New York Faces

Vilnius, Lithuania

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New York City Faces
Few portraits of NYC people
A year ago I was visiting NYC for a few weeks and I had my camera with me so I couldn't use an opportunity to take few photos of city people...

© 2011 Tadao Cern
www.tadaocern.com
www.flickr.com/photos/tadaocern
I guess that many of you from NYC should or could know this person, but for me personally he is very interesting because of two things:

First. When I came to him and tried to make a small conversation, nothing happened... He showed me no emotions and didn't even responded to any of my questions. He was sitting like this when I took few shots and when I was leaving... I thought 'ookey'...

Second. After spending some time looking at this picture I started to think that every detail in here is made not by an accident and I am talking not about 'life meaning', but I am saying that bottles, flags, plastic bags, etc. were put like this with purpose - to pose for tourists. The only problem is that I didn't left any money for him :)
As I remember everything started from this person: till the moment I met him, I was taking only photos of a New York city.

I saw him in a flee market, running form woman to woman, talking very loudly and giving compliments to all of them.

Then he bought something and stood for a few seconds to have a small chat with his friend - a moment for me to ask for a chance to make his portrait.

Since then, spending time in NYC, meant meeting new people and collecting portraits of them because they are the face of the city.
While I was having a small talk with one lady and asking her if i could make her portrait, this guy came to as(he was a friend of that lady), and asked me to make his picture.

I said that I would love to, he stepped back a little and asked : 'Ok. What do I have to do now?'

I told him to be honest and to be himself.

'Well, than I will show you my middle finger, because it represents my personality' - he said.
'That is so sweet..' - I said and I still don't know why.
Well, here I have a small problem - I like this shot but is it because of a woman(which I think is very attractive) or is it just because I find this portrait interesting :)

Anyways, it was one of the hardest shots of New York strangers, because I had not only ask a stranger to pose for me, but that stranger was a beautiful woman.

Thanks God everything went well and at the end I am happy with the result and who cares who is responsible for that: God, who created her, or me who has captured his creation :)
Now I know!

I am afraid of good looking people!

Sounds like a joke but it is so and I came up with this thought few minutes ago while I was uploading this photo.

The thing is that I was walking down the Soho in New York and this guy passed me buy. I thought that it would be a good idea to take his photo, bet I couldn't do it until my friend told me that I definitely have to...

And only now I understood that I was confused only because he is good looking guy, and I had the same situation with a beautiful woman(few portraits back)...

Is it because good looking people look more successful what makes you feel less confident about yourself? :)
I guess that this is the portrait of a person who managed to keep my attention for the longest time :)

When this lady was passing by my eyes were jumping from detail to detail and even when she was to far to see the things that she had on her I wasn't finished looking and finding something new...

Then I understood that I definitely have to have her portrait in my collection:)

Damn, I miss the city and those people so much...
Without having any plans and holding camera in my hands, suddenly I felt like I came to a right place an at the right time.

Somewhere in the Soho, by an accident I found an open photographers workshop with a lot of people buzzing around.

Then I saw him I understood that I definitely wanted to have his portrait in my collection.

I guess he knew what he was doing, because it only took one shot to get what I wanted.
I met this person in one of NYC streets sitting close to a road and watching cars passing by.
I thought he is one of those old fashioned mafia guys :) Really...

At least he looks like one and he was very suspicious when I asked him to pose for me for a minute. At first he said 'no' and that was enough for me not to bother him again with the same question because his tone was convincing.

But I had a minute so I sat next to him and I guess that was the most interesting talk with the stranger during the trip to New York.

When I was already walking away, he called me and said: 'Ok, do what you came to do!'
The guy was very surprised when I asked him to take a shot, but you should have seen the faces of his friends, when suddenly for no reason one of them became a star:)

And that silence while waiting for a shot...

I waited for a little bit longer because I was amazed how the face of this person changed when I pointed camera at him. Suddenly he got this movie star look... As a result I've got a portrait of a self confident and calm man.

Beautiful.