bikes and things

I recently had the pleasure of watching the fantastic Bill Cunningham New York documentary with Emma. As the name implies it’s about a man called Bill Cunningham, as I’m not being entirely versed in the fashion world I hadn’t heard of him before. The first time I’d heard him mentioned was in the aftermath of hurricane Sandy where he was still out shooting photos on his bike whilst the whole city was shut down.

He’s a fashion photographer who has been taking shots on the New York street since 1978 according to his wikipedia entry. He’s now well into his eighties and is still shooting each and every day on his trusty bike. His work predates much of the current fashion imagery we’ve come to expect.

He has seemingly devoted his life to the art of photography and fashion and yet not sought any real financial gain or stardom. His quotes and insight, especially on money, are inspirational in themselves.

If you don’t take money, they can’t tell you what to do, kid. That’s the key to the whole thing.

And yet more genius.

Money is the cheapest thing. Freedom is the most expensive thing.

Those quotes on their own don’t mean much outside of the context of the film, which is inspirational in so many ways and I’d recommend watching to anyone. It’s hard to describe but you get the sense of such a decent human being enjoying everything he does in the world without worrying about anything insignificant. I can’t resist one more quote on his attitude to work.

I don’t work, I only know how to have fun everyday.

Watch the trailer and then go and buy the DVD. It’s utterly brilliant!