Last Saturday, June 18, I went out to Coney Island for the annual Mermaid Parade. Events such as this one are the perfect opportunities to take photos of strangers. They're in attention grabbing costumes and are in general, happy to have their photos taken. I got plenty of photos of costumed people and I'll share some of those a bit later, once I've sorted and edited!
A friend and I were walking along, looking for a friend of hers who had provided Amazing Race quality clues as to his location. It was kind of like looking for buried treasure which I suppose would have been appropriate since she was dressed as a saucy pirate. Anyway, as we were walking, I spotted a couple of things that caught my eye and grabbed some shots. Interestingly enough, it wasn't anyone in a costume!
 |
| Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY - June 18, 2011 |
Of all the photos I took that day, I think the above shot might well be my favorite. He was perfectly positioned so that it looked like the pointing lady in the painting was referring to him. I immediately saw the photo as black and white in my head. Even though that's how I saw the image in my head when I raised the camera to my eye, in editing, I debated over whether to leave it in color. The colors in the painting are so vivid I wasn't sure I wanted to take them away. In the end, I decided to go with what my original vision was.
 |
| Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY - June 18, 2011 |
 |
| Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY - June 18, 2011 |
The above two images were also vividly colored. But I liked the way they felt in black and white. I've come to realize, that I prefer street photography dark and desaturated or in black and white.
