I have been a New York street photographer for over 40 years. I started with a Kodak Hawkeye at the age of 7 and grew serious at 12 with the purchase of a second-hand Voigtländer Vito C, followed rapidly by my first SLR, the venerable SrT101 at 13 and I spent my teenage weekends photographing the raucous alternative antics in Central Park during the turbulent late 1960s and early ’70s.
In the mid to late ’70s I worked as an event photographer and had the opportunity to photograph such notable figures as Muhammad Ali, Prince Sihanouk, Mayor Ed Koch and Secretaries of State Elliot Richardson and Cyrus Vance. After an absence of many years I returned to photography in 1999, forsaking film for digital. Initially drawn to images of the South Jersey shore, I quickly returned to capturing the often unobserved minutiae of daily life on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Recent projects include The Nature of Cities, a show at Druids in New York in December, 2010; The Lovers, a slide show exploring the different types of lover, mostly shot in New York’s subways and set to the music of Roberta Flack; Transcendental Color; the small epiphanies of Couleurs Locales; and The Burghers of Broadway, a series of photographs of people living and working on Upper Broadway. As of this writing (April thru September, 2011) a number of my images can be seen at the Terrain Gallery show: “This Great Diverse City: How Shall We See It?”
I also maintain a commercial site at www.islerphoto.zenfolio.com where you can purchase prints or contact me for other services.
From my own experiences with street photography, I have found that, on the whole, New Yorkers are the most tolerant of suddenly finding themselves the subject of some stranger’s special art project. Let’s face it, street photography is beyond old hat and everyone is doing some form of it even if they’re not aware of it. So, there’s the overall awareness that everyone is taking pics of everyone else. But New Yorkers have a particularly high tolerance level and, even if only intuitively, they realize there are artists, true artists, among them snapping photos. And so they indulge them.
Thanks for your comments, Henry, and apologies for taking so long to respond (WordPress doesn’t seem to notify my of comments other than on the main page). I think we do see a gamut of responses in NY from what you describe to, “please, no” to “no!” without the please but it is certainly an ancient art now. Even though it’s all been done before, I think we have an endless fascination with human facial expressions and gestures that allows for street photography to live on, as much as it’s been done before.
Hello. My name is Julius Irles and I’m Spanish. Let me tell you that you’re an incredible artist!
Ps. Which of our two surnames is the good one? 🙂
Thanks! I guess we’re anagramigos!
Great blog,i am really happy i find you, not easy here on wordpress 🙂 Regards from Poland
Thanks very much!
iao! luvFAB blog.
thebestdressup
Thanx!
I took pics on the metro in Paris and the underground in London and was afraid someone would mug me for invading their privacy. LOL