Airport Life

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I recently bought a new camera to try and stimulate my creative impulses.  It's easy to get bored with what you have in any endeavor, and it's definitely true with cameras and photography.  I wanted the new thing to be the antithesis to what I currently owned so I consulted with a friend who already owns the fuji x100s and decided to take the leap.  

When you look at this thing, you would swear it's a film camera straight out of the 1970's.  Essentially, it's a compact 35mm fixed lens digital camera that can be carried in my jeans pocket.  Although it's a point and shoot, I don't sacrifice any quality and I'm definitely more inclined to pull it out and use it for everyday situations, something I've been loathe to do with my bulky SLR cameras.  I can't zoom in or out, but I guess that's the cost of being compact and easy to lug around.  Plus, it's stealthy and I can get shots without interrupting and corrupting a given scene.  It's a whole different mindset when you're waiting for a scene to develop versus taking control of the scene with lighting and direction as is often the case with portraits.  Like I said, it's something completely different than what I've been doing for the past couple of years and it's forcing me to consider a frame in a lot of different ways.  With that in mind I took it on a recent business trip and got these shots in the airport.

The bar is an essential part of the airport.  People are drinking because they're on vacation, or they're drinking after a rough meeting, or a successful meeting, or to kill 3 hours before their flight departs, or a thousand other reasons.  Whatever the case may be, they're drinking.  The most popular sales "incentive" seems to be the $4 shot with a beer.  People are willing to pay $10.50 for a beer because they're on vacation, or the company is paying for it.

The upscale wine bar seems to be a popular addition to the airport drinking scene.

Waiting, walking, anticipating.

I think this chick may have busted me.  I had the camera at waist level, but I think she saw what I was doing.  She didn't ask me about it, though.

Conducting business never, ever, ever stops at the airport.  Neither does marketing.  Airports were a magical place full of wonder as a kid.  Now I just see them as another mobile office.

More work.  I liked how the setting sun created a spotlight on this guy.  "Street" type of photography definitely requires a lot more looking around and anticipating.

This lady sought out a quiet place to get some work done.  I sat down and acted like I was looking through my bag and got this shot.  She didn't seem to notice.

The juxtaposition of this shot really caught my eye after I took a closer look when I got home.  The guy in front of me looked like an interesting subject so I sat down across from him and settled in.  It was only then that I noticed he was sobbing.  Whatever he was reading on his phone was making him really emotional.  I pulled out the camera and got this shot, terrified he would see what I was doing. He didn't.  When I got home I noticed the guy with the ice cream cone and the other guy smiling while talking.  The big wheel keeps on turning, it doesn't stop for any of us. 

There's something very lonely about an empty gate.  Missed flight? Missed opportunity?