Street Photography

It has been a while since I last got to update the blog, but I finally have a story worth telling!

Recently, I had the great pleasure of being on the road for Leica in Tokyo to promote the all-new Leica M EV1 Camera. This launch is a significant moment for the M system, and I was thrilled to put it through its paces during an intense portrait shoot.

 

I had the opportunity to photograph the incredible rocker Johnny Daigo. Johnny is someone I’ve been following for over a year now. He’s the driving force behind the band Johnny Pandora and is known across Japan for his unique, high-energy style of “Samurai Rock'n Roll,” a fusion of rockabilly, punk, and traditional Japanese aesthetics. Shooting with him gave us the perfect subject to test the limits of Leica’s most modern M body.

Every year, typically for a precious week in mid-October , a magnificent event occurs: the setting sun aligns perfectly with the eastern-facing windows of Grand Central Terminal's main concourse. This phenomenon, which I eagerly anticipate, bathes the entire hall in a dramatic, incandescent glow, transforming the vast space into a temporary, golden cathedral.

 

It offers an unparalleled opportunity for photographers to capture a truly iconic image of this architectural masterpiece. 

 

The window of opportunity is incredibly brief, often lasting only 30 minutes or less, making the event a thrilling, high-stakes challenge. The critical factor, of course, is the weather; a single overcast day means months of waiting for the sun's position to realign.

 

I was determined to make the most of this year's alignment. Here is one of my latest efforts, where I experimented with slower shutter speed techniques. The goal was to contrast the timeless, monumental granite architecture with the hurried blur of commuters, allowing the flow of human movement to become a ghost-like abstraction within the enduring golden light. I hope the results capture the ephemeral magic of that moment.

If you've ever been outside the Connaught hotel in Mayfair, London, you know the drill. For a brief second, a burst of steam kicks out of the water pool in the main courtyard where all the luxury cars park.

It makes for a great photo—a genuinely striking shot—but it lasts only a few seconds. The challenge is trying to perfectly time a person walking past in front of the rising vapor. It sounds simple, but trust me, it's not.

The steam only releases every 15 minutes, so if you miss the window, you have a long wait and a lot of hoping that a pedestrian's pace will align with the fountain's schedule. I call it great fishing practice; it certainly teaches you patience!

While doing some images around Chinatown I got chatting with this gentleman. We did a few portraits together before he completely freaked me out by showing the whites of his eyes. It made for a great image. You never know when you head out with the camera just what you are going to come home with.

Fighting Bad Guys in Berlin,' this has to be one of the best tote bags ever. This portrait was taken on one of my more recent trips to Europe. I have been visiting Berlin since about 2000, and it just never disappoints. The people, the fashion, and the energy keep me coming back.

One of my favorite cities to photograph would be Berlin, and also one that I have been going to since I was very young. On a recent trip, I took this image of two ladies who were part of a hen party in Berlin, and the cowboy hats and moustaches were perfect for this quick candid moment.

This particular image captures four waiters ready to serve at a resturant in Geneva, Switzerland. Its them all with different expressions that just gets me everytime.

I took one of my favorite recent street shots at a street parade in Queens, New York. The lady looked like she had stepped straight out of a time machine into another dimension—a parallel universe to everything else going on around me at the parade.

One of my favorite images is this one, taken in Paris. I was sitting in a cafe when this gentleman walked past me, all dressed up and looking like he had just come out of a time machine. I dropped everything, ran out of the cafe, and, doing my best, asked him in French if I could take his picture. The man kindly obliged, and it's still one of my favorite portraits today.

For a brief second, you sometimes get stopped in your tracks. This is exactly what happened while out teaching a workshop one night. I turned around and saw a dog literally staring in a window at a toy dog. The classic phrase, 'How much is that doggie in the window?' instantly came to mind.

 

I quickly grabbed my camera and took this shot, knowing very well it would be gone in a second.