08-APR-2009
Awestruck, Old State Capitol, Phoenix, Arizona, 2008
Arizona’s Old State Capitol building is now a history museum. Among its exhibits is the old House of Representatives chamber, which offers visitors a trip back into time. The room is kept exactly as it looked in 1912, when Arizona became a state. Every day, school groups tour the museum, and all of them spend some time in this room, listening to guides tell them stories from out of the past. I made this image of a schoolteacher, seated at a desk on the chamber floor. I used a 400mm telephoto lens from the second floor chamber gallery, high above her. I framed her behind two softly focused antique light fixtures, and found her brightly illuminated hands clasped before her as she gazed around the room. I found a catchlight in one eye, and an expression of awe upon her face. I hope her students were as impressed with the stories of Arizona’s political history as she seemed to be.
22-MAR-2009
Bethesda Terrace, Central Park, New York City, New York, 2009
Built in the 1870s as the centerpiece of Central Park, Bethesda Terrace is the weekend home of amateur performers who sing, dance, and ridicule their audience. I photographed the reaction of this spectator in red, who, along with her friend in the green hat, makes this part of the old terrace into her private viewing gallery. Her vivid coloration contrasts to the mellow 19th century stone embellishments that surround her, and adds emphasis to her enthusiastic gesture of delight.
23-MAR-2009
Board game, Chinatown, New York City, New York, 2009
Clutching his cell phone in one hand as if it were a good luck charm, this fellow is virtually pouncing on his opponent’s markers. He vigorously proclaims the effect of his move with both expression and gesture. I use the interplay of light and shadow to highlight the hands, and reveal part of his animated face. I leave the rest to the imagination of the viewer.
07-FEB-2009
A quiet moment, Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, Arizona, 2009
I was photographing people passing through a vast lobby of a busy convention center. Just in front of the rest rooms and water fountains, I noticed a rectangle of light stretching across the floor. A woman stepped into this area and caught the light, allowing me to expose for these highlights and throw the rest of the long frame into shadow. Her energetic family has temporarily gone elsewhere, leaving her with a moment to touch her hair and relax her knees. Her graceful gesture represents a moment of peaceful respite, found within the calm of the soft shadows that surround her in this long, quiet frame.
15-NOV-2008
Discussion, Guellala, Jerba Island, Tunisia, 2008
Guellala has always been Tunisia’s pottery town. While others in our tour group shopped for pottery, I prowled its streets, shopping for an image. I found it on a street corner, where two residents, dressed in traditional clothing, carried on an animated conversation. Using burst mode and a fast 1/400th of a second shutter speed, I was able to freeze dual gestures here. One woman is firmly pointing at the other. The other woman responds with fingers only. Notice the negative space flowing between these gestures – it crackles with energy and tension.
08-NOV-2008
Body language, Sousse, Tunisia, 2008
I spent a good five minutes shooting the body language of this couple in a Sousse park. A fountain in the background creates a curtain of water as a context for a man who takes a call on his cell phone. It is as if he has drawn a curtain between himself and his companion, who sits awkwardly on the fountain railing, not quite sure of what to do or where to look at the moment. He seems at ease, his hand thrust in his pocket, his feet casually crossed as he listens. She seems impatient, full of energy, with no place to go.
22-OCT-2008
Construction workers, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2008
I watched these two construction workers for several minutes as they had a discussion under a covered walkway during a break. I built this image around the gesture of the man at left, who stood in profile before a brilliantly illuminated textured column. He brings his hand to his face and raises a finger for emphasis. Coupled with his open mouth, we get the feeling that he is giving advice to the woman at right. Her gestures were passive, while his were active. She seems to be preoccupied with a wrapping, and fades into the shadows.
15-SEP-2008
Multitasking, Klamath Falls, Oregon, 2008
If evocative story-telling is our objective, try to look for subjects who may be trying to do many things at once. Such situations are usually rich in both incongruity and human values. Gesture, body language, and response hold the keys to such expression. For example, this woman is talking on the phone, and carries a bag on her shoulder while simultaneously juggling keys, a bottle of water, and a piece of paper in her hands. Her body language is tense as she emerges from a storefront on Klamath Fall’s main street. She looks at us with one eye, intent on maintaining both the phone conversation and control of her various burdens. She is already harried, and the day has hardly begun. I frame her between stone columns brushed with sun. A calm sky blue background contrasts with her hectic situation. We can all relate – we’ve been in similar situations.
19-MAY-2008
Hug, Columbia State Historic Park, California, 2008
This park contains a collection of Gold Rush architecture, offering visitors a living museum. This couple had been sitting for a while on top of a wagon parked on the main street – sharing a moment together out of the past. They could not see me, since they were looking into the late afternoon sun and I was standing in deep shadow. I used my long 420mm telephoto lens to make this exuberant image. The man climbed down first, and the woman screamed as she fell into his waiting hug. I used my multiple exposure feature, keeping my finger on the shutter button as she moved from the wagon to the hug. This was the gesture that says it all.
12-NOV-2007
Patience, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2007
When I saw her looking out of a Santa Fe shop window, I instinctively raised my camera and made this image. Softened by the reflective windowpane, she both looked and felt real at that first glance. But Santa Fe is a place of illusions -- what seems real at first, often proves to be unreal, the stuff of fantasy. Her hand in chin gesture and facial expression evokes great patience. She will continue to wait and watch from this window without movement, sight, or thought.
06-SEP-2007
Kite flyer, Shanghai, China, 2007
I framed my subject tightly here to stress the gesture – the way the hand delicately plays the string of the kite, almost as if it were a musical instrument. His expression adds context to the gesture – he is relaxed yet concentrating intensely on his task.
12-JUN-2007
Curbside call, Berkeley, California, 2007
She sits on the curb of busy Telegraph Avenue, knees pressed together, elbows firmly anchored on them, covering her mouth as she speaks. There is no one near her, so she is probably not concerned about being overheard. Her body language speaks more loudly than her voice here. She folds herself around her phone – a study in withdrawal. With the coming of the cell phone, conversations are often on public view. How we feel about what we say and hear during such conversations is on public view. The body speaks as much as the voice here, and so does the camera.
(I am often asked if it is ethical to photograph strangers from a distance under such circumstances. My answer is always the same. Ethical photographers should never violate the privacy of another human being with their cameras. However, once a person enters a public space, whatever they may do there becomes public, and not private. Photographers in a free society should be able to express themselves about whatever they may see in public spaces and photograph whatever they want, and share the results, as long as it is for non-commercial purposes. The law, at least in the USA, calls it “fair use.” In the case of the images in my cyberbook, all of them are made as teaching examples for educational purposes, which in many societies is considered “fair use.”)
