Thursday, May 27, 2010

he's not dead




so, i had strolled around "the village," for an hour or so, looking for photos; looking at buildings and people. of course, i was highly interested in finding the portrait for the day. i think that i was heading north on 5th ave. when i passed this gentleman standing in a doorway. about fifteen feet later, it registered what i had just passed. i walked on for another half a block and then i stopped. i looked back, and he was there, and he was obviously not going anywhere soon; that was his place to stand. it took me a moment to commit to including such an icon in this collection of relatively "common" folks, but when i did, it quickly felt appropriate. so, i strolled back and asked him if i could take his picture for a portrait project.... he said, "For a dollar." and quickly joked about his request. he then asked what i was going to do with the project, and i said that i didn't know where this was going, but that in the end, a book seemed like a proper punctuation to this process... he then raised his price and said, "Let's make it five dollars." still joking. he told me that he is the "super" for the building, and that when he is not fixing something, that he stands at the door and opens it for the tenants and watches all the pretty girls walk by. he was extremely laid back about me taking his picture... i imagine that you already figured that out. "thankyouverymuch."

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