09-JUL-2010
Exhaustion, New York City, New York, 2010
In the summer, New York’s subway traps and holds the heat underground, turning its stations into ovens. Only the trains themselves are air-conditioned. I saw this man waiting for a train at City Hall Station. He wears a tank top, which tells us something about the weather. At the moment I shot, he lifted a towel or shirt to his face, as if to somehow cool down. The human value expressed by this image is exhaustion – his hand to head gesture expresses it perfectly.
07-JUN-2010
Family, Durango, Colorado, 2010
The interaction of the members of this family, seated just outside Durango’s railroad depot and gift shop, is rich in human values. I assume that the couple in the middle of this image are the parents of the young child seen here reaching for the bill of her fathers cap. He leans towards the child, encouraging its explorations. The women on either side observe the scene with a sense of humor. The yellow balloon and the yellow shirt of the woman on the left lend a festive air to the scene, and link the family to the yellow wall of the depot just behind. In the window of that depot, a woman shops, unaware of the domestic tableau being played out just below her. The image provides a sense of family, offers a touch of humor, and represents pleasure. All of these are basic human values.
03-JUN-2010
Joy, Settlers Monument, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2010
A group of teens were enjoying an evening of each other’s company at the base of Santa Fe’s imposing Settlers Monument. I caught this young woman as she threw back her head to laugh. Just behind her, a life-sized sculpture of a steer, its bronze horns rubbed to a golden shine, incongruously seems to listen to her laughter. This image is all about the human values of joy, the lack of inhibition, and of course, the pleasure of friendship.
21-NOV-2009
At the Westward Ho, Phoenix, Arizona, 2009
Residents of the Westward Ho, a low-income senior housing complex in downtown Phoenix, seem to congregate around its main entrance. They enjoy passing time with other residents, and sometimes bring a snack to enjoy as well. While on a shoot in Phoenix with one of my tutorial students, I found this woman sitting a few feet from the glass entrance door. The light strikes her from the side, and when she turned towards the entrance, I made this image. It speaks of relaxation and contemplation, two very common human values. The banana in her hand symbolizes nourishment, still another human value. The reflection on the floor underscores her contemplative manner.
11-NOV-2009
Awestruck, Wupatki National Monument, Flagstaff, Arizona, 2009
Pictures of ruined walls rarely interest me. I look instead of images that tell a story and reflect human values. I watched as this man studied the ruin of the Wupatki Pueblo, a 100-room structure that housed 85-100 people about 800 years ago. The Hopi, Navajo, and Zuni still tell stories of what happened here. Perhaps such stories are running through the imagination of this man as he stares awestruck, his hand resting upon his heart, into the structure before him. I made this photograph with a long telephoto focal length from a great distance away. I never interrupted his study – he must have stood there for several minutes, lost in what appears to be deeply reverent thought.
14-NOV-2009
Staying awake, Southern Utah, 2009
It was a miserable day for driving, yet this woman had to safely transport a group of photographers several hundred miles through rain, snow, and sleet, much of it over mountainous terrain. We stopped for coffee midway on the journey, and she carried her cup back to the van, sipping it as she drove. I watched as the light coming through the wet windows cast a diffused glow on her profile, highlighting the intensity in her eye. I shot just as she pressed the plastic lid to her lips and nose. Intensity is a human value, and it is very much on display here. The caffeine (along with some loud music as well as continuous chatter from other five photographers in the van) help keep her alert and awake as she brings us safely towards home.
22-OCT-2009
Calm, Cismigiu Garden, Bucharest, Romania, 2009
Cismigiu Gardens is a large park in the center of Bucharest. It was created in 1860, when 30,000 trees, plants and shrubs were brought in from all over Romania. Today the park serves as an urban refuge, an oasis of calm in the middle of a chaotic city. This man seemed utterly calm as he sat alone on a bench, his leg extended, his heel often rising slightly off the ground. Otherwise he remained quiet, the very essence of that most contemplative of human values.
21-OCT-2009
Authority, Liberty Boulevard, Bucharest, Romania, 2009
An Orthodox Catholic nun raises an authoritative hand to hail a taxi outside the city’s massive House of the People, the second largest building in the world. Her fellow sisters dutifully follow her lead. Authority and duty are both human values, embodied in this image.
19-OCT-2009
Circus, Kiev, Ukraine, 2009
A colorful quilted poster featuring a happy clown is mounted on the permanent home of the Kiev Circus. Dozens of Kievites walked past this poster while I was framing this shot, and none of them seemed as happy, particularly this person, whose blurred form suggests resignation and disinterest. In juxtaposing a symbol of the human value of happiness with a person who seems anything but happy, I am able to create an incongruous image.
22-OCT-2009
Piano practice, Bucharest, Romania, 2009
One of the highlights of our visit to Bucharest was an evening at the home of the local pbase photographer, Lorin Niculae (
http://www.pbase.com/lorin ). Along with Romanian Pizza (delicious) and his magnificent collection of antique cameras, Lorin shared his pride in eight year daughter Silvia’s skill at the piano. I made this image of Silvia as she practiced, putting her out of focus and featuring the massive sheets of music she has mastered. This image expresses the human values of artistry and discipline, both very much part of musical expression. Silvia is also a photographer and made her first images when she was three. She showed me her Minolta A1, and some of the images she has made with it are posted on her father’s site at
http://www.pbase.com/lorin/le_foto_di_silviaioana
24-SEP-2009
Energy, King Street, Toronto, Canada, 2009
Energy is very much a human value. And Toronto is full of energy, a city of vitality, dynamism, and spirit. People often don’t merely walk in Toronto – they stride vigorously, outpacing all before them. I made this image on King Street in downtown Toronto at the height of the evening rush. I focus on a woman, loaded down with three bags, who moves briskly into the sunset, shielding her eyes as she paces forward. I add context by layering a softly focused helmeted cyclist into the foreground. She moves in the other direction, her highlighted bent arm echo the bent arm of the woman behind her. The cyclist’s flaming red costume and backpack play against her shadowy anonymity. Together, these figures express the energy of one of Canada’s great cities.
25-SEP-2009
Knowledge, Aboard The Canadian, Ontario, Canada, 2009
Humans depend on knowledge for their existence. Knowledge is an important human value. For example, even the knowledge gleaned from the pages of a daily newspaper can be important in shaping our own context for understanding the world around us. I found this man reading the business pages of Canada’s national newspaper – The Globe and Mail – in the club car of the country’s prime transcontinental passenger train, The Canadian. I place myself at the edge of a partition, which allows me to show the windowed wall on the outside of the club compartment, as well as the reader, who sits in the interior. The man is anonymous – he represents all of us who care about what is happening in the world, and have the time and desire to leisurely read about it length. And that is exactly what transcontinental train passengers have going for them – time, lots of time.