Photography is equal parts faith and voodoo. Faith is knowing the picture will come, voodoo is turning around in time to see it.
Or something like that. I came up with that thought in 1996 after I made this photo. It was on my first trip to NYC and I had been shooting for a few days when I wandered past this wall with all of these square openings fronting the sidewalk. I thought it could be an interesting shot if I were to position myself on the dark side of the wall, wait for a person to walk past the opening on the sidewalk side of the wall, and frame their head in the opening.
During the wait, I began to wonder about the ideal subject. Who would make the most interesting image, who would be able to pull off the image? Maybe it was having just been to B & H Photo, but I almost immediately thought about a Hasidic man as being the most iconic of people and began to wait. There were a few close calls, but both times my would-be subject crossed the street literally right before the opening.
After about 45 minutes and a few frames of other subjects in front of the openings, I was about to call it quits when I heard someone walking behind me. It was this gentleman. Voodoo.
March 1st, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Faith in Voodoo….I think the holga series has that in it, Three Cars and Descending especially. About the above photo, very powerful, causes one to pause and think about life and mind for some time…..