Image title: New York Queens Ketchup and Gitanes cigarettes

as seen on the white table top of a diner in the New York borough of Queens. The red of the Heinz ketchup bottle contrasts with the blue of the Gitanes cigarette packet. Salt cellar and other objects give the flavour of a New York diner. The impromptu still life is illuminated by bright sunlight from the west.

Read the article Anecdotes about cigarettes on the day they banned smoking in England.

This is an important photo for me, though it came about by accident. I had just bought my first SLR camera, a Fuji STX 1. The point of the photo was to try out the depth of field. I happened to be in a diner having a coffee with my friend Brett, and I just used the objects in front of me. People remarked that the photo seems to captures something special - American and French but also typically New York.

Keywords

Title:
New York Queens Ketchup and Gitanes cigarettes

Category:

Filename:
UsNycQuensKetchGitanes81715.jpg

ID number:
88

Technical details:
Fuji STX-1 SLR camera with Kodachrome 25 film

New York, Queens, United States, cigarettes, French cigarettes

Date created:
1981-08-15

Aidan O'Rourke has been active in photography and online media since 1995. He has documented the development of the local area in his Eyewitness website (1997-2005) and as a contributor to books, publications and the Manchester Evening News. He runs his Eyewitness photography walks in Manchester, Liverpool and other locations. He offers one-to-one tuition in Photography and Languages. He is a high-level speaker of German and can offer photography walks and tours through the medium of German. Visit www.aidan.co.uk