Matthew Waller Photography - October 7-9, 2023

Posted October 23, 2023

Earlier this month I took a 5-day street photography trip to New York, the purpose and the highlight of which was being part of Hugh Brownstone’s “Streets of New York” photography workshop.

Hugh Brownstone is a Youtuber who runs the exceptionally articulate camera channel “Three Blind Men and an Elephant;” he stages these workshops in company with his wife Claudia in cities around the world; through his channel I knew him as an afficionado of black-and-white street photography with a love of dramatic cityscapes. What, in other words, is not to like? I signed up for the class back in April and for the rest of the year slavered for the date to come around.

That said, I had no idea what to expect. How, indeed, can anyone teach street photography? As I pondered this question I tempered my anticipation by telling myself it would be fun enough simply to have an excuse to walk around New York City with a camera in company with like-minded souls.

And O, that it definitely was. But to my surprise I also came out of it with, purely qua workshop, some immense help to my art. Hugh doesn’t like alumni of his classes to reveal “spoilers,” so I’ll leave the curtain in place, except to say that the end result of his tutelage was to give me fruitful new ways of conceptualizing and approaching my photographs while remaining true to myself. The workshop was: immersive, intensive, exhausting, bonding (there were eight of us, all male, all roughly my age, and we became pretty good friends), and above all a heck of a lot of fun. To anyone reading this who’s considering one: it’s worth it.

Here’s one “spoiler:” we walked a LOT. And we took a LOT of photos; I came home with thousands. My flight home actually touched down two and half weeks ago; it’s taken me that long that go through the pile and edit the keepers. (I’ve then done a second, harder culling process to keep the five galleries below small; I have too many favorites!) The workshop ran for three days, October 7 through 9, with our shutterbug perambulations mainly contained within lower Manhattan. It went like this.

DAY 1

This was mainly the meet-and-greet day, and also the one rainy day we had. But our “classroom” was actually the reserved 20th-story bar of the CitizenM Bowery Hotel with wraparound windows and a big outdoor patio, onto the latter of which we were liberated for our meet-and-greet with the world’s most famous skyline. Descending to ground level we explored the charming old streets and alleys of our immediate neighborhood, but the outing was cut short by a downpour.

(Hugh Brownstone, workshop leader)

Eager Thrust

Low Ceiling

Some Do Not

Security Bumbershoot

Ground Crew

Say Brie (Jullien, fellow attendee)

Folding Chairs

The rain let up that night, however, and we sallied again into the local streets for some night photography. This was the one time on the trip that I used my Voigtlander 17.5 f0.95 manual focus lens; its fast aperture gave my little micro four thirds camera a boost.

The Night Is Young

Order to Go

Your Way

Allure

And Off We Go

Mm Mm

Tailorbelle

Bon Voyage!

DAY 2

This day really left me footsore. After more gunwale-gawking from the hotel bar patio (in the morning sunshine this time!), we made a forced march through riverside neighborhoods of bizarre and Brobdingnagian architecture to the ferry, where we had a quick and windy ride to Queens. Here we found a long rambling waterfront park, big enough for the group to scatter for almost solo photography. I was torn between two favorite milieus: telephoto shots of Manhattan skyline details across the river, and candid photography of people in the park; I kept swapping lenses back and forth as each called to me.

Friends Old and New

Yardbirds

Walls and Wonders

They Were Once Pangaea

(Dehsa, fellow attendee)

Forsaken Identity

Hi

Thinking It Through

Peaceful Intent

United Notions

We re-coalesced for the return ferry, and back in Manhattan made another long walk to the UN Building neighborhood, where we aimed our lenses up at the Chrysler Building flaring periodically with light under partial clouds. My grand architecture shots didn’t come out too well; I had better luck zooming in on the gargoyles with my telephoto, then capturing candids and street scenes at and then from the overlook at the top of the steps.

From there we did a fly-by of Grand Central Station, a GREAT shooting location on too brief a visit, and explored Bryant Park. We finally rested our legs on a subway ride back to the hotel.

That night we had our big group dinner out, at a lovely restaurant called La Pecora Bianca. The food and wine were too good and the conversation too absorbing for me to take any photos of it.

They Watch

At the Helm

Only Us

Meditation

We're Doomed

Oops

Golden Hour

On the Long Ride Home

DAY 3

Our final photo walk was an “informal” one after the workshop’s closing session, but Hugh and Claudia both led it and everyone attended it, so it was every bit as challenging. It was really on this walk that I tried to put what I’d learned at the workshop to use in my photography, a difficult and thoughtful task as we strode at fairly high speed in the late afternoon light through (a) Chinatown, (b) Wall Street, and (c) the Oculus at the World Trade Center site, each of which would have supplied a whole day’s shooting. At the Oculus I did manage to call the group's attention to workers on the rooftop skylight, and we all got shots of them.

I wound up walking back to the hotel on my own, with leisure in the evening light to stop and find my shots, and I said my goodbyes to Hugh and Claudia and my workshop friends later that evening and the next day over breakfast. We never shared or critiqued these last-day photos, so for the final gallery of this long blog entry it’s up to you to judge the efficacy of the class in my attempt to handle a dizzying day of ever-changing New York imagery.