À La Sauvette | On The Run

The sun felt as heavy as lead this Memorial Day afternoon, but the weed and t-shirt vendors were still out in force around the non-working (?) Washington Square Park fountain.

I was about to pack it in when I noticed an attractive woman being photographed by her female friend using a cell phone. Something about her made me stop in my tracks, gather some pluckiness and ask permission to make a few frames of her.

Destiny -who turned out to be delightful- readily obliged by posing with her white sunglasses and the arch as her backdrop. She and her friend Bridget had to rush somewhere else, so I had to be quick...and hence the "à la sauvette" title of this post. The expression was made famous in a photography context by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

And in monochrome:

Bao Bleu

A just published article in the T Magazine of The New York Times caught my eye and while it's a sort of advertisement for an exquisitely elegant dim sum Chinese restaurant in Paris, the video -which I found on its website- reminded me of Wong Kar Wai's famous In The Mood For Love and my own The Wasted Years (which was photographed in a Chinese restaurant in NYC's West Village).

From the article: "...The bao and dim sum restaurant nods to traditional Chinese teahouses and incorporates bold materials and colors, particularly the blue and white of traditional porcelain. The ground floor features velvet banquettes and an oversize reproduction of a Ming painting offset by neon yellow trim, while the upper level has more of a boudoir feel. Armchairs and daybeds replace tables and chairs, and Maison Martin Morel floral wallpaper inspired by Wong Kar-wai’s film “In the Mood for Love” sets a romantic scene for throwing back char siu bao, Dongpo pork and ginger milk pudding.

In comparison, here's The Wasted Years:

The Sisters | Outtakes

By pure happenstance the other day, I ran into Nyangath and her sister Thanowa in Washington Square Park sitting and chatting away in a shaded corner near the hot dog/pretzel vendor. Naturally I joined them and we reconnected after 6 or 7 months since my photo sessions with them in SoHo which I made into to The Sisters audio slideshow with a South Sudanese soundtrack.

The two sisters attracted a number of roving photographers, and we decided to have a fun photo shoot with the fountain (and a rainbow created by its droplets) as backdrop.

Outtakes...or not? 

POV | A No-Brainer

 

The weather gods were smiling yesterday in New York City, and naturally Washington Square Park was crowded with people...visitors from out of state, foreign tourists, NYU students celebrating graduation, weed sellers and artists selling their wares.

With my back to the still bright afternoon sun, I photographed Ali and Nia by the fountain....both expressed their appreciation at being photographed and asked for the images to be sent over via Instagram which I planned to do. This was done later in the same evening.

I processed and edited about 12 or so frames to compensate for the sunny conditions (which can be seen above), and also duplicated them so as to use one of my favored ON1 LUT presets (which can be seen at the end of this post). I then forwarded all to both Ali and Nia.

They both loved the photographs, but also asked me if I would send them the unedited versions as well which they called "RAW". I explained that there was no reason at all to send them the RAWs -as each was over 120mp- and that I didn't understand their need for non-edited versions.

I pointed out that the non-LUT photographs sent were very lightly edited to tackle reflections, uneven shine etc so their difference with the SOOCs was minimal. No photographer should share their RAW images unless contractually asked for in a professional setting.

As is widely circulated amongst photography circles "would an author or writer share his drafts?". The answer is a resounding no. 

It's a no-brainer.

The LUT+ Preset versions:

Galiya | Chinatown

On a recent Sunday afternoon, I met with Galiya on the eastern fringes of Manhattan's Chinatown for a couple of hours of photography. Although I am very familiar with Chinatown's streets, I had not ventured that far eastward (perhaps technically it's the Lower East Side "bleeding" into Chinatown)  towards the East River before. 

Chinatown has broken its traditional boundaries east, and a number of residents of the area are now Fujianese, but this area's buildings still retain the tenement "flavor"...and the LES type of graffiti mixes with Chinese signs.

    

And here's my favorite frame of the whole day 👇, edited with a ON1 Preset to simulate one of the most popular Japanese style of color grading.

 

Larger photographs are also on my Exposure website.

And Japanese color-graded photographs are on my Wix website. 

Libin & Bianca @ NYU

Bianca (on the left) has been featured on my blog a few times already, and with the advent of summer-like weather in NYC, she and friends have frequented Washington Square Park doing what young people do in the "center of the universe", as I like to call it.

This time though, she encouraged her friend Libin to join her on a quick photo session on La Guardia Place posing against NYU's black steel doors. While I photographed both of them individually, it's the first time that I pose and photograph two subjects together. They were natural, and hammed it up a little....moving from bored to smiling poses.

We were done in about 15 minutes. I used the Fuji GFX50R and the 50mm Fujinon lens.

And here's another one using my favorite ON1 preset:

"Vee" | Pink Braids

I noticed "Vee" sitting by the Washington Square Park fountain because of her pink braids. Although a little conscious at first (and who wouldn't?), she was very willing to pose for my cameras. 

I looked up what her hairstyle was called, and realized there are countless styles of braids for women irrespective of race. I think her pink braids are a mix of "yarn braids" and "cornrow braids"...but I might be mistaken. All I know is that it looks good on her.

Galiya Serdali | Magazine

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A post shared by GALIYA aka GG (@galiyaserdali)

Following the very successful and productive 3-hour photo session with Galiya Serdali, I had Blurb print a 20 page glossy magazine of her best photographs.

Here is a short Instagram Reel featuring Galiya opening the package which she received today, and showing us the magazine.

Cotton Candy | Mizuki

It was a glorious day in Washington Square Park where hundreds of various vendors hawking their wares were arranged in a neat circle around its fountain.

With her immaculate white cotton candy wig, one of them stood out. "Mizuki" frequently graces the park, and has a folding table with her artwork. She describes herself as an actor, singer, songwriter, director, producer as well as an artist.

I was certainly not the only one who was visually attracted to her looks, so I had to line up with other photographers to photograph her. I invited "Mizuki" for a photo session in SoHo, and hopefully that will take place when we can schedule it.