New York April NYC Meet-Up

[jsrockit]

Where are you guys photographing that so many tourists get in the way?

 

[Calzone]

I think you meet the local wackjobs more than tourists though... 😉

John,

I tend to bring out both the best and worst in people. I guess it takes one to know one. LOL. Perhaps that's how I meet so many people. It's always safer generally to engage in a positive manner than ignore which can spiral out of control.

Cal

 

[jsrockit]

It's always safer generally to engage in a positive manner than ignore which can spiral out of control.

Yeah, your positive attitude has counteracted my negative attitude in some situations. 😉 Our positive attitude with Sal the other day in Harlem resulted with us both coming away with a decent photograph.

 

[Calzone]

Tourists are a royal pain, they just totally get in the way of street shooting:bang:.

Klaus,

To me the street is a stage, and I'm a character. Know that I have a performance art background and that I did some work at the Joseph PAP Public Theater and Second Stage Theater off-off Broadway.

It seem that I get mistaken as a Japanese tourist, and I fully exploit the added tolerance and latitude because of this mistaken identity. Perhaps that why I can get in people's face with a 28 Cron and somehow I'm blown off as just another annoying tourist getting in peoples way and acting clueless.

I love seeing a whole family wearing "I Love N.Y." t-shirts near the Port Authority. Makes me wonder if they are advertising to become crime statistics. LOL.

Cal

 

[Particular]

Where are you guys photographing that so many tourists get in the way?

It is usually just when I need to go downtown to buy film. I was near Columbus Circle yesterday, but that is asking for it.
Are there no tourists on wallstreet?

 

[Calzone]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAs7YW1-n9U

😀

Phil Forrest

Some of my friends and even some of my girlfriends have said, "You are worse than a woman." LOL.

When I was a little kid I got away with a lot of stuff because I was considered cute. I never out grew that phase, and it's not due to regression.

One time about two years ago, my professor at FIT asked me to wear my new Paul Smith suit to the last class. This hot girl in my class with smoke-key eyes said, "You look like an Asian version of James Bond." LOL.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Yeah, your positive attitude has counteracted my negative attitude in some situations. 😉 Our positive attitude with Sal the other day in Harlem resulted with us both coming away with a decent photograph.

Again and again I have been able to get some great street portraits from strange, bizzare, drunk, wacked, disturbed and crazy people.

Kinda funny meeting the "Bronx Birdman" in Chinatown with you and Pro-Mone.

That shot of Sal is really great. He has a great face with a lot of character: Living history.

Cal

 

[jsrockit]

It is usually just when I need to go downtown to buy film. I was near Columbus Circle yesterday, but that is asking for it.
Are there no tourists on wallstreet?

There are a lot... but I generally don't photograph them. They get in the way of me walking around. However, if I'm photographing, I get to choose the exact location I want to go. There are plenty of places in NYC without tourists being an issue. You know this though...

Then again, I have no issue making non people photos.

 

[Calzone]

Where are you guys photographing that so many tourists get in the way?

John,

Not many tourists in the South Bronx and parts LIC where we sometimes go shooting. LOL.

"Maggie" hates when I say, "Excuse me tourist. I'm trying to walk on the sidewalk, and I'm trying to get around you." Some times I say, "Welcome to New York, but please be aware that there are eight point two million people trying to walk around you."

Then there's all those times where I have to practice kung-fu blocks so I don't get my eyes poked out. This is particularly bad in midtown where all the farmers seem to congregate. LOL.

Cal

 

[JeffNYC]

Thanks to John (Jsrockit) I've purchased the Sigma DP2 Merrill.
Definitely a unique camera.

Might be dragging the tripod around town a bit more often.. 🙂

 

[Calzone]

Thanks to John (Jsrockit) I've purchased the Sigma DP2 Merrill.
Definitely a unique camera.

Might be dragging the tripod around town a bit more often.. 🙂

Some of John's influence: his comment, "Right tool for the job," gave me excuses to acquire more gear; his minimal approach; his liking simple rigs that are compact and small; his attutude of shooting almost anything to make a great image; his concept of making series; his editing of work into books; his culling and trying gear.

John is even partially responsible for my purchase of a Monochrom.

Cal

 

[jsrockit]

Awww, thanks Guys... I'm glad I could contribute to your GAS! Somehow, I don;t think you guys need my help. I try not to touch most of the gear you guys have because it is too expensive for my taste these days. 🙂 That said, shooting with your guys and seeing everyone's approach also influences me. Thanks for the kind words Cal.

 

[Calzone]

John,

Also thanks for covering my back when we get into sketchy sitch-e-A-tions. When we go out shooting we take more than a fare share of risk.

Cal

 

[icebear]

John,

Also thanks for covering my back when we get into sketchy sitch-e-A-tions. When we go out shooting we take more than a fare share of risk.

Cal

Usually I walk alone, more than one camera will attract at least 100% more attention but I might be interested to join you some day.
You visit museums for the sketchy situations, right 😀 ?

