Number Eleven

1 January '09 -- New York City, where bare walls are seen as canvases by many, is overflowing with street art.  This shot was taken on Houston Street, which separates Soho from Greenwich Village.  

Fifty Favorites, Number Ten

8 September '08 -- How bittersweet it is today to look at this picture of Robin Williams.  After a twenty-minute ride in which he did, among other things, an impersonation of Frances McDormand for me, he was kind enough to oblige my request for a photograph.  For the story of this ride in my Cabs Are For Kissing blog, click here.

Fifty Favorites, Number Nine

11 Sept '08 -- For several years after 9/11 the anniversary of the attack would be marked by memorials to lost friends and relatives appearing on the fences surrounding Ground Zero.  The poignancy of this particular picture had a powerful effect on me when I visited the site that night, and it still does today.

Fifty Favorites, Number Eight

6 August '08 -- When I see a pregnant woman approaching on the street I find myself reaching for my camera.  The elasticity of the human body in combination with the promise of new life is a compelling subject for me.  

Fifty Favorites, Number Seven

20 February '08 - People asking for a handout are a common sight in New York and they have often been my subjects.  I gave this man a dollar in exchange for posing for this portrait.