Tuesday morning and evening. A few shots at twilight outside on Fifth Avenue. The rest are at Penn Station or on subway platforms. Another day, another half dollar - after taxes. Not one shot above is in a subway car.
Don asked if anyone discovered my work and becomes agitated, For the most part I am fairly covert. I am not noticed much, I think. I have been caught and that is one reason I shoot less on the Railroad.
As noted in a recent post books, magazines, iPods, and mobile phones distract subjects. So does subway rumble and the frenzy of crowds. At MoMA everyone is clicking but I need to be fairly discrete and fast.
It helps to also fidget with my iPod, look at my watch, "type" something into the BB, shove it into my pocket, etc. What you do not want to do is click and then look at the photo a second later. Stealth helps.
What is frustrating is the shots I miss. Some are lost simply from miscalculations while shooting from the hip. A sideways moving subject is the hardest to time correctly. A finger, usually the thumb, covers the part of the lens. Look at the top of this image:
The click button is a small ball in the center and you have to hit it just right to take a picture. If you press a bit to the right or to the left, then you do not get a shot. You might even be taken out of camera mode and be in your emails. Double click and the BB freezes sometimes. Many problems. With a "head on" moving shot, a problem means a lost opportunity.
The BB's center roller ball get old and worn - my roller right now does not zoom which is great. You do not want to zoom since you get a smaller file. Zooming is horrible. Turning the ball causes zoom.
Taping over the flash has helped - no random flashes to alert the world. Muffling the click noise has helped. Being more subtle has helped.
Here are two subway photographs:
My best.
