When I was preparing my Hong Kong exhibition, I decided to include a photo I had never used or shown before.
As I saw the print on the wall in Hong Kong, I was rather pleased. It's a picture I've had mixed feelings about since I first took it, and again later when I edited the photos from that day.
Photo by Schmidt Marketing.
The story behind it was that I was walking on Stockton Street in San Francisco and did a few photos from the Bush Street above Stockton Street, playing with the stong shadows of people and buildings on the Stockton Street below.
When I walked down the stairs to Stockton Street, I liked the harsh contrast of people on the stairs. So I stopped to see if I could get an interesting sillhouet. A couple of men with hats and cigars, a mother and a child hand in hand, a woman in a nice dress with a big hat. You know, something.
It's always a matter of how much you want a photo. If you really believe in it, you may hang around for ten or twenty minutes for the chance of the right composition. At other times you give up after a few seconds. In this case I spent 52 seconds, I can tell from the date and time in the image files.
Hanging out by Bush Street/Stockton Street in San Francisco for 52 seconds: 11 photos in color and black and white.
When I edited the 305 photos I did that day in San Francisco, I selected one of the photographs and edited it. And then I didn't do much more. When I have marked and edited a photo, I add keywords and then it goes into the archive. Sometimes I am so enthusiastic about a photo I put it on Facebook or somewhere to see the response.
This one just sat in the archive till I saw it again some time after. I liked something about it. I guess the feeling of a cathedral, the simplicity, the dramatic contrast, as well as the nice grey tones and patterns in the street.
Photo: Schmidt Marketing, Hong Kong.
And when I look at it again, I like that it is timeless. If I told you it was taken in Istanbul in 1968, you would believe me. That's a quality.
In any case, I decided "why not" put it into the exhibition and see what happens. And so I did. And now you know the story behind that picture.
The title "San Francisco Triumph" refers to the shape of the arc, which reminds me of a Triumphal arch.
San Francisco Triumph. Leica M 240 with Leica 50mm APO-Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0.
Buying prints from The Quarry Bay Collection
All the photos in the Quarry Bay exhibiton signed prints in size 25 x 35 cm in unnumbered edition. For the occasion they were sold for $500 individually, so if you want a print before December 31, send an e-mail and you can acquire for that price as well (normal price is $1,250). Just note which print(s) you are interested in.
SEE THE QUARRY BAY COLLECTION HERE.
