Once again I am pleased to present this years ’24 Mobile Photographers Til Christmas’. It is a series that has been run throughout December for the last couple of years and has always been successfully received. In part, it is to celebrate the forthcoming festive season but also to celebrate another year in the timeline of Mobiography.
In the series I ask 24 hand picked mobile photographers to offer an insight into their work, to reflect on their year gone by or plans for the coming year ahead. Each featured photographer is someone who has inspired or supported me in one way or another during the course of the past year. One photographer will be showcased each day until Christmas Eve in a sort of online advent calendar so to speak.
Today’s featured photographer is Andre Hermann.
The photo I am most proud of is…
I was tired, lost, in a hurry, and late. NYC’s subway system is a fascinating, beautiful, and intricate beast, especially when you’re visiting from Houston, Texas. It can also be overwhelming when you haven’t mastered it’s subtle nuances, like, which train is going in which direction. I was in town for the PDN Photo Expo, staying in a hotel in Brooklyn for the week. I stay in Brooklyn because its inexpensive compared to Manhattan. By commuting I can people watch, make pictures and experience the serendipity that accompanies occasionally getting lost.
Any photographer that practices street photography will tell you that there is something very special about the candid moment. They are bubbles in the human stew. They happen quickly never to be seen or experienced again. These moments often go unnoticed by the masses, yet to the casual, aware observer, are recorded and honored in one still frame for us to review, study, and ponder forever.
I was rushing to get underground. I had to get up town. My workshop was starting in an hour and my app told me the trip would take 45 minutes. Not being a reliable app underground, no signal, I got on the wrong the train. The app reset. I lost my directions. (In my defense: I am amazing at directions above ground.) I was assuming I was headed in the right direction, uptown. In fact I was headed south toward or Bay Ridge. I was confused and now really late. I got on another train headed in what I hoped was the right direction. I transferred to get over the bridge and found myself once again going in the wrong direction, this time out toward La Guardia. And, yes, I was making pictures the whole time.
I switched the app for a digital map of the subway. I got my bearings straight. My mind’s eye was blinded for a moment. I was distracted by the frustration that I would miss half of a ‘paid’ workshop that I really wanted to attend. But hell, at least I was headed uptown now.
“Bubbles in the humam stew” – love that!
The image you chose is fantastic. Loved reading this.