November 24th was the tenth anniversary of my street photography blog, Pictures From A Taxi.
You know, New York could be called a street photographer's heaven. People of every description, things that suddenly jump out at you from their secret hiding places, profound oddities, dogs, the occasional coyote... this city is just begging to be photographed.
I decided to start carrying a digital camera (with a hefty zoom lens) around with me in my cab in 2006 for several reasons. For one thing, it would make my already adventurous profession even more interesting. Instead of just waiting for the light to change, I am scanning the the sidewalks for a shot. A second reason was because with digital it is so much more doable than it had been prior to that revolution in the world of photography. No more waiting for your film to be developed. Instant editing that would have taken hours in a darkroom. And a third reason was because I wanted to add "mass" to the "significance" of this blog, which is mostly text without many pictures. Instead of just publishing random shots of New York to accompany the posts here, I thought it better to create a whole new blog of nothing but photographs.
That was ten years ago. For quite a few years I was publishing a new picture virtually every day, so the quantity of pictures has really added up. There are to date exactly 2,220 posts, each consisting of simply a picture, or maybe two or three if it was warranted. There would be many more, but let me tell you something about street photography -- you've got to be really fast! For every shot I got there were ten I missed because I didn't have enough time to pick up my camera and shoot. Things happen very quickly out there, plus I'm often moving myself (although I'm proud to say that on some occasions that has not prevented me from getting the shot).
Recently I completed a rather massive project of indexing all the pictures in the blog by subject matter (which I should have been doing all along). So if you click on the label below each picture you will see other pictures with the same theme. And of course if you click on the picture itself it will blow up in size, quite possibly revealing details you may have missed in the smaller version.
What I have decided to do to celebrate this momentous occasion is to pick out my fifty favorites from all these images. Since November I have been re-publishing one photograph a day from the collection, a picture that in my own opinion is one of my best. (I apologize in advance to all the pictures that were not chosen. You know I love you all, but let's be honest, some of you are just not as good as the others.)
So I hope you'll click on over to Pictures From A Taxi to check out the ones I've chosen -- in no particular order, my Fifty Favorites.
You know, New York could be called a street photographer's heaven. People of every description, things that suddenly jump out at you from their secret hiding places, profound oddities, dogs, the occasional coyote... this city is just begging to be photographed.
I decided to start carrying a digital camera (with a hefty zoom lens) around with me in my cab in 2006 for several reasons. For one thing, it would make my already adventurous profession even more interesting. Instead of just waiting for the light to change, I am scanning the the sidewalks for a shot. A second reason was because with digital it is so much more doable than it had been prior to that revolution in the world of photography. No more waiting for your film to be developed. Instant editing that would have taken hours in a darkroom. And a third reason was because I wanted to add "mass" to the "significance" of this blog, which is mostly text without many pictures. Instead of just publishing random shots of New York to accompany the posts here, I thought it better to create a whole new blog of nothing but photographs.
That was ten years ago. For quite a few years I was publishing a new picture virtually every day, so the quantity of pictures has really added up. There are to date exactly 2,220 posts, each consisting of simply a picture, or maybe two or three if it was warranted. There would be many more, but let me tell you something about street photography -- you've got to be really fast! For every shot I got there were ten I missed because I didn't have enough time to pick up my camera and shoot. Things happen very quickly out there, plus I'm often moving myself (although I'm proud to say that on some occasions that has not prevented me from getting the shot).
Recently I completed a rather massive project of indexing all the pictures in the blog by subject matter (which I should have been doing all along). So if you click on the label below each picture you will see other pictures with the same theme. And of course if you click on the picture itself it will blow up in size, quite possibly revealing details you may have missed in the smaller version.
What I have decided to do to celebrate this momentous occasion is to pick out my fifty favorites from all these images. Since November I have been re-publishing one photograph a day from the collection, a picture that in my own opinion is one of my best. (I apologize in advance to all the pictures that were not chosen. You know I love you all, but let's be honest, some of you are just not as good as the others.)
