Free Colonial Concert

StreetObservations.com - Passing by the George Washington statue on Wall Street... it was the day after his birthday, not sure how old he would be now. 

These three colonial clad musicians were playing away, fife and drum songs.  People continued walking by oblivious to the effort these gentlemen put into this guest appearance.  I didn't have my regular camera, but I did have my iPhone, which was perfect for this shot.  It has an extreme wide angle camera on it.  It let me get the street, musicians and all of the statues in the one shot.  All it does make the players look rather tiny, as if they weren't even real.  But they were real.

This picture was the best, because of the complementary red shirts of the garbage men.  I also like the businessman on the cell phone. 

Exchange Spotlight

In the winter on sunny days, the light in comes in at extreme angles. In Manhattan, the morning light creates very long shadows. At lunch time, one block can be bright and the next dark. The New York Stock Exchange, with it's flags, is on the corner of Wall Street and Broad Street. Nassau Street forms a slight hill before turning into Broad. This creates an interesting hump where figures can be seen juxtaposed in front of the flags of the Exchange. Yesterday's light lit the flags as a spotlight and it looked like this.

Posing with the Bull

At the end of Broadway, at the entrance to Bowling Green Park, there is a bronze statue of a Bull. It symbolizes Wall Street. There was quite a story to how it got there, but mostly now it is a tourist attraction. The shot to the right is a rare look at the bull absent of people. It was cold and wet that day absent of the usual crowds.

There are two standard places that people pose with the bull. One is on the front, and the bold ones climb up to sit on his head. The other location is at the rear of the bull. You see, the bull is anatomically correct. So, posing at the rear brings the private parts of the bull into play, photographically that is.

It seems to me that those who pose in the rear are the most fun loving of the tourists. And, I like to watch them as they enjoy their visit. They smile and smirk and joke.

New Series - Wall Street

There has been an update at the Fraissi.net Photo Gallery:>

There are now pictures posted which feature Wall Street.

There were all taken on Wall Street itself, or within the three block vicinity.

The Wall Street area is an eclectic mix of people, stores and buildings. There are stockbrokers, security police, tourists, TV crews and business people all intermixed in this small area.

Besides the NY Stock Exchange, there is Federal Hall, where George Washington was sworn in as the first president of the US. The steps of Federal Hall are an interesting place to sit and observe people passing by (and eat a sandwich). From this one vantage place, there are views of: tourists posing for each other in their pictures, police patrolling with machine guns, CNBC cameras being setup, and floor traders taking a smoke break while talking on their cell phones.

The major entry roads to Wall Street have security barriers built into the pavement that block traffic. They are raised and lowered like drawbridges to give vehicles access when needed. Otherwise, the core of Wall Street is a pedestrian mall. I made about 5 trips to Wall Street to get this assortment of photos.

Say, if you didn't take a look at the site last month, here are my selections for the best pictures from last year, Top 10 of 2007.

Coffee Shop Window
Originally uploaded by jfraissi

As you might notice, I've been doing more street photography, many of strangers who I find interesting. These work best in black and white.

As an example, I was walking down Nassau Street, and saw a lookalike couple sitting in the window at a coffee shop who I found interesting. This picture on Flickr shows them staring into space, seemingly bored with each other. I really like this one.