Author: JH

Allegedly true story: Richard Avedon sits in his studio, looks through some contact sheets. Someone comes in, asks, “will you join us tonight at the opening of the new […] show?” Avedon doesn’t even look up, says, “No, thanks, I’m only interested in my own work.”

I understand that attitude is not en vogue today. Still, I feel there are few things more liberating than to skip yet another Chelsea opening night at the last minute, and rather take a walk in the park. Like back in the day when you skipped school, went to a café instead, and found half a dozen of your classmates there.

These cones from Central Park East, at the entrance somewhere around 100th Street.

Today I was wearing a shirt, a sweater, a coat, and pants that I usually wear during the winter. Same for the shoes. There was some kind of thick fog outside that reminded me of November in Sicily.

Tonight, to cheer myself up, I made this photo in my yellow kitchen.

When was the last time you “shot” something for the first time? A probing question for sure, especially if it is not about ducks, but photographs.

A few days ago, I took a chance and made my first photo of a Midtown traffic cone indoors, underground even. The Midtown cones are a very different tribe, mostly because they have to handle a lot more traffic. And the air is very bad there, which makes your complexion sooty. What many people don’t know is that traffic cones can become quite sensitive to traffic, especially when they get older. That’s why almost all Midtown traffic cones try to rotate out to different sections of the city, which is difficult (a supply and demand thing, so you got to know someone who knows someone). This one withdrew into a parking lot and looks quite happy.