The Flickr ©Sionfullana Image Generatr

Streets of the Bronx
New York City

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved

Jay Street Metro Tech
Subway Station,
Brooklyn, New York City

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved

Looking around in a world ever-changing, where what's hip today tomorrow has become a joke, where you learn to master a gadget or technique and a few months later the new one comes out and you're back on square one... A world of youth speaking in strange jargons and about such bizarre memes and pop culture phenomenons that can make you wonder if you're from another planet and can't understand anyone, or if the other planet invaded this one and you never realized...

A world where a seasoned expert in most fields is no longer valued because a younger, better-looking, more ambitious (yet not always prudent), and in the end three times cheaper one will do just fine.

Have you ever been there? Where you were totally out of place?

Chelsea West,
New York City

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved

Only in New York...

Subway station,
Delancey Street
New York City

2014
© Sion Fullana
All RIghts Reserved

In a public park absolutely packed and with constant flow of pedestrians, she managed to find a corner of blissful peace... to get lost in written stories....

High Line Park,
New York City

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved

The best thing about a relationship is how even the smallest of moments and interactions can feel comfortable, familiar, heartwarming and happy when shared with that special person.

Subway car,
New York City

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved

Carroll Gardens,
Brooklyn, New York City

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved

It's been a while, but I'm happy to be able to continue this project, about subjects that appeared in some candid shots of my street photography finding themselves or being directed to my image, allowing me to gift them a print of said photograph, meet them in person and take their portrait and learn a bit about them. From strangers to Strangers No More...

A few months ago, I attended the launch party of the fashion collection of Clash by Dash in a club in the MeatPacking District. I had collaborated with the designer in several photo shoots and it was a fun night, with models, performances, and a festive mood. I walked around the room taking photographs of people unnoticed, and I posted a few of my favorites here on my account. A day later, the make up stylist who was working on the model found herself in my picture. And with it, please meet the lovely Ellen Geenty, a hair stylist and make up artist, born in upstate NY but raised in North Carolina, where she currently lives, in Raleigh.

I meet with Ellen for coffee while she is visiting NYC again to attend a class, and we talk dreams, career journeys and daring to be adventurous and see where the path can lead you in life. She tells me of the time she sold everything she had and took off to Puerto Rico for a change of air, and how she eventually had to return to NC and start again. I learn that some good friends of Ellen's are pushing for her to take the leap and move to New York. Considering she would love to be able one day to bring her skills with hair and make up to film or TV work, perhaps it's an offer she should take... Should we convince her?

Lower East Side,
New York City.

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved

Months after I took this candid unposed shot at a nightlife event in the city, I got to meet the girl in the picture, stylist Ellen Geety.

MeatPacking District,
New York City

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved

Prospect Park,
Brooklyn, New York City

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved

Downtown Los Angeles,
California

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved

Who said that you couldn't find a bit of beautiful British country-like oasis in the middle of New York City?

Prospect Park,
Brooklyn, New York

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved

But shadows can't be without light. Not everything you can't see clearly is necessarily dark... Never forget and don't let assumptions get the better of you.

Soho,
New York City

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved

NY-based British artist Harry Hancock on a live performance painting a sketch of his model (poet, artist and blogger) Jorge Clar, to demonstrate the creative process behind the painting called "Hudson" that the two of them have collaborated on for 2 years. Under the white paper Harry draws on the finished "Hudson" piece was unveiled last night for the end of Harry's exhibit "Sneak Peek" at A1 Gallery in Astoria Queens.

While I was witnessing the event, I couldn't help but seeing a perfect frame with the light and the action that I had to capture to celebrate this beautiful art piece. So I started to take photographs... Love the result and seeing the finished painting I'm super proud of my friends for their exquisite work. If only I could afford to buy the painting myself! ;-)

Astoria, Queens,
New York City

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved

Sa Coma Beach,
Majorca, Spain.

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved

After a few years in his post, affected by the chronic loneliness in the desolated area, the once cheerful bunny became a rugged hillbilly...

Dead Horse Bay,
Brooklyn, New York City

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved

During my 3 weeks in Spain this past month to visit my family, I was lucky to be flown to the beautiful neighboring island of Ibiza for a 36h photo journey stay, to capture some cool street scenes and portraits for the fabulous new magazine IU Mag by the #Ushuaïa Club.

I hadn't been in the island in over 15 years. It was shocking to see how much construction has happened ever since, how much more money and wealthy people flows around the island openly than before... But what remained a constant is that dichotomy of a place whoere each corner can be peaceful or wild, solitary or crowded, depending on the time of the day.

There's an Ibiza that lives to populate the night with clubs, music, dance and an hedonistic lifestyle, and there's another one of old school farmers and fishermen, of workers guarding businesses that under the scorching sun of the afternoon no one may attend (instead, they may be swimming and sun tanning) before night falls and those same empty streets will come to bubble with life.

Ibiza old district,
Spain.

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved

I've just spent 3 weeks with my family in the little coast town of Porto Cristo (Majorca, Spain) where I spent my entire childhood. While I walked around the town, my mind flooded with endless memories of many years past, of walks by the beach early in the morning with my grandma, who -with endless love and patience- would take my sister and me and our two cousins everywhere. Boy, were we a handful bunch of naughty playful kids!

