There is a column in the New York Times that I love to look at. It is called, “On the Street with Bill Cunningham.”
Mr. Cunningham rides his bike around New York, taking photographs of fashion on the streets of New York City.
A documentary has been made on his life and some have called him a cultural anthropologist. Bill says he doesn’t want to photograph celebrities with their “free clothing,” he wants to see what is happening and trending on the streets.
With his lens, he is doing something most newspapers and TV stations just can’t seem to do, and that is really cover and convey local. You take in Bill’s “On the Street” segment, either in the paper or on video at NYTimes.com, and you feel like you’ve been on the street with him. He doesn’t just photograph the usual suspects or the convenient. He travels the city and carefully tells a story of trends, history, style, attention and flamboyance. He tells a story of trends, not what blends.
His consistency, careful storytelling and connectedness to the city all come through his camera lens. He is local and tells a very local story that people from all over the world love—and pay—to see.
