Strange display.
Market Street at the trolley terminus, San Francisco.
Nikon D3x, 16-35 VR at f/4.
Candy
Market Street at the trolley terminus, San Francisco.
Category Archives: Street portraits
Market Street at the trolley terminus, San Francisco.
Chess
In the Marina District.
Nikon D3x, 50mm f/1.4 pre-Ai Nikkor at f/2.8.
Looks like Nikkor MF beats Sigma AF into a cocked hat:
Defiance
Fierce.
Defiance.
So fierce was the gaze of this man I thought he might devour the camera.
Nikon D3x, 35/1.4 AF-S Nikkor at f/2.8.
Warmth
A charming man.
When I take pictures of street people, people on whom fate has not looked kindly for the most part, there is one consideration uppermost in my mind. It is that I in no way impugn their dignity or self respect. As a matter of common decency that means I do not stick my camera in their face and do not machine gun a dozen images. Two is my limit.
By the time I take the snap we have established a rapport and there is a bond, however brief. I do not want to break that relationship of trust.
Warmth. Nikon D3x, Sigma 35mm f/1.4 at f/2.8.
Words cannot convey the warmth and human spirit of this man. Despite his circumstances there was no self-pity, just a trust in fate. The marks on his brow and nose speak to tough times past.
“God Bless” were his parting words.
Snapped on Fourth Street in San Francisco under the freeway overpass.
Style
A charming person.
“Are you taking pictures for a magazine?”
She had spotted me gazing at the murals in one of the many decorated alleys in the Mission District of San Francisco.
“Ha! No, I’m not that good. Just doing them for myself, really.”
“What sort of camera is that?”
The big Nikon attracts far more than it repels, in my experience.
“Just a regular Japanese thing. Nothing special.”
“I’m not good with cameras but I used to paint. Until my mate was killed. I won a competition once and gave the money to a local youth center.”
“Killed?”
“Yes. Seven years ago. A street robbery. I haven’t been able to pick up a brush since.”
“I know it’s easy for me to say, but it’s like falling off a horse. You have to gut it out and get back on.”
“Yes, someone else told me that.”
“I love your outfit – the way your earrings, jacket, scarf and pullover go together. It’s quite lovely what you have done.”
“Thank you.”
“Mind if I take a snap of you?”
“No, please do. Where are you from?”
Her natural grace needed no posing, the head inclined just so, a gaze direct and confident.
“London, but my favorite cities are Paris and San Francisco. Yours?”
“London for me every time.”
Nikon D3x, 35/2 MF pre-Ai Nikkor at f/4.