So I hope you'll click on over to Pictures From A Taxi to check out the ones I've chosen -- in no particular order, my Fifty Favorites.
I loved the photographs and this blog is a gem. My brother was a driver for years, then turned to dispatching and I'm sending the blog to him. You are wonderful. Have a blessed yule and a wonderful New Year.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ms., much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! I shall continue to enjoy looking at all the pictures you take. Wishing you and all your beloved a very Happy Christmas. Take care out there!
ReplyDeleteI'm from China. Just finished reading your Confessions book. I like your stories and your writing. Can't imagine a taxi driver can write so well. I use your book as a textbook to learn English. Best wishes.
ReplyDeleteAs a fourty-year-on-duty-retired taxidriver in Berlin, Germany I'm reading Your book with enthusiasm. I've not yet been through, because, there's a dicitonary close by to check out even such words as 'curb'. And for many situations You write about, I can offer an identical or similar situation of my experience.
ReplyDeleteEven Your story 'For a Laugh' on page 156 I can answer with a Joke-story.
In this case it was me, who told the passengers a joke and I was 'payed' twenty Euro extra for it .
I had a traffic-jammed long ride with three Czecoslovakia bornes from center to the airport.Two men and one woman. We spoke about Czech literature as Jaroslav Hasek etc. Then, after a while in the traffic jam I remembered a Cartoon-book about ethnographical humor or jokes. A Lady lies on a Gynecologysts chair:
The Doctor, standing beside her, asks:
'Have You ever had a check-up over there?' And she, misunderstanding him as he'd asked 'czech-up' answers little bit sheepishly:
'No, but I have had some Hungarians.
The immediate reaction of my passengers was extraordinarily, they cried out by laughing. The one on to my right throw his hand on his thigh. And they gave me the twenty Euro extra. I unfortunately never ever was payed for beeing witty or humorous. And I never will forget this one time. I forgot to mention, that the Czechs were living in UK or US so they could speak English very well and they quickly understood the thing with 'check-up' and same pronounciation of 'czech -up.
I hope I wasn' too circumstancely.
Orthography according Meta Tolerance Rule
Uwe-Jens Has
Hi, Uwe-Jens, glad to know you're enjoying my book. Thanks so much for letting me know.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great joke! Amazing that a German and three Czechs could so well appreciate a joke based on a play on words in another language. And isn't it particularly nice when a passenger shows appreciation for an extraordinary ride with an extravagant tip? I think you'd agree, it's not about the tip, but nevertheless that does put the cherry on the cake.
I have a blog suggestion for you. My friend Petrina Engelke writes a blog in German about all things New York City. It's called "Moment: New York". I think you'd enjoy it. Best wishes, E.S.
http://www.moment-newyork.de/
Hi Eugene Salomon,
ReplyDeletethank You for Your friendly answer and the blog suggestion.
Correction to my post from yesterday, the Lady answered in this way:
'No, but I have had a few Hungarians'.
On page 254 of Your book, the 'Rambo'story, You have been to friendly to Rambo the Dobermann. You seem to be in the habit of being friendly even to animals. Once I read in a newspaper this headline:
'Do not smile to aggressive dogs'.
One should make chewing noises in a expressively smacking way. If possible..
When a dog feels ( thinks?) about biting very soon he will show his teeth as Ouverture. And when Rambo had seen Your teeth, he was anxious, You would bite him. So, he had to take suitable countermeasures.
Best wishes,
Uwe-Jens Has, talkative
I have consulted with Dr. Freudhound, the famous dog psychoanalyst, and he assures me Rambo was suffering from sudden Owner-Left-Me-Behind-With-A-Stranger syndrome. I'll keep your advice in mind, however, the next time a snarling, man-eating Doberman is alone with me in my taxi, however. :)
ReplyDeleteTime really flys,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations