Walking, at night, in LA

If I said I knew exactly what I was shooting when I’m street-shooting, I’d be lying.

Here’s what I knew I saw: this cool guy, wearing a cool hat walking toward me. So I start following him. As I quietly stalk him for a couple blocks, I’m thinking that somehow there must be an interesting picture here but I also notice that he’s wearing black and it’s dark. We go a couple more blocks, turn, and we’re walking toward an intersection where there’s a red light. We stop. When we get the green, he steps off the curb and I don’t, instead I snap this picture.

I like the cool guy in the cool hat. But I also like the building in the background. I like how the corner of the building rises up to the darkness, I like how all the windows on the top floor are dark, I like how somehow there’s a highlight on the strap of the cool guy’s satchel. And I like how the white lines of the cross walks mimics all the squares and cubes. I like how the line bisects cool guy’s body.

Did I see all that when I snapped this photo? Maybe subconsciously. I know that I saw a cool guy in a cool hat, walking in a cool city. In all that walking and stalking, I took one picture and this is it.