Couple by street light

I'd like to know more about these two. Sometimes I'm only interested in the shape or expression of people I photograph. But with these two, I would like to know more, because she is dressed differently from him, more formally and with a bag and scarf, and he is in just a thin sweater. Also she spoke not a word to me, yet he was warm and forthcoming about having the picture taken, but as it was nearing eleven o'clock and they had not eaten, I could not keep them any longer. I had already dragged them out from their table that they had just settled into.

Two elbows, one bottle

In order for a digital camera to see to focus in low light it has to be assisted by a spotlight built into the camera that shines without your asking when the subject is too dim for the automatic focus too cope. This is very irritating and can ruin the shot. Here the subjects were so absorbed in each other that if you had shone a search light at them they would not have noticed.

The photograph was taken at Marlow and Sons in Williamsburg, a place where they understand the romance of candlelight (the whole room is more or less lit by candlelight), the right music, making people feel welcome, and service.

Surprise

You seldom know what people are talking about or feeling when you are observing them. Before I took this picture, I had been watching the couple and I thought from their expressions that they didn't know each other well. They were being polite and careful. After this show of aggressive surprise, I am not sure.

Escape from Techno

After our main course at Diner in Williamsburg I asked the waitress if we could have our desert at a table outside. She said that that would be fine. The food had been as good as anywhere in the city and the service probably better than anywhere in the city.

It was not the heat of the inside that made us want to move; the temperature was about right for a power saving minded proprietor. The trouble was the music — the Techno music. Not broadcast at the modest level of the thermostat but at a level that required one person wanting to tell their friend something important and confidential either to go outside into the street or text him or her on their phone.

Anyway, outside was heaven as our friend above also thought. The dessert was A1 and the bill most reasonable.

James Biederman

Difficult to find looks that the camera likes as much as his. James Biederman, artist; sorely missed by many in Garrison. He went to Williamsburg and found a job as artist in residence at UNC Pembroke.

Young man with basketball

I thought, what is he wearing? Is it a uniform? What a hat! Sometimes I am so happy that the subject allows me to photograph them that I forget to ask.

Tarot reader

The sisters-in-law took it in turns to do the Tarot readings from a portable table and chairs on the corner of Bedford Avenue and North 5th Street in Williamsburg. Whilst one read the other hustled. She liked our dog Louis and asked if we would like a reading done for him.

Two Gentlemen of Williamsburg

Only ten days ago I wrote that soon I will not want to stand around street corners in the biting wind looking for subjects. Yesterday we sat in the warmth of Diner in Williamsburg, staring only at back views lining the bar. So, fortified with ham and cheese I decided to brave it and wait on a nice open piece of ground away from clutter and not crowded, where Broadway and South 6th Street intersect, shivering a bit but feeling that someone would turn up. And they did. First Danny, top, wearing his father's jacket, bought in the 1960s on Carnaby Street in London. He said,"You're lucky, I was thinking of putting on my down, then you never would have stopped me and asked to take my picture."

Levi, below Danny, is a guitarist and seventeen-years-old. He was on his way to a recording session. His friend has a large empty loft, well away from the BQE, Williamsburg Bridge and the overhead subway. He is from Bozeman, Montana. He found his guitar somewhere (he says it sounds a bit like a banjo but he likes that). He also found his bicycle, a classic English Raleigh. I saw him whiz by on South 4th Street and shouted. He turned in his saddle but continued peddling. I shouted again and he started back towards us. He said later that he thought we were lost.

Two straight knees - one bent knee

They didn't seem to know where they were going. She wears her bag as armor. He travels light, perfectly trimmed hair and side whiskers are enough. All I had to do was to hold my camera more or less vertical at my waist and technology did the rest: accurate focus and exposure.

A picture of indecision. A Saturday of unenjoyment on Bedford Avenue.

Solemn moment

More that Nikon shutters are as smooth as silk than my hand rock steady, but I believe that this photograph was taken at 1/5th of a second. Diner is a marvelous place where the waitress sits or crouches at your table and reels off the menu from memory and writes it at the same time on the paper tablecloth. Wine, (Julianénas out of a ten litre box, yes box, decanted into litre bottles) pasta and chocolate cake, out of this world. And a couple, heads together, her hand holding his ear. Why? Maybe just trying to concentrate on who owes what for the dinner.

Lion and gazelle

They walked past us on Wythe Avenue, Williamsburg. I leaped on them, and a few yards from where we were I saw a possible background. They followed me and it was done.

Baker at Bakeri

I did him standing, sitting, straight on, and in profile, full length and close up. This was the one though, sitting, behind the fence, finishing his cigarette.

We were looking for bread, but Con Ed had not yet put in enough electricity for the ovens. Caroline was not , however, going to leave without a brownie. Delicious, she said.

Girl with a purple handbag

Whores in Amsterdam and other cities sit in the windows on busy streets. As far as I know this is not the case on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg: just nice girls with lovely profiles sit in cafés.

Niko and Alex

I was in the wine shop and caught site of Caroline outside waiving and pointing to this couple standing in line in the street for a burrito. "It's all right, you remind me of my parents", Alex said, when Caroline was offering our names and e-mail and showing them cards of my work to reassure them they weren't going to be kidnapped.

I always worry a bit when it is plainly hopeless doing the shot where the subject is standing and have to ask them to come round the corner with me because I have found a good background there. But in this case the first shots around the corner were not too good. They were done in a hurry because I thought they wanted to eat their lunch. But glancing to the other side of the street I saw these steps and liked it much more, and they said they were happy to take as long as I needed and wait for their food.

A summer's day

Caroline wished she had had her Flip with her to record my moving surreptitiously (I thought), amongst the prone and mostly bikini clad bodies sunbathing in McCarren Park. I was dressed in a long sleeved shirt, pressed khakis and polished boots, which Caroline thought made me look conspicuous. I think most people were either asleep, photographing each other or fully occupied to worry about me.

Roebling Tea Room

It started almost as soon as the four of them sat down. Her telephone rang and she answered it. After five minutes of conversation (mostly from the caller), she got up and left the restaurant. Her companions paid no attention and continued to talk amongst themselves. We left soon after and found her, head bowed, leaning on the railings of the iron staircase at the entrance to the restaurant, muttering and looking as anguished as before.

In the Blackbird Parlour

The contrast in appearance between these two friends: the one with straight dark hair and soft round features, the other, curly auburn hair and chiseled looks. They were sitting, chatting and writing at the next table to us in the Blackbird Parlour, Williamsburg, NY. Look how differently they dress too. I would have loved to have spoken to them more. They said they were regulars so we must go back.