Alea in NYC
I still think of NYC in terms of the historical photographs I grew up admiring. The work of Alfred Stieglitz, Berenice Abbott, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Weegee, Diane Arbus, Elliott Erwitt, Helen Levitt, Garry Winogrand and of course my idol Richard Avedon had impacted my visual perception and personal style of my own work form the start of my career.
When Alea asked me to create her senior portraits in the city around the neighborhood of her "other high school" Juilliard, a sense of nostalgia set in and I decided I wanted to approach the job like a fun self assignment I did with several friends way 'back in the day'. We took a drive over to the city and we each brought one camera, one lens, and one type of film. That's it - no flash, no lights, no reflectors, no tripods. We photographed one subject matter for the afternoon. Some did cityscapes. Some concentrated on urban art, animals, taxis and their drivers. I did the variety of people of the city with expired Agfa APX film.
I did the same with Alea on Wednesday, only I cheated a little and used two lenses - a 50 and a 24. Still no lights, flash or reflectors and processed B&W. Pretty stoked how it all turned out. I was blessed with the gift of Alea and her flawlessness (no retouching here) and a very overcast, albeit chilly day. Brings me back to a wonderful time in my career and very liberating. The following album is a sampling from the gig.