…I like to take long walks through the villages and cities I visit, taking pictures of street scenes and landscapes as I go. But mostly, I like to take pictures of people, stopping them to ask if they would mind. If they don’t mind, interesting things can happen.

Some want to pose, like the Uomini in a Piazza in Siena, Italy, some prefer to return to what they were doing before I interrupted them, like the fellow with horses to rent on the beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Some are shy, some direct, and some obviously quite like to be photographed. Still others are willing, yet hesitant, but I am grateful to all of them when they say Yes.

I use my Nikon, my Canon, my iPhone, my iPad, whatever I have with me in the moment and because I am not a professional photograph I try not to worry too much about the camera itself and instead strive more to capture something that will remind me of how I felt at that moment, coming upon something or someone interesting as I round the corner of some unknown place, or a well-known place, if it is in New York, such as Girl Reading on the High Line.

In the process of redesigning my website, I went back through photos I have taken over the last 20 years, remembering each moment, and how much I enjoy people, how they interact with the landscapes they live in and visit, and how they interact with an unexpected stranger interfering with their day.

There are three that may not seem to anyone who reads this like portraits of people in the traditional sense, but in the photograph of Bicycles in the Parco Ducale in Parma, Italy, and in the one of Sandals on the Beach in Westhampton, Long Island, I could feel the presence of the absent bikers and those beach-goers to whom the sandals belonged, and they are portraits to me.

As for the Bird Watching the Sunset in the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, well, who among us would say that bird wasn’t enjoying the sunset as much as any human being would?

NOTE: A version of this post was published on September 19, 2018 on my blog on Google+. This version is revised and updated.

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