Subway

Sooner or later, a given scene will force you to choose between being a passive observer or an active participant. Take for example, a disoriented blind man in an underground subway system headed toward the train tracks. The elapsed time between witnessing what is happening and understanding what is about to happen is probably 5-8 seconds. The time it takes for me to pull out my camera and compose image is probably 3-4 seconds. In that time, our surprisingly fast moving blind subject could have easily walked right off the platform onto the tracks. Would a quick snap just before that decisive moment be unethical? Probably. Would it have been awesome? I’ll let you decide. In the end, I acted reflexively to prevent at least one possibility. I can tell you that our blind subject was redirected up the stairs, through security and on to the street. It cost me a photo that could have been. The photo I wanted probably occurs about 3-4 seconds after this moment and if you are familiar with Todd Gross (Insta: @todd_gross) you can probably guess where I was going with this moment.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/quarlo/33601782868/in/photostream/

The street is also underground in the New York City subway. This one taken at the West 4th station last summer.

wait for it …

Helios 44-2

Pier 39