Thoughts
It’s Tuesday night at 9:54pm as I type this. We leave tomorrow morning at 5:30am. I’m shooting a wedding in San Francisco this weekend. I haven’t so much as packed a sock and all my equipment is still sitting in the closet. Am I worried? Nah. Do I need sleep? Nah. Am I super excited beyond all means and can’t sit still? HECK YEAH! And the cat is sitting here staring at me like she know’s something is about to happen. She says in a low sly cat way, “raaarrroooww.” All I can say is look out kitty, the fur’s about to fly.
UPDATE 12:07am Equipment is packed and I’m going to find my suitcase! Gotta be up in 4.5 hours…
UPDATE 1:08am 3.5 hours of sleep should do. zzzzzzzzzzzz
Someone once said to me, “I’d love to see what the world looks like through your eyes.” All I could think of saying is “just like it is through your eyes?” Do photographers or artists see things differently?
During my recent trip into Manhattan I brought my 5D Mark II with a 50mm f1.2. I only shot video on this trip and I wanted to show what I observe when I’m out and about. I usually like to listen to music when I travel for some inspiration, and to pass the time. It always sets the mood for when I’m going to shoot. At the same time I like to just listen to my surroundings. I drive with the radio off a lot. This trip I wanted to do what I do most, listen to my surroundings and observe. I’m a big people watcher. I watch everything in my view and just wonder how it all flows together. I like to watch the relationship between people and their environment. This probably explains why I’m not always the most social person you’ll meet. I’m a thinker.
I wanted to talk about the video before you see it, so I am posting stills from the video with explanations first. I did not bring a tripod or anything to stabilize the camera. I used every pole, mailbox, etc that I could find to keep it still. Here we go!
As the train was moving through Stamford I was trying to watch the shadows the train made followed by the traffic on the highway in the background. I noticed all the patterns and visuals that were seemingly just blocking my view, but it really put the motion in my travel.
No, I wasn’t stalking this person. I was noticing the big difference between the views on my side of the train and her side. Me being not that far away from her window gave me a more narrow view. Just a window to the world.
When I was a kid my family took many road trips to Florida. What do you do in a car for 3 days? Among other things, I would watch the power lines move up and down from pole to pole. While I was doing this another building came into view and added some pattern and sun.
I wonder how much life is different on this street compared to the next street we went by.
Underground headed into Grand Central Station. The patterns, depth, and lights aren’t something you see underground everyday (unless you take this train everyday).
The walk off the train into Grand Central always has this busy, gotta get moving, rush out the door feel. You’re always behind the slow person and that’s usually all you can see.
In Grand Central, wishing I had a wider lens, everyone walks in a different direction.
Probably my favorite part of the day. The woman in the lower right was waiting for her husband to take her picture. He took a while and she was getting impatient. Now if you watch the electronic billboard in the upper left, it was pretty amusing for what was going on below. I just kept watching between the two. I love coincidences! Then add in a great landscape of all the traffic cutting through the city? One of my two favorite shots from the trip.
Here are my people watching skills at work. I just loved the 3 shops sitting side by side and a few people just calmly walking by. Then add the traffic going through at a much faster pace.
Need I say more? It’s my Pork Shop!
I sped this up a little. I liked watching the building and sidewalk in the background thinking what a peaceful spot. Then came the fast paced traffic flying by. It made me think that if you rush through anything, you miss the good parts.
And now for my other favorite part of the video. First the traffic zooms by in the direction of the lines. I thought about how long it took someone to paint those lines only for them to get trampled on. But that’s not what I was waiting for. I was waiting for the people to start crossing. I just loved watching their shadows tell their story.
I’m still not really sure why I stopped here. I liked the trees hanging over the sidewalk horizontally reaching across to the vertical buildings behind them and the people walking the line in between.
Quite, still, old and new buildings making the people and cars look like ants scurrying in a forest.
A carousel with a city backdrop?? come on! It’s so peaceful with no one here. All that crazy city life around me and you walk into one thing will make you stop, breathe, and think about your childhood.
So there are the stills from the video. Now, here’s the video:
i like this explanation of your thought process! The pork shop is classic!
i can’t believe how sharp those stills are from the video. they’re beautiful. amazing to think they’re just basically 2megapixel images that are probably somewhat compressed. good camera work too! did you compress the video a lot for blip? its a huge frame size.
6.16.2009
Have fun in California! Too bad you won’t be closer to LA – Greg and I would take you and Kelley out to dinner! Can’t wait to see you in July!
6.16.2009
Have a safe trip and enjoy! SF is the best.
6.17.2009
have fun man.