Thanks for the details Penny. Nothing there that I haven't done myself except for adjusting vibrance, maybe that does the trick. I'll have to experiment a little with that.

thanks for all the comments.
Martin, so far as processing is concerned, I really did not do a whole lot. This was a jpeg file (like I said I used a mode in the little camera and now I'm realizing that the camera reverts to jpeg when I do that) - in PS I used levels, exposure, curves, then converted to b/w - after that I played with vibrance (moved it way down) and levels again before resizing. I hardly did any sharpening or contrast.
John, maybe I could relate myself to this guy as well - possibly that's why I found him. And you're right, he looked a little lost but taken care of. I think the holidays have a way of bringing people's feeling of loneliness and isolation more to the surface, unfortunately. I hope you are doing well.

I identify with this guy. As time goes on, I find I become more isolated, fewer friends and family around me. I was thinking that he's not doing too badly. He's warmly dressed and he has socks. It's a good photo; it brings out my own feelings of isolation.

My kind of photo! Love it, Penny, and especially like the timelessness of it. If you don't mind, how did you process this, if at all? I'm asking because I've been after a sort of b&w "film" look for ages, sometimes it works out, other times it doesn't, but this photo sure makes me think "film". Sometimes I also think the smaller sensor cameras achieve this look better than larger sensor models... and yet I didn't think so with my A630 or an Oly 8080 I had...

Quite an effective perspective and great candid capture. B&W works perfectly here as well.

Another great shot with feeling and emotion. This is becoming common with you and I like it.

Something about the technique makes him appear to be dissolving - parhaps as he would wish.

Very nice & spot on for the theme. I like these shots that leave one wondering about the subject.

thanks for the comments Jill and Debi
JP - I have been trying to get something interesting with the little camera (not that that's happened yet but I understand there is a learning curve).
The past few weeks at work have been busy so I was looking for a place to take something after dark and went to Grand central.
Rod - the camera boots up pretty quickly, actually. Not bad. And the controls are easy to use too.
What I don't like is that they give you all these fancy settings but anything decent I've gotten has been in P mode at ISO less than 200. Actually, I think this one I took in one of their scene modes (don't remember which one though - hence the 800 ISO because that happened automatically).
I took a few pictures of this lonely looking fellow. Amongst all the fancy hub bub at Grand Central Station, he was stumbling around looking kind of lost.
He only sat down here for a couple of minutes and I have no idea what for but I was at a good angle so..

Maybe he's an ex Lehman Brothers employee contemplating wot could have been. Well seen & taken Penny. How quick does the Leica fire up ready to take a picy? The P&S cameras were quite slow off the mark for getting these type of picys a.

Wonder why he is lost in such deep thought - perfect for the topic

Hi Penny, certainly a sad and forlorn figure...hate to see these people that give up on life. I think your conversion to B&W just adds to that feel, great for the topic.

thanks Daniel.

Perfectly in topic Penny!. B&W conversion was a good idea, interesting angle for shooting, and I like the grained PP you did here. Daniel.