SoHo hip shots

I hope you'll bear with me while I put up a pile of these hip-shot portraits. To my fellow photobloggers, take note that West Broadway through SoHo is lined with benches, stoops and ledges, all packed with people on the sunny side.

As I walked past each group I shot the camera from my thigh. At the end of the street I figued I'd just wasted my time, but I think I got a couple good ones. These are all the ones that actually came out with a person in it. I'm putting them all up because I'm still trying to develop a sense of what works in a picture of a person. Let me know what standards you use.

Does that woman in the stripes look angry to you? I find myself looking at the other people in the shot and then looking back at her to see if she's still angry.

I like her twisted feet.

I think I would like this posture more if I were drawing him.

I got a lot of these missed shots. I like this one for some reason though. I think all the lines work well together. At first I though the guy had caught me and was giving me the finger, but I think he's just scratching his hand.



This and the two above are pretty well framed, but they don't really speak to me at all.

I kept this one because I liked how the people go in descending order.

Of the whole bunch, this one above and the one below are my two favorites and probably the only two I'd post if I weren't trying to workshop this idea.


I like this one for how her arm and leg follow the verticles of the rail. Again, however, the person isn't really speaking to me. Isn't that the point of taking pictures of people?


I don't think this photo came out very well, but I think this lady, and as a result the picture, looks fun.