June 17, 2004: Chrystie Street
I was shooting on Chrystie Street last night when this guy walked up to me and asked if he could be in the picture. He leaned against the backhoe, and I took a thirty second exposure. As I waited for the shutter to close, I thought about Roland Barthes' concept of punctum- it was in one of his books about photography and visual theory. He wrote that punctum is "that accident which pricks, bruises me... that fills the whole picture... a matter of co-presence." That is, the unintentional detail that suddenly makes an otherwise ordinary picture into something else- maybe something extraordinary. I had a similar experience last week in SDR park, when that little girl ran into the frame. I wish there was a way to get more people into my night shots- especially beautiful women, staring languidly out of the frame. If you happen to fit that description, and want to pose for me, send me an email. [Unrelated: a beautiful example of Mike's art and a nice nude at Chromasia. And some photoblog statistics. And sad, but true: I only read five books last year. I just finished the excellent Oracle Night, by Paul Auster.]
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the last couple of weeks, i've been using the [unrelated] section at the end of the post to throw in some miscelleanous links. sometimes, i post links that relate to the post under a similar [related] format. is this a good idea, or should i adopt a left column blog or some other solution?
this is very, very badass.
if only i was still in nyc..... and wandering around in the wee hours of the night. heh
great photos!
Amazing series of pictures. I wish my city was as interesting as NYC (then again wandering around NYC in the middle of the night scares me more than it probably should).
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