Latest in Village Voice

They have been loving up on me over there (Sorry I’m not around this week to shoot Ivy!). The latest story I shot was about seafarers, and I needed to get a shot of cargo ships. The story mostly centered on docks in New Jersey, a long haul that wasn’t near any public transit. The writer mentioned that you could see some ships from the IKEA parking lot so I made that my first stop, hoping to cut New Jersey out of my weekend plans. The ships were far off (writers have a skewed sense of photo opportunities) but there was a water taxi between IKEA and downtown Manhattan and I had the bright idea to hop on in hopes of getting the shot.

I still didn’t get quite close enough, even as pretty as the flag looked blowing in the breeze. I decided to take the water taxi back straightaway, hoping for another chance. The captain saw me sitting on the deck freezing as everyone else disembarked and started up a conversation with me. When he found out I was shooting cargo ships for the Village Voice, he offered to change the route so I could get a better shot. Mike, the captain, proceeded to explain everything about the docks. He mentioned the cranes were for unloading the ships, inspiring me to include them in my shots. As we approached, he slowed the water taxi down to a crawl as I furiously took shots. I’m sure the passengers were confused but I got much better shots.

Moral of the story? Chat up everyone around you, especially those who can steer a ship closer to your subject.