Jérôme Aoustin Photography

September 3, 2009

“Got Milk!”

It was quite a productive walk… New York City is also called the city that never sleeps, which is undeniably accurate to anybody who ever visited it. This trendy little pastry shop was open past midnight and still serving customers, in the middle of a work week. I really liked how the large floor to ceiling windows were framing the scene in a subtle balance between the large neon sign and what was going on inside the shop… Lots of interesting elements, lights, reflections… I am finding myself more and more attracted to black and white. Color doesn’t always work. In some instances, I think it can really distract from the subject matter and how elements relate to each other, whether in a cohesive or disjointed way. Converting a scene to black and white leaves it epurated and our focus can shift more freely to the light, shapes… it changes our perception. Of course, like color, black and white has its own limitations… the most obvious one of all, it’s in black and white! I can’t picture myself using one exclusively. Digital photography is a great tool, allowing us to easily develop the same photograph both ways.

I have a little quiz: where is the pastry shop located? I need the right street intersection. There are enough clues in that photograph to find the answer… but it may not be obvious. Even somebody who has never been to New York can solve this mystery. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

September 2, 2009

“The Barber Chair”

We hung out with friends around Union Square tonight, and finally got to see “District 9”. Great movie. There was another fifteen minutes until midnight when we left the theater so I took a few more photos along the way to the car. I like that area of the city, it’s young and fun. Like Chinatown, I find it very inspiring, there’s always something going on. Oddly enough, a store had put a motorbike and a barber chair on display, for no apparent reason. Two very atypical subjects to find there together. They however must be meaningful since they were lit so well. I thought it was interesting to record some of the New York oddities that can be found, especially for people who have never been here. Midnight flew by… and I got a shot that I liked a block away from our car. I guess I will be using it for Day 29… stay tuned!