Madison Avenue

Tourneau Jewelers, Madison Avenue, New York. 1982.

Date: 1982
Place: Madison and 54th
Modus operandi: Street shooter in a suit
Weather: Cold and grey
Time: 2 pm
Gear: Leica M3, 35mm Summaron
Medium: Kodachrome 64
Me: I’m in love
My age: 31

Of New York’s grandest avenues, Park can claim to have the largest apartments. Fifth has the world’s greatest view. But Madison Avenue has something neither of those dowagers could ever lay claim to. Chic. Sorry, no word in the English or American languages for that.

Given that I worked in what was then the Citicorp Center at Lexington and 53rd, I used to make a habit of keeping the Leica in a desk drawer and sneeking out from my 41st floor office to mosey down Madison Avenue. And this wonderful European street, for New York is the most European of American cities, always rewarded me with something. On this day that something was this gorgeous brunette in Tourneau’s window – the one where I would go to gaze at the Pateks I could not possibly afford.

Green

Date: 1987
Place: Near Ojai, south central California
Modus operandi: Riding my motorbike on a pleasure trip
Weather: Perfect leather jacket weather
Time: 11 am
Gear: Pentax ME Super, 40mm Pancake Takumar
Medium: Kodachrome 64
Me: Awestruck by the lack of any color except green
My age: 36

This lovely cherry orchard was impossible to miss, and it was a moment’s work to capture this monochromatic palette featuring my favorite color. Look hard and you will see a deer on the right.

My landscape photography was much influenced by a Dutch photographer named Kees van den Berg – hard to find anything on him nowadays – and his simple use of color.

The little 40mm ‘pancake’ lens, so nicknamed as it was very small and flat, made for a fine travelling companion with the very compact ME Super body. Pentax continues to make pancake lenses for its DSLRs and should be applauded for it. You can see another one of my snaps with the pancake here.

Lovers

Date: 2004
Place: Avila Beach, CA
Modus operandi: Practising invisibility
Weather: Overcast and cold
Time: 2 pm
Gear: Cosina Bessa T, Leica 21mm Asph Elmarit
Medium: Kodak Gold 100
Me: Waiting for the moment
My age: 52

No two ways about it. Get in close and you become invisible. The sort of thing ultra-wide lenses were made for, and it didn’t hurt to have the greatest 21mm lens ever made for a 35mm camera on board. I kept the lens and its atrocious viewfinder on the Bessa at all times – thus avoiding having to mess about with meter removal on the M2. Come to think of it, after a while you could dispense with the viewfinder, having learned to think wide.

The pier this young couple had chosen for a quick snoggle was deserted, as well it should be on this frigid day. The snap actually took a couple of minutes. No matter. Their passion and my secret invisible sauce made things easy.

All I was waiting for was that raised leg….

Holocaust memorial, Paris

Date: September, 1974
Place: Holocaust memorial, Paris
Modus operandi: Waiting a long time for this moment
Weather: Sunny
Time: 11 am
Gear: Leica M3, 35mm Summaron
Medium: Kodak TriX
Me: Really wanting to get this right
My age: 23

Unlike the warm and welcoming architecture of Paris, with its mansard roofs and lovely light, the Holocaust memorial is, appropriately, an ugly, spiky, unwelcoming place. Even the light seems harsher.

The old man on crutches had come to revisit bad times, maybe commune with lost friends. He walked about with difficulty, yet with consummate dignity.

I waited a long time. Eventually, this scene presented itself and the moment was right. I couldn’t wait to get out of there.

Beached whales

Date: August, 1981
Place: Central Park West, NYC
Modus operandi: Wandering the streets
Weather: Overcast
Time: 2 pm
Gear: Leica M3
Medium: Kodachrome 64
Me: Gotcha!
My age: 29

What’s that old joke about the two American tourists in Venice, torn between catching the plane home and seeing yet another priceless cathedral? “OK, honey, you take the outside and I’ll do the inside”.

I imagine these two whales were visiting from some place it’s good to be from, in W C Fields’s words, like Arkansas or Mississippi. They had just ‘done’ the Natural History Museum (the same one in which Woody Allen wanted to “…. make interstellar perversion ….” with Diane Keaton in his fabulous movie ‘Manhattan‘) and simply had to take the weight off their tortured feet.