Once again I didn’t get out as much as I would have liked. Too many other things going on. I did manage to go into the city for a day though and the pictures here are from that day. I have quite a few more, many of which I plan to convert to black and white. I still feel that I have a better feel for black and white than I do for colour. This day also gave me the chance to try out a new lens (Canon 50 1.4 FD Ssc Breech dating from 1975), which cost me about $80. I must say that I really like it and you can’t beat the cost. It’s also much easier (at least in my opinion) to take pictures of people in the city. I’m still not that comfortable photographing people in the street. I’m nervous about pointing a camera at someone I don’t know and people in the street tend to move quicker than my reaction times can handle. Still – practice makes perfect. I’m sure that if I keep it up I’ll get better. Cartier-Bresson look out.

What caught my attention here was the overall animation. These boys seemed so happy, chatting and laughing away as they walked down the street. Even though the picture was taken in New York it feels to me as if there is something almost English about it. Maybe it’s the school uniform (I know that there are school uniforms in the US, but somehow I associate them more with the UK). I was also lucky that one of the boys looked pretty much directly at the camera lens as I took the picture.



If the previous picture was about animation and happiness this one is more about nervousness. What caught my attention initially was that the bike seemed to be abnormally small for the guy riding it. Then I noticed that he looked very nervous – glancing around all the time. At first I thought that he had noticed me trying to take his picture. In retrospect I don’t think so. He looked nervous even before I lifted the camera. Again I was lucky that he glanced back over his shoulder at I clicked the shutter release. I love the expression on his face.


What can I say: it’s not every day that you come across a image of Auric Goldfinger painted on the side of a building. I’ve always been a fan of the James Bond film: “Goldfinger”. In my opinion it’s the best of the Bond movies and to me Goldfinger and his henchman Oddjob are by far the best Bond villains. Who can forget the scene with Bond (Sean Connery – to me the best of the Bonds) bound spreadeagle on a gold table with a laser about to cut him in half starting with his privates. Bond to Goldfinger “You expect me to talk?”. Goldfinger “No Mr. Bond I expect you to die”. If you don’t know it you can find the clip on youtube. And the scary Oddjob with his flying razor edged bowler hat! I have no idea why this had been painted onto this particular wall but it seemed so incongruous that I just had to take a picture.



For those who are not familiar with the term Bokeh has been defined as “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light”. This is often used to separate a foreground image from its background. I had heard that the “bokeh” of this lens is excellent so I thought I’d try it with this sunflower. I like the result. Other than that what interested me enough to take a picture? Sunflowers are such bright yellow flowers that they tend to cheer you up. And if it’s good enough for Van Gogh it’s good enough for me.


At an intersection somewhere between Union Square and Grand Central I came across this guy on the sidewalk. He had about five dogs, a number of cats and even two guinea pigs. I don’t know if he was selling them or if they were just for display. I was taken by this little dog. The picture is not as sharp as I would have liked it to have been but I liked the expression on the dog’s face and the intent way he/she was looking at something outside of the frame. I also liked to contrast between the largely monochrome (black and white) dog and the more colourful dog on the towel (if that’s what it is) that the dog is standing on. I also liked that while the real dog is looking out of the frame, the “towel” dog is looking directly at the camera, and that the real dog has a somewhat puzzled and vulnerable look, while the “towel” dog has an almost malevolent expression.