Lower East Side Update

Several days ago I posted an image of a gentleman I met in a shop on Grand Street, and I mentioned that he was a 96 year old hero who had survived Auschwitz Concentration Camp. I need to correct his age, he's 98 years old. Quite amazing. I hope to be able to be able to spend more time with him and do more posts about his story.

After discussing the project with another documentary photographer, I spent more time in the neighborhood and have become more committed to completing the entire project with a set of images 'twenty years later'. This is going to take a considerable commitment of time and energy but, as with anything else, the rewards will be in direct proportion to my effort.

In 1993 I visited a book bindery on Henry Street aptly enough called Henry Bookbinding and was allowed by the owner, Sholom Halpert, to shoot some film. I revisited the shop and was cordially welcomed by Mr. Halpert and invited to do more images. The first two images are digital scans of negatives that were shot in 1993:

And this is from my recent visit to the shop:

Ninety Six Year Old Hero

This past week I restarted a photo project I on which I initially worked in 1993-94 about New York City's Lower East Side, entitled Manhattan Diaspora. The original collection of photos can be viewed here in the galleries by that name. After discussing my recent photo work with an old friend and colleague who, by the way, was instrumental in helping me develop my passion for documentary photography, I decided to revisit the neighborhood - places, businesses, and people - and do a twenty-years-later extension of the project. I found several people who I originally photographed in 1993, and I look forward to spending time with them again.

While I was walking along Grand Street, I saw in the window of the East Side Glatt meat shop an interesting looking man talking to the sales clerk. When I entered the store I was introduced to ninety six year old Max Davidowitz. I showed him a series of images of the original project that I had loaded onto my iPad, and he told me of some of his experiences mining coal for over three years while in the Auschwitz concentration camp. He rolled up his jacket sleeve to show me his identification tattoo, and in a flash I knew why I had to rededicate myself to this project. He didn't understand why I was so interested in him. He is a hero.

Skin City II

Is it art? Well .... yes and no. I was walking in Times Square on a Saturday evening and the usual street hawkers were out - all the cartoon characters, faux Elvises, Spidermen, naked cowboys and cowgirls, and women with nothing but a g-string and some body paint - hustling for a buck per photo op. This was most definitely commerce, it's what a buck will get you these days.

That same day there was an artist with a contingent of willing models for his body painting efforts.

The beat cops were not happy about it. They told the artist to wrap it up in five minutes. When his audience protested in the name of our constitutional rights to free artistic expression, the police said the crowd was impeding pedestrian traffic. So I pushed my way through the crowd (putting myself in jeopardy of bodily harm from others in the dense crowd of art lovers .... oh, what lengths I go to for my readers!) to get as many shots as I could. I knew it wasn't a crowd of people just interested in lewd prurient exposure because of the interest shown in the more 'rotund' objects d'art (ahem....).

Men were well represented also.

As were a few more attractive morsels.

Times Square

Some quick posts of photographs from around Times Square taken within the past week. These first two were shot on West 47th Street between Sixth and Fifth Avenues, known as the 'Diamond District' of New York. These were two diamond merchants who were out on the sidewalk to hustle business from people walking by who just happened to be carrying a pocketful of diamonds or gold - not kidding .... really ....

After my walk around midtown I sat in Times Square to watch the circus walk by, and saw this young gentleman enjoying a tasty treat .... oooohhhhh yummmm ..... dirtwater franks.

Reworking Old Images

I've been reviewing my photo work going back to about five years ago, and discussing many of the b/w images with a photographer I greatly respect, and who first turned me onto the work of W. Eugene Smith. As a result of looking at that work I see that my first attempts at processing a few of them was a bit heavy handed. The first takes were processed with Nik's first iteration of Silver Efex Pro. After a few years of using and refining my technique with Silver Efex Pro 2 I wanted to try again.

The first image was taken on the subway. After examining the processed image I could see that I covered up quite a bit of detail in the shadow areas which got compressed into black:

After reworking the shot in SEP2 and paying more detailed attention to zones 1, 2, 3, and 4, I got a much more interesting and detailed image:

The same is pretty much true for this second image taken on West 14th Street:

Skin City, New York

When I first began traveling into New York, as a teenager in 1960, I took the bus from New Jersey into the Port Authority Bus Terminal on 41st Street and Eighth Avenue. The area around the bus terminal and Times Square fascinated me with it's seediness - drunks and drug addicts hung out on every corner, prostitutes flashed passers-by from recessed doorways, on every block of Eighth Avenue were two or three peep shows, massage parlors proliferated - the area had a lot of gritty character.

Then came Mayor Giuliani who initiated a major effort to 'revitalize' the theater district, to make it more tourist friendly. New retail stores, new theaters, new lighting. Most recently a stretch of Broadway from 47th Street to 41st Street was closed to vehicular traffic and converted into a pedestrian mall. Bleacher seats were erected over the TKTS booth, and the area is blanketed with cartoon characters pandering to the tourists to pose with their children for a small fee. The whole area is now like a giant carnival.

But bizarre characters are hard to keep subdued. For a while there was just one 'naked cowboy' who roamed the intersections on hot summer or frigid winter nights wearing tight jockey shorts, a cowboy hat and boots, and strumming a guitar. He must have done well because spin offs proliferate now - at times the 'naked cowboy' is a muscular black guy, and there are 'naked cowgirls' for guys to leer at. So there's still a glimmer of hope for the area.

It's not often that I post color images to my blog, but the subject cries out for it. Here's one of the original naked cowboys (white guy, in case you couldn't tell):

Some guys (for the life of me I don't understand why) find glamor in cellulite. Here's one set of cowgirls:

And yet another take on the 'naked cowgirl' theme. Trust me, you don't want her to drop the guitar:

      

And some performers forgo the guitar and just get as naked as they can. But it's not all body paintm (sigh). I checked as closely as I could (I hope you all appreciate the great pains I take on my readers' behalf):

Through the Viewfinder

No doubt about it, when I compose through the viewfinder I become much more involved in the scene I'm grabbing. I get a reaction from the subjects, and it's not always pleasant. But hey, if I wanted pleasant, nicey nice I'd sit in Starbucks with some friends and sip cappuccino.

The feelings about the interaction between this couple is so beautiful on the guy's face. Maybe I should have stayed around and photographed him strangling her.

I think this gentleman was giving me his mean nasty look, I get a lot of those.

I'm not sure about the statue in the window of this shot, I was thinking maybe Confucius (this being shot in Chinatown). The gentleman was just oozing peace and serenity.