Fifty Favorites, Number Fifty

8 September '15 -- While stopped at at red light at 35th Street and 6th Avenue, I noticed this man in prayer in a park just across the street from Macy's.

Fifty Favorites, Number Forty-Nine

1 June '12 -- A column of vertical mirrors in front of a store in the Garment Center give this collage/montage shot a dreamlike quality.

Fifty Favorites, Number Forty-Eight

15 August '07 -- I have a label called "4 a.m." It's an interesting hour in the city because it's the time when the day that's ending meets the day that is beginning. You can find people who are getting an early start and those who are emptying out the bars and the clubs. Like this girl coming out of Flashdancers, a strip club on Broadway and 52nd Street. 

Fifty Favorites, Number Forty-Seven

14 July '10 -- This is a shot of the Queensborough Bridge (better known to New Yorkers as the "59th Street Bridge") from the Queens side, looking toward Manhattan. Kind of looks like a scene from a film noir movie.  

Fifty Favorites, Number Forty-Six

17 August '12 -- By my own estimate, there are about a million dogs in New York City. I've photographed many of them, sometimes in my own cab, sometimes in cabs beside me in traffic, and a couple of times on the back seats of motorcycles. This dog, clearly a hipster, is my favorite.

Fifty Favorites, Number Forty-Five

16 April '07 -- Donald Trump and friends, ten years ago. Same facial expression.

Fifty Favorites, Number Forty-Four

16 June '12 -- If you enlarge the image you will see written at the bottom of the sign, "sidewalk cynic". This fellow was sort of a hybrid of a beggar, a hustler, a comedian, and a social satirist.

Fifty Favorites, Number Forty-Three

14 June '12 -- Another picture of family togetherness, this time with the Statue of Liberty in Times Square. The expressions on the children's faces make this shot one of my favorites.

Fifty Favorites, Number Forty-Two

30 October '07 -- Here is a "joy" shot of passengers Niamh and Alan, from Ireland. Earlier that day Alan popped the question. Niamh said "yes". And now they were shopping for a ring.

Fifty Favorites, Number Forty-One

5 April '12 -- This is an "islands in the stream" shot on 8th Avenue, approaching Times Square.  When people in an image are clearly having a great time I include the label "joy" beneath the picture. 

Fifty Favorites, Number Forty

20 February '12 -- The reflections in a Starbucks window create a surrealistic effect in this collage/montage shot.

Fifty Favorites, Number Thirty-Nine

30 June '12 -- The Gay Pride Parade in June each year never fails to go way over the top with photo opportunities. 

Fifty Favorites, Number Thirty-Eight

29 November '06 -- Here's another "I see you taking my picture" shot. Sorry to interrupt your private moment, buddy. You were supposed to be too busy kissing your girlfriend to notice a taxi driver waiting at a red light.

Fifty Favorites, Number Thirty-Seven

31 March '12 -- This woman in black and red with the black background almost looks like a model posing in a studio, but she was actually just standing on the sidewalk. If you enlarge the image you will see that she is looking right into the camera (another type of picture I call "I see you taking my picture" which results in varying types of reactions from the captured subjects).  Her reaction was not disapproving, so perhaps she was pleased that a taxi driver took notice of her fashion statement.

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. 

Fifty Favorites, Number Six

3 February '08 - At first glance this picture looks like just a black square. But if you expand the image and examine it closely, it reveals an aspect of NYC that a night shift taxi driver is familiar with.  Two people are standing there in the shadows, the burning ends of their cigarettes and the illumination of a cell phone creating tiny specks of light.  

Fifty Favorites, Number Five

26 August '07 - Interesting juxtapositions can pop up quite randomly.  In this shot it looks like she could step right out of the advertisement on the side of the telephone booth and join her family.