On Saturday I went to an afternoon matinee of Bill Cunningham New York at the Elmwood Theater on College Avenue. It's a nice little theater that shows second run and low budget films. I went alone and sat happily in the back row to enjoy the show.
The film is a documentary about Bill Cunningham who is a street and fashion photographer for The New York Times. I recommend the film whether you are interested in fashion or not. Cunningham is an 80 year old man who has been documenting fashion for decades and who is passionate about his work. He lives a spartan life and bicycles all over the city snapping spontaneous pictures of people on the street whose sense of style appeals to him. He also attends gala events where he photographs high society with an equal amount of spontaneity and non-pretension. As he says in the film, he doesn't care about "celebrities and their free dresses"; it's only the clothes that matter.
He seems to be a kind man who loves his work and doesn't care about money or being famous -- though he's become famous throughout the years. He has moral principles about the do's and don'ts of his profession and has high standards about his work. I find this refreshingly old-fashioned in our Rupert Murdoch age.
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