Bill Cunningham New York

Cunningham, an octogenarian, must be flattered that people are still interested in his sex life or at least want to know if he is gay or not.  As it turns out he is married to his work and is never romantically involved with anybody.  So I guess the answer is even he himself can't be sure if he is or isn't homosexual.  Sometimes I wonder why someone's sexual orientation weighs so much on one's life.  But it sort of always does especially if one is not heterosexual, it's like your whole life is defined by your sexual orientation, well I digressed.  There are a couple of things that surprise me.  The number one being, not the homosexual question, but about his religion.  Cunningham is Catholic and goes to church every Sunday and when asked about his religion he seems badly shaken and on the verge of a meltdown and for a few seconds he just keeps his head down and can't utter a word, which is unusual given his usual cheerful predisposition, at least on the documentary though the few times I saw him in real life he seemed seriously detached, not unfriendly but not warm or anything probably he needed to stay focused when he's at work which I am sure he was as he is at work twenty four by seven.  The second surprise is how jocular Anna Wintour is when talking about Bill Cunningham.  She is chatty and warm and doesn't hide behind her sunglasses.  I think Cunningham certainly suffers for his art though he says he enjoys it, his work ethics is next to none: he won't even allow himself to eat or drink a glass of water in those high society parties he covers as that would be inappropriate.  When nowadays people, like the Sartorialist, causally brag about pageviews, CPM and quarter million dollars ad revenue, Bill is decidedly humble and frugal and vows to never sell out.  As he says if you don't get paid they can't make you do things. Or something.

PS:  I think Cunningham shoots with some FE or FE2.  But the latest is, judging from a post/picture I saw from the Sartorialist, he might be shooting a Nikon D7000 with a manual lens attached.  Good luck with the focusing, CHILD.