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The last time we visited New York, I had a great experience shooting Strangers In portraits in SoHo, and this trip I expected the same. At first I didn’t really even set out to go back to SoHo – I thought I might find a cool little spot to setup in the Lower East Side or perhaps Little Italy, but I started wandering about and didn’t really find a spot that felt ‘right.’ Before I knew it, I was within a block of where I setup last time!

I thought it would be a neat idea to have the Belgian Block (cobblestones) as a backdrop, so, taking this as fate, I decided to start the clock. And what a bad decision that was! Almost immediately I started having focus issues with my lens. On top of that, the street I picked because it was nice and quiet suddenly became a hot spot for delivery trucks and Uber drop-offs! I made the difficult decision to move North one block to a new location to finish off my session. And that worked! For a bit…

The clouds soon parted and I was left with VERY harsh light. And a very harsh light that was changing by the minute, as the sun moved across Greene Street – so much so that I gave up on centering my subjects on the road, and shifted to the sidewalk because the shots started looking horrible!

I wasn’t sure if I’d ever actually post these, as I’m not happy with the majority of them. But, maybe someone out there will learn from my (once again) rushed attempt at a portrait session.

Will this be my last Strangers In portrait session in New York? Not if I have anything to say about it!

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