29-JUL-2009
How hard the rain? New York City, New York, 2009
The outstretched hand of the man at right tells the story here. It was raining, but how hard? He could not tell from the patter of drops on his umbrella – only the palm will give this man the info he craves. They were waiting for a traffic light, and I made sure to get a blurred taxi in the background to give the image an urban context.
29-JUL-2009
Waiting for the light in the rain, New York City, New York, 2009
People will often behave incongruously while waiting for a traffic light to change. Using a 400mm focal length, I caught this woman tossing her hair while impatiently waiting to cross Lexington Avenue. Perhaps she is concerned about what the inclement weather will do to it, or maybe she just needs to work off some nervous energy. Three others surround her, huddling under adjacent umbrellas as the rain begins to intensify. I was delighted by the presence of the blurred light from a passing car – it energizes the scene, as do the red and blue primary colors on two of the umbrellas.
29-JUL-2009
Edgy, New York City, New York, 2009
Heavy rain can paralyze traffic on New York’s busy streets. I zoom in on the driver who anxiously waits for the long line of cars in front of him to move. The wet window abstracts him, yet we can still see that he is edgy, his fingers working on his chin.
29-JUL-2009
Urgency, New York City, New York, 2009
As the storm intensifies, pedestrians pick up the pace as they struggle to get to where they must go. Selecting a small lens opening in Aperture priority, I forced a slow shutter speed of 1/6th of a second and panned the camera, blurring the scene to give a sense of urgency to the image. One of these women has lost her grip on her umbrella -- she is struggling to keep up.
29-JUL-2009
Futility, New York City, New York, 2009
The woman in red is frantically trying to hail a taxi. She has no umbrella and is soaking wet. Taxis are hard to come by in a New York City rainstorm, and she moved on after a few more minutes of futility. The presence of umbrella bearing pedestrians walking casually on both sides of her add context intensifying her plight. Meanwhile, falling raindrops explode on the crosswalk in front of her and throw a misty curtain over the entire scene.
29-JUL-2009
Waiting it out, New York City, New York, 2009
I saw this woman patiently waiting out the storm, huddling under an awning on the other side of Lexington Avenue. Using a long 400mm telephoto focal length, I made this image to capitalize on the muted primary colors around her. A folding, red-framed, windowed wall at the end of the awning rises up through the center of the image. The blue-framed bus shelter, diagonally across the intersection from my own vantage point, gives us a sense of place. Her orange blouse complements the bank of red, yellow and blue flowers at right, while a pedestrian wearing only black and white contrastingly walks past under a black umbrella at left.
29-JUL-2009
Soaked, New York City, New York, 2009
At the height of the storm, I was able to make the dense curtain of rain appear by using a relatively slow shutter speed of 1/30th of a second. The woman who leads the way across Lexington Avenue here is soaking wet, but still gamely holds her blue umbrella over her head as she checks the condition of hair. The people who follow her across the intersection have no such worries as they stride through the bursts of exploding raindrops on the pavement below them.
29-JUL-2009
Translucence, New York City, New York, 2009
Their plastic ponchos made translucent by the headlights of waiting traffic, two men cross 34th Street in a deluge of rain. I spot metered on the lights of a car, which turns day into night, and intensifies the translucence.
29-JUL-2009
Improvisation, New York City, New York, 2009
Two men pass each other while crossing Lexington Avenue at peak of a downpour. Neither have an umbrella, so improvisation takes over. The man at left wears a postal uniform. He creatively seeks shelter below an inverted plastic mail tub. The other fellow uses a wet magazine to keep the rain out of his eyes, allowing him to see where is going.
29-JUL-2009
Cyclist, New York City, New York, 2009
Cyclists seem to take bad weather in stride. This one relies on a rain jacket and helmet to keep himself dry. He seems relatively unconcerned with the raindrops pelting the glistening street below him. The long line of traffic stretching along 34th Street provides the illumination.
29-JUL-2009
Heading west, New York City, New York, 2009
I made this photograph of the cyclist seen in the previous image only thirty seconds later. Between these two pictures, the light had changed and he had raced past me, an abstracted figure heading west towards Park Avenue over shimmering red reflections from the adjoining taillights and the overhead traffic signal. The abstraction removes detail, and puts the viewer on the cycle as well.
29-JUL-2009
Workout, New York City, New York, 2009
Two cyclists spin towards me along 34th Street through blinding sheets of rain. The softly focused man in the foreground is wrapped within a flapping poncho, in stark contrast to the fellow just behind him who seems to be out for the exercise. He wears a short-sleeved shirt and short pants as he casually rides into the teeth of a storm.
