Street photography is its own world. It blends anticipation, patience, pre-visualization, multiple camera settings, focus, timing, and a touch of luck. You can control some variables, but not all. In the end, you take what you get. Sometimes it’s the serendipitous convergence of light, movement, subject, and context—you see it, you shoot it, you capture it—or not. Other times, you carefully select a scene with the right composition and light, waiting for that decisive Cartier-Bresson moment when everything aligns.
Parisian Cyclist
Faces on the 556
An Enchanted Moment
Sidewalk Stroll
Barista in Paris
Photographer’s Note
Faces on the 556
Lisbon, Portugal, where Faces on the 556 was photographed, is a target-rich environment. One of Europe’s oldest capitals, its people are congenial and welcoming, and its architecture is rich with textures and tones etched in time. Public transportation includes old-style electric street cars that run on tracks, reminiscent of an earlier era. One afternoon, I set out to photograph the street cars, hoping to catch interesting faces in the windows.
I stood on a sidewalk, facing a track that ran left to right. Late afternoon soft light…anticipation…I adjusted my camera. Nothing automatic, this is a stick-shift set-up—focus, aperture, shutter speed—anticipation…a streetcar rumbled by, and I set the focus. Now I waited.
The 556 approached from my left. I panned with the car, intuitively adjusting composition in the viewfinder as passengers slowly squared up in front of me. I squeezed the shutter. All the variables, including a bit of luck, came together in a micro-moment.
The result? Four different, mysterious stories captured in the window frames—five if you count the streetcar itself. Often, viewers place this photograph in the 1930s or 1940s. Each expression is unique. In their own worlds, what are they thinking?
Faces on the 556 was named a finalist in the 2022 Miami Street Photography Festival. Selected from several thousand entries from around the world, the photo was displayed prominently during the festival’s exhibition at the prestigious Art Basel international event.
