Jérôme Aoustin Photography

August 29, 2009

“Urban Abstract”

Astoria is a very cosmopolitan neighborhood of Queens where we used to live a few years ago. I had an hour and a half to kill there while our trusted mechanic was inspecting our car this morning. It was nice to revisit some familiar places and I didn’t mind the rain. This shot was taken underneath a bridge, which served as a much appreciated shelter for my camera. I was on the hunt for a water puddle that would give me some sort of interesting reflection. I liked how the moss, grass and graffiti were all complementing each other. Coincidentally, a face can be seen in the reflection. Can you see it?

Another shot I took during that same walk was of a dead pigeon on Steinway, one of the busiest streets of Astoria. There’s a reason why I mention it. It’s not really a photograph most people would think of taking, let alone dare to. I didn’t know those passersby. They were all strangers to me. However, something inside me didn’t want to be labeled as “the weirdo who takes photos of a dead bird”. I didn’t stop at first, but came back, acknowledging this was a ridiculous conditioned response that I would eventually need to surpass. Why should I care about what others might think? I believe anybody at one point or another has been in a similar situation, whether it was street photography or something else. How we choose to respond to it defines whether we get the shot… or not.