Hi Joe – I took your advice and stopped by to see your “cloud” man image here in your blog. There are so many more details that I missed in the image on Facebook. I’d love to know the back story about how you managed to capture this man in this pose. It appears to be a quick encounter with a stranger. But everything is so perfectly arranged! The title of the photo on the sign board, and as someone mentioned… the Sopranos looking over his shoulder, the depth of field with the blurred traffic in the background, the tack sharp focus on your subject. And his expression is so perfect. Did you speak to him before you shot the photo? Or was is just as you said, a quick (and oh-so-perfect) shot as he danced down the street? Intriguing for sure!
Thank you very much for stopping by my photoblog and taking the time to comment and follow Patricia 🙂 Before I answer your questions I would like to take the time to do a little shameless self promotion and inform you about another black and white photoblog I started about four years ago called Monochromia – http://www.monochromia.blog
Monochromia is a contributory blog featuring photographers from around the globe whose work I admire and are dedicated to the art of black and white imagery. There are two posts per day each featuring a different photographer (I post on Wednesday’s at 1:00pm New York Time).
Believe it or not there are a lot of details in the cloud man image that I missed at the time I pressed the shutter button. Sometimes we get lucky like that. The only detail I was aware of was the embrace the absurd sign. I used a Fuji X-T2 with a 16-55 f/2.8 lens to take this image. I shot wide open at f/2.8 to be able to use a fast shutter speed which explains the diminished depth or field in the image. When I first saw this gentleman I was probably about 100 feet away from him and he was walking briskly towards me while doing a little side step dance (he didn’t exactly blend in with the typical Times Square crowd). I positioned myself across from the embrace the absurd sign and when he got within 50 feet of me I started following him through my viewfinder in hopes that he would notice me when he got closer to me. He got within 20 feet of me and finally noticed me pointing my camera at him so he continued his little dance and as he was passing me he turned and gave me this expression as to tip his hat and that’s when I pressed the shutter. I guess you could say he helped me a lot with the image, LOL. At the time I pressed the shutter he was no more than 6 feet from me because I wanted to shoot at around the 20mm focal length. Strangely enough I did not talk to him because he never stopped moving down the street. We just gave each other the thumbs up sign and continued on our ways.
Street photography is by far my favorite genre being its so unpredictable and fast paced. Street photography is also an imperfect art also because sometimes a tack sharp image is not required to get your photographic point across. I very seldom use a focal length longer than 35mm for my street shots, I think being closer to the subject most times adds to the impact of the image. Street photography is also fairly easy in NYC because of the mix of interesting characters. I hope I was able to answer all of your questions and I hope you will check out Monochromia. Some of my favorite street photographers featured on Monochromia are Martha Rohl, Mel Rolleri, Patricia Fogerty (aka Patti Kuche), Rico Rodriguez and Han Dekker. We could also all can be found on Facebook, our Monochromia Facebook page and of course Instagram. Thank you again and sorry for my long winded response 🙂
Hi Joe– I may like the color version a little better– for obvious reasons…that cloud suit is unbelievable! I also noticed the cast from the Sopranos looking over his shoulder. 😆 Terrific portrait– you really know how to capture these moments!
Whoa! I’m sure he gets noticed a lot! Can ‘t miss him! Great shot! Captured a great feel of his whimsical and colorful personality! A nice addition to your collection 😀
The Visual Chronicle 
Hi Joe – I took your advice and stopped by to see your “cloud” man image here in your blog. There are so many more details that I missed in the image on Facebook. I’d love to know the back story about how you managed to capture this man in this pose. It appears to be a quick encounter with a stranger. But everything is so perfectly arranged! The title of the photo on the sign board, and as someone mentioned… the Sopranos looking over his shoulder, the depth of field with the blurred traffic in the background, the tack sharp focus on your subject. And his expression is so perfect. Did you speak to him before you shot the photo? Or was is just as you said, a quick (and oh-so-perfect) shot as he danced down the street? Intriguing for sure!
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Thank you very much for stopping by my photoblog and taking the time to comment and follow Patricia 🙂 Before I answer your questions I would like to take the time to do a little shameless self promotion and inform you about another black and white photoblog I started about four years ago called Monochromia – http://www.monochromia.blog
Monochromia is a contributory blog featuring photographers from around the globe whose work I admire and are dedicated to the art of black and white imagery. There are two posts per day each featuring a different photographer (I post on Wednesday’s at 1:00pm New York Time).
Believe it or not there are a lot of details in the cloud man image that I missed at the time I pressed the shutter button. Sometimes we get lucky like that. The only detail I was aware of was the embrace the absurd sign. I used a Fuji X-T2 with a 16-55 f/2.8 lens to take this image. I shot wide open at f/2.8 to be able to use a fast shutter speed which explains the diminished depth or field in the image. When I first saw this gentleman I was probably about 100 feet away from him and he was walking briskly towards me while doing a little side step dance (he didn’t exactly blend in with the typical Times Square crowd). I positioned myself across from the embrace the absurd sign and when he got within 50 feet of me I started following him through my viewfinder in hopes that he would notice me when he got closer to me. He got within 20 feet of me and finally noticed me pointing my camera at him so he continued his little dance and as he was passing me he turned and gave me this expression as to tip his hat and that’s when I pressed the shutter. I guess you could say he helped me a lot with the image, LOL. At the time I pressed the shutter he was no more than 6 feet from me because I wanted to shoot at around the 20mm focal length. Strangely enough I did not talk to him because he never stopped moving down the street. We just gave each other the thumbs up sign and continued on our ways.
Street photography is by far my favorite genre being its so unpredictable and fast paced. Street photography is also an imperfect art also because sometimes a tack sharp image is not required to get your photographic point across. I very seldom use a focal length longer than 35mm for my street shots, I think being closer to the subject most times adds to the impact of the image. Street photography is also fairly easy in NYC because of the mix of interesting characters. I hope I was able to answer all of your questions and I hope you will check out Monochromia. Some of my favorite street photographers featured on Monochromia are Martha Rohl, Mel Rolleri, Patricia Fogerty (aka Patti Kuche), Rico Rodriguez and Han Dekker. We could also all can be found on Facebook, our Monochromia Facebook page and of course Instagram. Thank you again and sorry for my long winded response 🙂
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Hi Joe– I may like the color version a little better– for obvious reasons…that cloud suit is unbelievable! I also noticed the cast from the Sopranos looking over his shoulder. 😆 Terrific portrait– you really know how to capture these moments!
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Thank you so much Jane 🙂 I agree with you the color adds to the photo. It’s easy to take these kind of images in this big crazy city LOL.
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I’m so thankful to have a snow day as it has given me the chance to visit some blogs! This is an excellent image, Joe. As all of yours are!
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Thank you so much Laurie 🙂 The Times Square area is always a trip to shoot.
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Whoa! I’m sure he gets noticed a lot! Can ‘t miss him! Great shot! Captured a great feel of his whimsical and colorful personality! A nice addition to your collection 😀
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Thank you very much Gale 🙂 He was a real trip just dancing down the sidewalk by Times Square.
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Excellent positioning and framing
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Thank you very much Stephen.
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Original anyway.
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He sure is 🙂 Thanks you.
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