Picture of the Week #296 "Leica Light" Los Angeles, CA 2014 Signed & Stamped

Coming out of the Leica Gallery after an exhibition of collector's favorites from PAC, the photographic organization I belong to, I saw this beautiful light reflecting on the front of the gallery's outside wall. While all the others just waited for their cars I snapped this image. I must say I didn't realize how picturesque this was until I downloaded it into my computer from my little point & shoot Canon Power shot. Graphic, colorful and contemporary, these type of images are a break from my people pictures. As I really don't have a brand, I feel I can get away with various kinds of pictures as one subject doesn't always interest me.

Picture of the Week #295 "Every Day is a Hard Day" New York City, NY 1972 Signed & Stamped

This is one of my most powerful images. If you think you are having a bad day just imagine what this poor, homeless and legless man has to cope with on a daily basis. This image as well as others that I have posted all came from one day of shooting on the Bowery in New York. The Bowery was different in those days. It was where the homeless, and the downtrodden existed. I can't say lived as this is a terrible way to go through life. I do not know why this man has one leg, or if he served in the military, or was born that way. I didn't have much conversation with the street people. I was there as I was producing & directing a music video for a rock group called "Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show". The song was titled "Carry Me". I was not sure how to portray alcoholism in a music video so I set out for where I knew they congregated, the Bowery. I snuck pictures at first and then was caught by a very mean looking  man with a schooner tattooed to his chest. He demanded a quarter. I gave it to him. He became my guide and my protector. It cost me thirty dollars that day but it was perhaps the best expenditure I ever made to capture the under belly of America at that time. Sadly this is now all too common. Then it was centralized.

Picture of the Week #294 "The Duke's Final Ride" Beverly Hills, California 2014 Signed & Stamped

After a screening one night we walked out to get our car and I looked up and there was this shadow of John Wayne's statue riding off into the sunset. Although I was never a big fan of his movies I remembered when I was introduced to him on the set of Rio Lobo. He grabbed me in a head lock and then knuckled my head and called me a fucking hippie. Then laughed. So much for my Duke encounter.

Picture of the Week # 293 "Holiday on the Beach" Santa Monica, California 2014 Signed & Stamped

It was a beautiful day that closed a fabulous 4th of July holiday weekend. Ann and I went for a walk along Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica and of course I had to take some pictures. This one was so graphic and still showed the holiday celebration with the flag umbrella and all the people against the cloudless afternoon sky. There was a man who threatened to jump off a ledge just across the road and most people weren't aware of the drama, except that Pacific Coast Highway and the Mc Clure tunnel were closed to all traffic. It was a traffic nightmare that thankfully we missed by going to take this picture and then scurrying home to a wonderful confit de canard dinner that Ann just seems to whip up.