I watched the documentary about Bill Cunningham the other day. Bill is the streetphotographer avant la lettre. He cycles the streets of New York looking for stylish people and birds of paradise long before it came into fashion.
Scott Schuman a.k.a. The Sartorialist made shooting fashion on the street glamorous
--> over the last couple of years but he always generously gives credits to Bill for inventing the genre. Up until now I hadn't seen the man himself in action.
What a character...he lives and breathes fashion. There's absolutely nothing else in his live. At 80 he still lives in the old Carnegie Hall next to another old artist (95). His apartment is nothing more than a cupboard filled with cabinets. He sleeps in between them. He doesn't have a kitchen because he never cooks.
-->Archives of his work surround him and that's enough. He keeps his bike in a closet in the hallway and shares a bathroom with the other artist.
We see Bill in action on the street in 2010 but also in the eighties. These days he works for the New York Times where he fills two pages in the newspaper. Everybody knows Bill. After 40 years doing this job he's become a celebrity himself. But he doesn't think so and wants to have nothing to do with it. He keeps his distance because he believes that's the only way he can do his job properly. Great example of this philosophy: we see him talk to a guy on the street in the eighties after Details magazine is sold to Condé Nast. Bill never took a cheque for his work at Details which is incredible because he almost single handedly filled the magazine. After the magazine is sold Si Newhouse, the new owner, wants to pay Bill for all his work at Details but he doesn't give in. "Money comes cheap but freedom is very expensive". He doesn't want to depend on other people and takes that principle to the max.
Near the end of the documentary the director asks Bill two questions. One question is about his love life and one about religion. Without giving anything away beforehand I recommend you to watch closely...there is so much going on behind the Bill Cunningham we, and the people on the streets of NY, get to see.