 

[Calzone]

Usually I walk alone, more than one camera will attract at least 100% more attention but I might be interested to join you some day.
You visit museums for the sketchy situations, right 😀 ?

Klaus,

When I go out alone I only carry one camera. Generally either a weaponized M6, F3P or huge Pentax 67II.

When I go out with John and others I tend to carry two cameras, often two medium format rigs with a spread FOV.

John and I have been in some odd, sketchy places where "exciting' things can happen in any moment. Generally going in the early-early mornings is best, when the drug addicts, dealers and riff raft are mostly sleeping. Around dusk we have observed that things kinda spiral downward.

We like industrial areas, "the uglier the better," as Andre says. We also go to neighborhoods were we kinda stand out. We like the South Bronx, upper Madhattan, and Long Island City.

Cal

 

[ibcrewin]

Is LIC really that bad? I used to live in Astoria.

 

[Calzone]

Is LIC really that bad? I used to live in Astoria.

What I'm calling LIC is the broad patch of industrial space that divides Brooklyn from Queens that extends inland about 4 1/2 miles around Newtown Creek that includes part of Greenpoint, Masbeth and perhaps Sunnyside. It is kind of a place where no one lives, it is a place where NYC started dumping raw sewage into Newtown Creek in the 1850's, it is a place where today 1/3rd of NYC's garbage is processed and where 1/3rd of NYC's sewage is processed.

Know that an oil spill estimated to be three times the size of the Exxon Valdez spill has contaminated the groundwater, and that Newtown Creek is reported to be the most polluted waterway in the U.S. What makes this part of LIC interesting is how empty and abandoned it is and can be because it is not residential and nobody lives there. During the recent recession it was a place where you could dump a body during the day and not be seen. I really loved and miss the projected loneliness during that time.

Other parts of LIC outside of the new waterfront development remain kinda uninhabited. I lived in Court Square where there were only a few blocks of housing. After 6:00 PM more number 7 trains went by my house on 23rd Street than cars. For the first two years I lived there, if I needed a drug store I had to take the subway to Madhattan where there was civilization, and that the local grocery was nothing more than a glorified bodega.

Queens plaza is where I can get the Q100 bus to Rikers to visit prisoners, and Queens Plaza is where inmates from Rikers are released. Along the north side of the Queensboro Bridge is the biggest housing project in NYC. Also when Mayor Guiliani cleaned up Times Square some of the sex clubs came to Queens Plaza.

LIC is a place where my Nikon F3P with motordrive was mistaken for a gun in Queens Plaza just because I carried my camera dangling from right hand. Also know that I was mistaken as an undercover cop by a truck driver because I wore a Gossen Luna Pro around my neck. The truck driver thought my light meter was a badge holder, and he had just called 911.

Cal

 

[kbg32]

No matter how bad these neighborhoods seem, the city is nothing like it was when I moved here in the mid-late 70s. Normal back then - people on the nod with syringes still dangling out of their arms, laying on the sidewalk and in the subway. Guys getting BJs between parked cars and in doorways in broad daylight. Seeing hookers getting beaten every morning on my way to school in the same parking lot on Third Avenue with their pimps screaming, "Give me the money! Give me the money!". But nothing compared to witnessing my neighbor through the door of the vestibule getting his throat slashed because he was gay and the guy doing it thought he had a lot of money on him. I have more stories. A lot more stories. Maybe, someday I'll write a book. The city now is a caricature of its self. The kids who live here, have no idea!

 

[Calzone]

No matter how bad these neighborhoods seem, the city is nothing like it was when I moved here in the mid-late 70s. Normal back then - people on the nod with syringes still dangling out of their arms, laying on the sidewalk and in the subway. Guys getting BJs between parked cars and in doorways in broad daylight. Seeing hookers getting beaten every morning on my way to school in the same parking lot on Third Avenue with their pimps screaming, "Give me the money! Give me the money!". But nothing compared to witnessing my neighbor through the door of the vestibule getting his throat slashed because he was gay and the guy doing it thought he had a lot of money on him. I have more stories. A lot more stories. Maybe, someday I'll write a book. The city now is a caricature of its self. The kids who live here, have no idea!

Keith,

Back in the late seventies I was a NYC cab driver because I had a death wish. Life kinda sucked, but I also kinda found out that it's accually pretty hard to kill yourself. I was a pretty angry kid who suffered great depressions, but I learned to process and release my anger. Back in the seventies I was a scary guy.

Right now NYC I would say is the safest big city on the planet.

Cal

 

[jsrockit]

Klaus,

When I go out alone I only carry one camera. Generally either a weaponized M6, F3P or huge Pentax 67II.

I think what Klaus meant was that if there are three photographers walking around, he might not get the same photos he does when he goes alone. Klaus, in all fairness, the candid people photo doesn't work too well in these situations. It's mostly posed people we meet or street still life/urban lanscape when we go out together. I like to photograph all different ways so it doesn't bother me, but if you like candid people photography, it think it is best to go alone. We'd love to have you join us though.