This is just part of a series I have been working on for the past few years on Dixie Highway which was for the most part the main North/South highway before the Interstates. Now it is just plain ole sprawl… but with character.
More from Carnival on the Mile in Coral Gables. She thought I was some sort of pervert taking pictures of her feet but she gladly modeled them for me. Then she asked me if I wanted a haircut.
Worth Avenue, Palm Beach Florida. If you have never heard of it, look it up. It is a very unique place.
For the past few years, I have been working on a series of photographs of Dixie Highway in South Florida. many years ago it was US1—the main north/south highway through Florida. Millions of snowbirds would use it on their annual trek south to warm weather. 50 years ago, the interstate system came a long and this road evolved into something different. There are still the old motels, car lots, diners and such, but now there are new businesses opening up along here. The other day as I was driving along, I stumbled upon a new tattoo shop and stopped to chat. This is Kaitlin—she was very sweet. This series began as more of a documentary on the buildings but it is now evolving through to include people and symbols. My series continues.
Just a quick note to mention that my web site has been updated. The theme is called One…Two…Three and it has to do with the relationship between the number of people in a photograph and the activity and sounds they may or may not result.
This is “The Man in the Orange Vest”. I spotted him at a festival a few years ago in Coral Gables. He was just hanging around while a blues band was playing on the stage and he seemed to know everybody. Then, suddenly he jumped up on the stage and did a few steps to the music. it must have lasted all of 30 seconds but it was one of the best dancing I ever saw. It was a magic “Orange Vest” and the silver shirt and matching silver hat weren’t too shabby either.
Montreal. rue St. Viateur: 2008
I love looking down at things. I guess it is the voyeur in me and when I am above it there is a feeling of being removed from what is really happening. The type of photograph that I like to make is one where the subject does not know he/she is being photographed and they are alone in their own thoughts. Hovering above them helps me achieve this. Of course every now and then some guy looks up and notices me but they never think that they are the subject of the photograph.
On the other hand, I also have a sort of “angelic” feeling when I am hovering above them. Alone…in my own thoughts… Silent.
I have noticed a few things as I get older. The first is that I think of mortality more often. The second Is that I find it easier to talk to strangers. They are not unconnected. This summer while driving through central Vermont, I noticed an old cemetery in this small village. lately I have been photographing these locations as one of my many ongoing projects so I stopped to see if there was anything happening (moving or otherwise). The tombstones were interesting, but not that interesting so I started heading back to my car. I passed a gravedigger who was working there maintaining the plots. He was with his three children and I said hi. He nodded back and we started to talk a bit and out of the corner off my eye, I noticed one of his kids staring at me from behind this grave marker. Naturally, I asked If he minded me taking a few shots and he nodded—not quite sure what I was up to. I got off 2 quick ones—one focussed on his eyes and the other on the tombstone.
As I said, these events are not unconnected. I guess all photographs (at least the ones I make) are personal and tell my story.
I love New York! (as the jingle goes). I visited there twice this year. The second time I hung out below 26th street and wandered, ate, drank and made a few photographs. Since I am off to Florida on Saturday, my style will have to make an adjustment from northern cloudy light to southern Sunbelt bright. It’s really funny though because when i first started out, I only would shoot on cloudy overcast days. I hated the shadows and what they did to my pictures but alas, I grew up, had another got at it and discovered that it was not much different from what I had been doing all along. My attitude changed—that’s all So chances are, my next posting will have lots of bright contrasty shadows.
