In the past, I would dislike scenes like this with all the scaffolding and the distracting orange netting on the right—it’s much too cluttered. However, I now use these as opportunities. The scaffolding allows me to create a scene within a scene, framing people inside a tighter envelope while still including the surrounding neighborhood.

When I shot this photo, the women on the left and the stroller on the right were in deep shadow. The camera properly exposed for the highlights in this high-contrast image. It was only after I post-processed it that the entire picture emerged, revealing this lovely interaction. I particularly like the three women on the left, with their happy but slightly confused expressions. The bit of stroller on the right balances the picture, though I wish I had a little more of it. It also adds depth to the scene.

This is still SoHo, though it looks less affluent than yesterday’s picture with the cafe. You might still notice the tall structures with the large windows, even though the scaffolding blocks a good part of the architecture. It clearly doesn’t resemble the red brick tenements of Chinatown and Little Italy.

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