Ghost Train RadioSF Chinatown “Canner” – 1989
I remember clearly that when I was 28 or 29 taking these pictures that I had learned not to skew my bias toward younger or hipster type people – even though the 80’s for me were my days of going to night clubs and art galleries and cafes – where all the cool kids hung out.
I had been studying the “masters” – Bresson, Atget, Man Ray, Doisneau, etc, and saw that they made images that were all about what they saw and where they were at the time.
One photographer whom I have known about – but was not into at the time was Joel Meyerowicz – and other “modern” street photographers. However, I have been watching the many Youtube talks and instructional videos that he has made – and I now have a great respect and interest in him. In the database world – when I design a relational database – there are “entities” (people, places or things) and then relationships between these entities. Joel says that he concentrates on the relationships between people and things – not the people or things themselves. I know that I first concentrate on the people, place or thing, and if a relationship pops out of it – its by accident – not design.
So, all of this is cool – once I get my new knee and go back to the city or town streets – where the people are – I’ll consider the relationship part as well.
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