class picture: b&w street shots

on a day when i was assigned to find "light and shadow" the sky was perfectly...grey.

i didn't get too many good photos, but the day inspired a couple of memorable encounters:

mister hazmat.

i asked permission to take his photo ("sign" language, as he was on the phone).

i wish i'd thought to get his whole outfit, but i was so fixated on his face, his hood.

and then he flashed me that sign, with his funky-tipped gloves.

***

there was a single moment that afternoon when the sun burst through the clouds and created exactly the kind of dramatic shadow i needed to work with. i noticed a woman, directly across the street from me, sitting almost regally with her fur-trimmed coat, her legs crossed at the ankles, on the thick concrete slabs that create some roaming space for pedestrians around madison square park. she looked relaxed--and i hesitated to disturb her--but wanted to make a photo of her. so i made a gentle ask...

it turned out she didn't speak english. so we exchanged signs, i pointed at the camera, and she consented, with a nod. but by then the sun was gone.

still, i wanted a photo of her, but asked her to turn her head so i could get her strong profile. i pointed in the direction i wanted her to look. she stood up and walked that way. we were both confused, but had a nice laugh afterwards. (how funny that she would even think to take that kind of direction from me so willingly, yes?) she liked the photos, but the expression on her face in this one, as she's walking away from me, is my favorite.

***

all photos taken jan 10, 2012

© anita aguilar