Girl waiting for the metro - NYC Subway
This picture was taken back in 2007 a few weeks after I started photography. I had taken out my tripod, very determined to be serious about photography. And what is more serious than a photographer, his camera, and his giant tripod, waiting patiently for the Subway to arrive in 42th station? My intentions were very serious at start, I wanted to catch a motion blurred subway, with long exposure, coming in an empty station.
At the beginning, I was patiently waiting for people to leave the scene, or did not really pay attention to them, since they would probably be blurred on the picture. After about 5 minutes of (boring) remote shutter releases, I noticed a girl, rushing to the subway door that was closing, and who, after a frantic race, eventually bumped against the door desperately closed. So a little awkwardly, she went to sit, waiting for the next subway to come.
Distracted by this scene, I started to pay attention to people. There were not so many of them at the station. Most of the time people were avoiding the camera, sneaking or hiding between the poles. But the girl must have noticed me, because she sundenly came right in front of the objective, and started to sing. She was singing opera, what a strange idea. However she was really acting, fully aware I was here, shooting a bunch of pictures.
Eventually, she missed the next subway, much to my pleasure, because I was very excited to have a consenting model to shoot. And when I said excited, I have to confess that it was much more exciting than taking incoming subway. A real collusion started between the improvised model and the photographer. She was knowing I was shooting, and I knew she knew. My heart was pounding a lot, and I remember not seeing anything else that the model, awaiting the next subway, to take the shot that would express the most this experience.
I was so concentrated on the scene, that I remember not immediately adjusting the camera settings, that were left on long exposure. A lot of pictures turned out to be wasted. However, It probably lasted 15 minutes or so, of a totally unbelievable and implicit connivance between me and her. Since this day, people are the main and probably the only photography subject that make sense to me. First, for the pictorial, funny or emotional aspect of the resulting picture, but also, and mainly, because of this exciting experience you share with your models and characters (they know it or not), and the growing excitement you feel until reaching the climax of the decisive moment that will make the perfect shot to you.