LOOKING BACK: BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS FROM NYC

I love photography and have always have been a shutterbug.  Finding interesting compositions as you just move through your day can be very inspiring.  Just recently I came across a bunch of contact sheets and various prints from my college years in NYC.  I loved cutting our own rolls of film in total darkness, then developing the contacts sheets and working to create prints of your favorites in the various emulsions.  Of course digital photography has changed the course of photography in a major way.  You no longer have to wait to develop your film to see if you managed to capture the shots you thought you had, or worry that you'd screw up the developing process by leaving something soaking for too long.
I thought it would be fun, here at the end of 2013 to post a few of these photos along with a contact sheet.
One thing I enjoyed doing was to walk around the city with the camera just hanging around my neck, finger on the shutter and just randomly point and click, trying to make myself as inconspicuous as possible while trying to capture random people in totally unguarded moments.
I only got caught one time by some crazy ass guy who grabbed my arm and told me I wasn't allowed to take his picture.  Ah, NYC in the early 90's.  Still, it was better than being caught sketching someone on the subway, who then said they wanted to see your sketch before they got off at their stop.  No pressure there!
Anyway here's some of my NYC b&w photos.

The contact sheet!  Did I manage to get anything interesting???

Oh, yeah! This guy's a winner!!!

Central Park Zoo

90's power brokers beneath the statue of Atlas at 30 Rock

Homeless camp beneath Manhattan Bridge

A very organic view of midtown from the park.

ANT, POPCORN and SUNLIGHT

Here's something that's thankfully, NOT movie related to add a little variety to this blog.

"Ant, Popcorn and Sunlight",  is a piece I did for an art show where all the artwork could be no bigger than 5x5 inches.

It was a last minute idea to find something unusual for the frame, and let that dictate the concept.  So I figured magnifying glasses would be cool and easy to mount artwork in.  Well, they are cool to use as frames, but insanely difficult to mount anything on them.

But, once the idea of the magnifying glasses was set, then it was only natural to have the subject be about burning ants.  How could it not be.  And I wanted it to be multiple images, so I needed a story for the ant.  What was he after... food!  And what would be the worst food for that ant to find under concentrated sunlight, yup, un-popped popcorn.

Here's the quick color studies I made in photoshop.

Then I had to actually paint this up.  And I hate painting with pigment on paper or board.  But, it turned out very funny and weird, which I like.

The best part of this experience was that it sold!  Not just sold, but to an amazingly talented artist and good friend, Denise Koyama.  She didn't even realize I'd done the piece until she bought it.  

I promised her that since it's cobbled together like a summer camp project that if it ever fell apart I'd be happy to run over with the hot glue gun and piece it back together.  No calls yet.