NYC Artist Makes It Big
Talk about making it big!I was walking to the Lexington Avenue subway station on E. 23rd Street when I looked up and saw this giant work-in-progress. There were actually four men working on this - two each on two platforms.
I had my Tamron "super-zoom" 18-270mm lens on my camera. I racked it to full-out telephoto and started to watch the painters. The 270mm position was just enough to show a small but detailed figure against a large section of the painting.
From a superb workshop I took with Karen Schulman, I knew that in an image like this, gesture is important to keep the photo from looking too static. "Gesture," in that context, could mean a lean of the body, an arm or leg extended, in other words, just about anything that departs from "just standing there."
For this situation, I figured that "gesture" would be in the form of reaching out with the paintbrush. It took about 20 minutes, but sure enough, I got a few shots of two of the guys in a good lean-and-stretch. This one is the one I liked best, as he's putting his whole body into it.
In case you're curious, the... er... I don't know what to call the painting-on-the-side-of-a-building... is for a remake of the 1981 film, Arthur.
Labels: Canon 450D, Gesture, New York, NYC, Painting, Tamron 18-270 SuperZoom, Wall Painting
posted by Steve Rosenbach at 4:33 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
very cool shot...worth the 20 minute wait!
Interesting work in progress. The gesture is great- I can see that must make a big difference, good to know :) The painting is really awesome. Nice capture!
Steve,
I saw this at the airport on my iPhone and didn't want to comment until I could see it on a larger screen. It looked at the airport like the painter was part of the painting. The details are great. Did you wait until the guy was painting his nose...looks like the painter is cleaning up after a cold. Nice capture of the moment.
**Dolph
Steve, you really applied your lesson of gesture. His body position makes this a keeper.
Dan
Hi Dolph - sorry I just noticed I didn't answer your question... I watched the painter and noticed that occasionally, he leaned out quite a bit. So I kept looking for that and fired away any time it looked as if he was going to lean :-)
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