You would be hard pressed to find a city that is more of an inspiration to photographers than the Big Apple. The ancient charm of European cities notwithstanding, New York has a certain edginess generated by the enormous energy produced by millions of people living and working and creating within the its boundaries. Add to that its ever changing facade; Buildings coming down, buildings going up, buildings being changed. It never stops evolving.
Before moving to Pennsylvania in the spring of 1974, I lived and worked in New York City; lived in Queens, worked in Manhattan. I was a commuter using the bus and subway to get where I wanted to go. Until I joined the military in 1966, I was a New Yorker born and raised. I experienced the first big blackout back in 1965 and I had to walk out of a subway tunnel three times due to power failures. My dad used to bring me into the City when I was a kid to visit at his place of work in mid-town Manhattan. What I miss in the beautiful state of Pennsylvania, is the ability to grab a camera, jump on the subway and emerge in Manhattan only a short time later. I used to do that a lot back in the day.
A short time ago, I decided that it was time to do some photography in “The City.” Even though New York City is made up of the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx – if you are going into Manhattan, you are going “into The City.” Things have changed quite a bit since I was last in Manhattan and I was looking forward to recording those changes. My plan was to take a bus into the Port Authority Bus Terminal and range north, east, south, and west as far as I could in about six hours. I wanted to focus on the Times Square area first and then work outward - taking advantage of any opportunities that might present themselves.
I arrived in Gotham at 8:00 am and emerged from the bus terminal to an overcast sky and intermittent showers. The forecast had missed this part but it was supposed to clear later on. However, the rain, wet streets, and the umbrellas added a lot of interest to the photos. One thing that I noticed that was new to me was the amount of animated signage in the Times Square area. Whole sides of buildings were now LCD screens displaying advertisements for movies and shows and just about anything else you could think of. With the rain darkening skies, it looked like something out of “Blade Runner” or any other Ridley Scott film you may have seen. There was so much graphic information being directed at the people heading to work that it was almost overwhelming. I suppose that the natives pretty well ignore it but for those of us that are visiting it was mind blowing.
It took me a while to settle in with my camera. At first I was shooting everything that I saw but I did calm down and become more selective. More than anything I wanted to capture the vitality and pulse of the city along with the people that make everything happen. There were more people in constant motion than I remembered. All day long. Not to mention the taxis buses and trucks that choked the streets.
My travels took me uptown to 52nd and 5th, which put me in the vicinity of Rockefeller Center and my dad's old office building at 666 Fifth Ave. And farther downtown to 32ndth Avenue. In between I took in Saint Patrick's Cathedral (being renovated), the Public Library (being renovated), Bryant Park, Herald Square, Radio City Music Hall, and, of course, Times Square and Broadway. I even did something that I neglected to do in all the years I lived in New York. I went up in the Empire State Building.
I had my lunch planned well before I made the trip. There is one thing that I have not been able to get in PA (my part of PA, anyway) and that is a good hot pastrami sandwich. When lunchtime rolled around, I took out my Droid X, pulled up the map app, and typed “deli” in the search function. It gave me quite a few choices but the closest deli was Ben's Kosher Deli just a few blocks away. I was there in ten minutes and shortly thereafter I was enjoying my pastrami with a nice pickle, coleslaw, and, to drink, Dr. Brown's Cel Ray Tonic. Perfect. I took a picture with the phone and sent it to my wife. She said later that it was torture. Nothing like a good hot pastrami sandwich.
Around two thirty I was getting tired. My back was aching a bit and my feet were complaining. It was time to head home. I hoofed it over to Port Authority and found the gate for my bus (which was NOT easy) and waited a short time for the three o'clock bus back to Reading. Three and a half hours later I was home with close to five hundred images to process. Heaven.
ps: you can see some of my selections at: http://www.pbase.com/mnoble/nyc
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