Tunnel
My brain is going… I forgot the name… It’s got those steps leading down from the lake (behind me).
It’s usually got either a homeless guy or a musician or both… I had no idea the ceiling was wooden slats until I saw the negs (uh, I mean captures). And now I’m wondering what those squares in the ceiling are - can’t be lights - I’ve never seen them on. Maybe at night…
I used this line in the introduction to the Central Park book: There’s a short story by Thomas Wolfe called, Only the Dead Know Brooklyn. (I wish he hadn’t been such an anti-semite, his work is so beautiful, esp. the short stories).
Anyhow - I sort of feel that way about the park.
Comments
Comment from Jessica
Time: May 20, 2008, 2:46 pm
The Trefoil 
It’s a beautiful photograph.
Comment from dave
Time: May 20, 2008, 4:28 pm
JAC - I don’t plan on doing anything special as far as Coney goes. There are a lot of photographers who’ve been spending the time to document the place. The news about its’ closing has been around for at least two years now. I spent a lot of time last year shooting; and I guess I’ll go a couple of times this summer.
Comment from JAC
Time: May 22, 2008, 9:38 am
This got me thinking about an interesting sort of dichotomy in your work. On the one hand, you often capture the crowded hustle-and-bustle of life in New York, as in your photos of packed subways and street corners. On the other, like a lot of other good photographers, you also seem interested in capturing images of solitude, which for New Yorkers must be something of a fantasy. You didn’t post a picture of the tunnel with the homeless guy in it; you chose to show it depopulated. I suspect most people who buy photos to hang on their walls are more interested in the fantasy of solitude, but I think your photos of people are every bit as important. I prefer Henri Cartier-Bresson to Ansel Adams, but you seem to capture some of the strengths of both in your work.
Comment from dave
Time: May 22, 2008, 11:01 am
JAC. Well put. Even if I were every bit as good as HCB - I couldn’t sell many photographs of people. But I admit to being influenced by both photographers - who couldn’t be? The site is geared towards “making a living,” which means that I keep the number of “people,” images to a minimum in the for sale section. On the other hand - the potential of doing these books I’ve been working on means that I can put my own vision - unaltered by commercial considerations - together. I haven’t done this in the first two books, but the third book will be strictly what I find the most fascinating.
Comment from JAC
Time: May 20, 2008, 9:43 am
This and “Gatering Storm, Cedar Hill” are among the better things you’ve shown recently.
By the way, I just read on CNN that the Coney Island amusement park is closing at the end of this summer. Do you have any plans to spend some extra time working there before it’s gone?