You might not have noticed, but I photograph people, too!

It’s not that I don’t enjoy photographing people. It is that I’m a bit shy about it, plus always concerned about being a nuisance. So it always helps when hard hats notice me lurking around a construction site with my camera and spontaneously strike a pose for me!

That’s how Say “Cheese?” happened. On a cold day in St. Louis, Mo., these guys were high over my head–I’m guessing 6-8 stories up–when I caught their eyes. I held up the camera, they posed, and I got one delightful shot.

On the other hand, Hooked was standing on street level, just a few feet away, and so I had to ask him if I could make a picture. His little Mona Lisa smile reassured me he really didn’t mind. He’s obviously ready to ride the elevator up the tower crane nearby and hook himself to a Chicago skyscraper under construction.

If you’re getting the impression that I am drawn to construction sites, you would be right. I not only find hard hats to be great subjects, but the product of their labor to be a fascinating and ever-changing display of geometry, pattern, texture and color–worthy subject matter as well.

I also greatly prefer that my human subjects be aware that I’m photographing them. They don’t have to look at the camera or pose, but I really don’t enjoy “sneaking” photos. I’m not sure the guy in Decisive Moment knew I made that photo, but I was standing in plain sight waiting for someone to walk into the frame. In this case, I’m glad he looked up at the billboard instead of at me!

All of these shots are in an online show called, simply, “Human Exhibition,” hosted by The Naturalist Gallery of Contemporary Art, an online venue run by artists. You can see it here. My images are on p. 5 of the exhibit.