Fast Film Shoots Friday Shoppers

A Photo News cameraman with a wide-open lens and a camera loaded with the fastest film on the market walked up and down Gladstone Road on a Friday night in February. His assignment: to capture something of the atmosphere of late night in the city, without flashbulbs, and using only the available light from street lamps and shop windows.

His camera caught pictures which show that late night is not just a convenience for shoppers. It is also an important weekly occasion, when friends meet to talk, young people make dates, women come to window-shop, wives ferret out bargains, and husbands wait for wives.

Late Night
In the City

While assistant makes 9 o'clock adjustment to window for benefit of weekend passers-by, a mother of five makes a close inspection.

Bright jewellery display stops three passers-by

Except that the shopping area is naturally much smaller, the "bright lights" part of Gisborne looks much the same on a Friday night as its counterpart in the bigger cities. Most noticeable difference is that the impersonal bustle of the metropolis is mellowed here by the recurring exchange of greetings and small talk between friends and acquaintances meeting on the street.