What motivated you to make the photo.
We are all guilty of playing with our gum.. but usually in private, or usually one strand at a time.. not in public places, and definately not with such vigor.. I knew i wanted to take pictures of this guy before i even got on the train.. something about him.. it just made me interested.. little did i know my preminitions, Spidey sense if you will.. were right.. an odd charachter indeed..

It became a game to see how many shots i could take of him.. some shot from the hip, some straight from the eye.. i believe this one is a modified 'from the hip' as i didnt take any vertical shots the other way.. Turns out, you can take around 15 shots of him without him noticing.. and i took 12 before he got off.. various shutterspeeds and various poses.. this one is the first.. the best.. the one that started it all..

I was quite uncomfortable sitting as i was, and the people around me suspected i might be a private eye.. as long as my subject doesnt catch me, its all good..
Train shots are hard, interesting when they turn out, but hard to make turn out.. atleast working stealthfully..

The only reason i was going into vancouver that day, was because the germans were showcasing the Digital M.. the new M8, which at a price tag of nearly 6k (more with lenses) i still wont be able to afford one.. but oh well, leica fondling is worth the trip in itself..


Where and When the photo was made.
Photo was taken Nov 9th, 2006. Late morning. On the skytrain over Surrey British Columbia.
I was sitting not more than 5 feet away from my 'subject'
Stealth goal acheived; 0% subject awareness

Exposure information:
Camera - Minolta Maxxum4
Lens - 28-100 3.5-5.6 Kit lens
Shutter Speed - 1/90
f/stop 5.6
ISO - 200 (stepped up simply because i like to experiment)
Film - Konica impressa 160, expired since early 2003

(i chose this setup, having shot a few other frames like this previously.. and gotten great results. rather than miss this opportunity (which actually presented itself many more times , i flicked and twiddles my knobs to a tried and true combination.. also, since i was not using the flash in an oftenly dim-lit setting, the reduced shutterspeed made for better lighting, and an almost surreal relation between the shadows and highlights.. If i wanted a perfectly sharp picture, i would have shot this at 1/125 atleast, and used a flash, but then i wouldnt be accomplishing what i set out to do.. and that is capturing this.. and its unique feel, unique grain, and personaly, i love the way i shot this, and wouldnt submit another any other way..

Post Work:

Conversion to B&W, Layer Adjustments;
strip saturation 50%
Gradient Map applied (b,w)
Level's
Brightness -5 Contrast +2

Frame and signature added
<edit> SIGNATURE REMOVED, </edit>

Resized (not cropped) from Labscan to 4:6 200ppi, ( 600*900 )