FROM THE HIP

When I am in the car (most of the time it seems) I often listen to NPR (National Public Radio). Lately they have devoted a number of shows to street photography, photographers who are documenting city life, much in the tradition of Weegee www.wnyc.org/streetshots/. NPR is even promoting an online festival of contemporary street photography. Listening to these shows made me start to think about that style of photography. Years ago they used to call it shooting from the hip... when you would release the shutter without looking through the viewfinder. Today as I stood in Starbucks waiting for my latte I just liked the light and mood so I decided to "shoot from the hip". I like the way each person is lost in their own world. I like the isolation of this picture, it's lonely but warm. It would have been so different if I had actually looked through the camera's viewfinder and aimed the camera. I think the mood would have been destroyed. Street shots is making me think about how I work. As Martha would say "It's a good thing".