I remembered the ice creams, swims, boat rides... Going to the local store to buy my first comic books as a kid... Our first nights out later in our youth, partying until the sun was up. Fun times... But above all, there was the indelible sense of family, memory and the passing of time. This is a town where my grandpa once owned the most popular bar in town in the golden years of the first touristic boom in the island, and my grandma had a hair salon where my mom and aunt worked for years. This was all well before my time... Remembrances shared through the years of emotions and memories I only lived through the oral storytelling but are so present I can almost see and feel.

In my own memories, I can see my grandpa, older, sitting down on the very same bench every day by this beach, with his cane in his hand and his hat on his head. Some days, my grandma would join him, and walking towards them I could sense the strength of those many many years of a life together.

Years after both of them are long gone, and I'm an adult and live far away, I can't help but see them everywhere when I'm in town... And I feel like even though the years may fly the memories will not disappear and the love will never weaken.

Porto Cristo,
Mallorca (Spain)

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved

In street photography, few things can be more powerful than a strong instance of eye contact with a subject.

The stare then has the ability to pierce through the lens into the photographer's eyes and ultimately reaching into the ones of the viewer. Asking questions. Acknowledging the non-written barrier of the "I know you see me, but somehow I see you too".

A voyeuristic exercise of fleeting human connection. Sometimes followed by a smile or a nod of the head, sometimes met with a grumpy expression of disagreement.

Of all the possible types of candid shots of the genre, this one is the most present, the one that puts the viewer IN the shot, experiencing that connection.

Coney Island,
Brooklyn, New York

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved

To see my full photo series of this subject, please check the link:

sionfullana.com/#/portfolio/photoseries---work-in-progres...


The sun was supposed to glow last night right at sunset. The temperature was good, the sky had been clear all day. It was the last day of 2014 Manhattanhenge, a twice-a-year phenomenon where the sun aligns perfectly with the East-West grid of Manhattan, making the sunset perfectly visible in all the cross streets, with the sun positioned and framed by the buildings on both sides of the streets.

New Yorkers are creatures of infinite curiosity. Living in the city for years doesn't take away their sense of awe for things they consider "worth seeing." Many will drop any plan just to go watch a parade, stand in line for hours on end to buy a new gadget, score tickets to a free play or try the new "in" food item of the month. New Yorkers are so used to co-existing with many people in small spaces that the idea of a big crowd won't stand in their way of having a fun moment. They also love to share the cool things they do, releasing videos, photographs and updates that multiply through social media and amplify that idea that this city is the best in the world, and that despite the sacrifices it requires to live in, the rewards are better.

Therefore, New Yorkers wouldn't miss a chance to photograph the sunset of the year, from any angle, from any skill level and piece of equipment -- the only thing that mattered was to able to say "I was there, I saw it and now you do too." I set out to be one more New Yorker last night, and headed to the Grand Central Station overpass on 42nd Street, alongside my husband Anton and our friend Angel, hoping to capture some good images. As a street photographer, in my mind, I was facing the afternoon more with the goal of taking pictures of people bathed in the glowing magic sunset light, rather than city or sun shots (after all, with thousands of people taking the same shot, it hardly seems challenging). We walked alongside the narrow space for pedestrians on the overpass, and the moment we arrived, it became clear there would be nowhere to stand to get a good angle. Mind you, this was even one full hour before the expected sunset time (8:24pm), and the crowd was growing bigger and bigger.

I stepped to one side, away from the people, and stared at the traffic that was coming from both directions. I realized this was my opportunity for the day, to capture something more interesting from a vantage point no one else was even looking at... Cars and taxis, carrying commuters trying to get home after work and perhaps tourists on their way to hotels or the airport. Drivers and passengers would look at the growing crowd with a mix of feelings -- some with curiosity, others happy and joining the celebratory mood. A few of them responded with annoyance, since there were so many people arriving at this point that they were forced to stand outside the pedestrian area, therefore blocking traffic. Some taxis would open their windows and a passenger would ask what was everyone trying to photograph, what big event or superstar was down there on the street below. When they would hear it was all for "the sunset" they would look as dumbfounded as they seemed confused. Some of them took their own cellphones out the window, trying perhaps to be one with the crowd, to also be able to get their own memento, and publish a post that said "I saw it too."

Traffic became a nightmare, with the sound of horns rising. I was stunned how many of those people now standing in the middle of the road, where they could have been hit by a car, were absolutely oblivious of the risk, fixated only and obsessively in that horizon line with New Jersey at the end of 42nd St, expecting the sun to suddenly appear in a glowing ball of light, with their cameras and phones in the hand...

8:20pm. The sunset was almost there. The anticipation was big. But there were clouds in the horizon. Damn clouds. Would this be all for nothing? More people coming. Lines of trapped cars in both directions. Horns. A very angry passenger opening his window and screaming "Go home, you idiots!" And suddenly... a siren and the familiar red and blue light of an NYPD car approaching. An officer came out, megaphone in hand. "No pedestrians allowed on this bridge. Go down immediately or risk being summoned or arrested."

Oh, the irony.... as the crowd complied and started walking away, disappointed, 8:24pm on my watch. The clouds still covering the horizon in a dark blue tone. There would be no big sunset tonight. But if one thing defines New Yorkers it is their relentless determination. If they couldn't be on the overpass bridge, they would stand on the street, right under it, and blocking 42nd St traffic if for only a minute, everyone taking pictures of... actually nothing, a cloudy horizon. A promise of what should have been.

42nd Street,
Manhattan, NYC.

2014
© Sion Fullana
All Rights Reserved