Photographic Tourette’s

Here I will admit to having a kind ofphotographic Tourette’s Syndrome in that, when out by myself, I cannot sit more than a few minutes without pulling out either my phone or my camera and taking a picture. The impulse is still there when I’m with others but, unless there is something truly compelling, their presence tempers my impulse to snap anything that catches my attention.

So, to illustrate, let me take you through the hour I spent at coffee this morning at a cafe on Grigg Street, Greenwich [CFCF Coffee – if you’re ever in town, I highly recommend any of its three locations] while trying to read through the magazine I brought with me.

There are fifteen pictures below out of roughly sixty taken and several different edits – so, for the sake of argument, let’s average it at one picture per minute.

Grigg is a short (one-block) street close to the bottom of what would be our ‘High Street,’ Greenwich Avenue. There are only a few shops there, notably CFCF, Diane’s Books, and Grigg Street Pizza. Not a lot to take pictures of. However, there are…

9:14: Blue Skies/Blue Umbrellas; White Skies/Black Umbrellas (Color: iPhone XR/B&W: Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II)

9:16: The corner of Grigg Street and Greenwich Avenue – this is a window into Meli-Melo, a very popular restaurant (which I have yet to go to, since it’s jam-packed every time I try). I love the bottom of the window frame that gives the original name building and year it was erected. (Olympus)

9:17: A woman sitting across at a table Greenwich Avenue – I didn’t even know there were tables there (Olympus)

9:18: I don’t know why this woman’s feet caught my attention, but I kept seeing them out of the corner of my eye while looking down at my magazine. Finally, I gave in and took a photo (iPhone)

9.19: Then, looking down at my own feet, wishing I had better taste in socks (grey carhart socks with brown pants? Please, someone rescue me from my lack of fashion sense!) (iPhone)

9:19: within seconds of my last picture, this man and his prodigious beard catches my attention. That’s the beard I want to grow, but I just don’t have the patience to maintain it (iPhone)

9:23: Three minutes and, perhaps, ten pictures later… the woman who was with the beard, sitting at the table in front of me. I thought shooting her through the empty chair in front of me would make a nice picture. It’s the lack of someone in that chair opposite me that has made all these pictures possible (iPhone)

9:27: The leaves in the planter next to me catch my attention. Upon inspection, they appear to need a shave . This is actually a composite of two pictures to mimic depth of field: one with the front leaves in focus and the other with the inner leaves in focus (iPhone)

9:40 & 9:41: Whenever possible, I try not to post pictures of people where their faces are fully visible, but I couldn’t help it here: this couple is just too good looking. Before this shot I think they were taking a selfie (iPhone)

9:42: Sink in the restroom. Good to see that whoever was there last used soap (iPhone)

10:05: Suddenly, there’s a crack in the sidewalk that needs photographing (iPhone)

3 responses to “Photographic Tourette’s”

Alessandra Chaves says:

August 28, 2022 at 9:08 am

You do take a Lot of pics. The edit on the lead photo is cool.

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- joearf says:
  
  August 28, 2022 at 9:25 am
  
  Thanks. I’ve been starting to play with the images a bit. I both liked and disliked that edit for different reasons.
  As for taking a lot of pics, yeah! Between 6:38 and 7:19 this morning I shot 106 frames – granted, a few of them were ‘just in case’ shots (in case the first one didn’t work out). Maybe I should switch to film: the 36 exposure rolls and the cost would probably slow me down a bit.
  
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  - Alessandra Chaves says:
    
    August 28, 2022 at 9:46 am
    
    I used to take more, but now I mostly scan the environment and decide not to bother with it.
    
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