The 8th of the fifth

The Art of Looking!

My early professional life, and some would say the only productive part of that life, was spent in greater downtown and mid-town New York City.  Some twenty five years.

There it was  I developed the "Art of Looking".

  Hey, if you can't find it in the Big Apple it just doesn't exist.  I remember the first time we took our son to see the town.  First thing he saw was a guy sleeping in rags on a subway grate.  It was warm there.  My son just could not reason why this man was laying on the sidewalk asleep.  It was one of the first teaching opportunities I had with him.  "Ya wanna end up like that guy on the sidewalk?  So do your homework already!"

I would spend my lunch hours just wandering the streets and looking.  "People watching" we used to call it.
  Like talking with hookers just to see how low a price you could weasel.  Just talking!

 Just to perfect the art of negotiation.

It is amazing what goes on in a big city, or small for that matter if you look hard enough.  Unfortunately all this was before I even picked up a camera.  I also have always had a problem taking candid shots of people out on the streets.  Invasion of their privacy type of thing and it makes me nervous.  Would not have made a good Paparazzi.  But occasionally we run over some stuff that makes some sense in a urban setting sort of way.

It doesn't matter if the location be New York or a vacation or tourist town, like Camden, Maine or a small village on the Eastern shore of Maryland.

Medium cities like Charlotte, NC offer all sorts of opportunities for the eye.

And of course New York and Chicago size cities are just mecca for the "Eyes wide open" type.

I guess I have been lucky.  Been a lot of places and seen a lot of things.  All I have to do is remember to stop, look and listen.  Even so, sometimes wondrous things are found in my own own back yard.

I relate the story about the photographer in upstate New York at an art fair.  Had some of the most fantastic photographic prints of storms out over the great plains.  I was mesmerized!  And like most amateurs, I asked the worn old question we photographers always get...."How did you do that"?

Boy did he simplify my life with his answer.

"Simple.  You had to be there"!

And now I would add.  "With eyes wide open"!