All throughout our world vandalism can be found almost anywhere.  We may have to look a little harder and dig a little deeper, but no matter what anyone tells you, vandalism is always around.  Whether it is graffiti on the wall of the corner drug store or defacing a park bench, vandalism is a crime that has been plaguing places all over the world for years.  This crime can be especially seen in the five boroughs of New York.  Living and growing up in Staten Island, I wanted to focus on the ever-growing problem of vandalism around my home.

When I first began my photo-hunting expedition, I struggled with finding a theme to photograph.  Then, all of a sudden, this idea of photographing vandalism soon came to mind.  As a little boy growing up in a condominium complex riddled with graffiti and broken swing sets and slides, I was never allowed to play outside.  I never experienced the park literally less than a block away from my own home.  The slides were always damaged and the swings unsafe and full of graffiti.  At such a young age, I didn’t truly understand why I was never allowed to play there but I always wanted to.  I figured this topic of vandalism would be a perfect Street Photography theme, since I have much experience with it.  I don’t want this assignment to come off that I live in a terrible neighborhood.  My parents are hard working Americans that only want the best for their children, but sometimes it is impossible to escape acts of vandalism.  As it was previously stated, vandalism is everywhere whether you live in the apartment complex down the street or the most expensive house on a private street.

The photographs that I chose to take each have its own special meaning and message in it.  I wanted to show not only the large, obvious signs of vandalism, but the small, less noticeable ones as well.  My goal was to educate the public that vandalism is something that has been around for a long time and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.  My tactic for finding vandalism was driving around in my car with my camera ready to shoot.  Surprisingly I actually found some great spots on my first photo shoot.

I wanted to capture the vandalism that hit very close to my home as a child.  I started my expedition a mere fifty yards away from my front door.  As I previously mentioned, there is a small park designed for young children.  Sadly the teenagers that resided within the vicinity of the park felt it was necessary to destroy swings and slides for amusement.  The few pictures I took of the park truly show the devastation that vandalism had on my condominium development.  After I was satisfied with the pictures around my home, I hit the road in order to find examples of vandalism a little further away.  My friend agreed to help me with the project in that he would drive and I would take pictures of whatever I felt would help me reach the goal I was trying to achieve.  Red lights gave me the opportunity to snap still photos of graffiti all over Staten Island.  When we stopped for a dinner break at Outback Steakhouse, I was shocked to see the amount of vandalism in the parking lot.  One picture I captured shows an upside down handicap parking sign.  This just goes to show that there are some people on this world that don’t have respect for the elderly and disabled.  It is bad enough these people are at a disadvantage, but now they have to get embarrassed.  One thing that had me worried was what I looked like taking all of these pictures on Staten Island.  Ever since September 11th 2001, people have become especially weary of what is going on around them.  I wondered to myself if I looked like a terrorist taking pictures in order to plan an attack.  Yes, it is a terrible thought, but it makes sense and I even received a few dirty looks.  I didn’t bother to attempt to explain that it was a project for school.  The people would not have believed me.

There is one photo, the last one in my Microsoft Powerpoint presentation, that signifies what has to be done to stop this growing problem of vandalism in Staten Island and all of New York.  I titled the photograph “Stop and Stare” because that’s exactly what needs to be done.  People and police of Staten Island have to stand up against these vandals and put an end to this epidemic.
This street photography project not only has helped me to become a better photographer and enhance my originality, it has also given me a newfound respect for real photographers like Jeff Mermelstein and Susan Meiselas.  I can only imagine the looks of disgust and disapproval they receive each and every day they take photographs.  They do it because they love their occupation and they are truly artists behind a camera.

            I knew, even before I started, that for my project to have any effect at all, I had to show a multitude of areas. I knew that I would have success on major avenues with construction activity because many of these ads are found on the temporary walls of construction sites. The ones that instantly came to mind were 6^th (Avenue of the Americas), 5^th, and Broadway. To show a little diversity I knew that I should also go over to the West side around 10^th and 11^th. I also knew that it would be wise to really vary my pattern by going downtown by the Bowery. I also knew that I should vary how I took the pictures. I would take some shots in which the whole length of the ad wall would be capture and then I would take others that were close ups of individual sections. I did not want to have the same shot every time. I had to make sure to vary how I took them because more often than not the ads would be the same and I ran the risk of being repetitious.

            As I began to walk around Manhattan snapping pictures of entire walls of ads I found myself realizing how often I actually see these without actually registering that they are there. I found walls with the same ads repeated multiple times in blocks. The walls were completely saturated with advertisements for one thing or another, whether it was a new movie or an upcoming concert. I also discovered that these same advertisements were repeated throughout the city. It was staggering to fully comprehend just how many of these ad walls there are. I also made sure to find a few shots of those construction sites that did not want ads posted along their walls. They would have signs imprinted that would say “Post No Bills”. I wanted to document clearly that not every company or organization wanted to be conduits for mass advertising.

             Throughout my quest to locate these obtrusive displays of advertising, I saw that many people simply ignore them and I am among these people. At the same time I understood that the goal is not necessarily to hope that people will notice one specific ad, but to blanket the city in them so that by sheer force of numbers people would have to pay attention sooner or later. The reason that I chose this topic was because I realized that it is an every day part of life, but one that goes largely unrecognized. More often than not, I will not even notice that they are there but eventually through repeated encounters it registers in my head and that is the whole point of this tactic. I wanted to show that, for good or bad, these advertisement walls are a part of our everyday lives.

             As I traipsed around Manhattan, I discovered that I enjoyed snapping shots of city life. I liked the idea that I was documenting something that is tangible and real. I believe that this project has given me a better appreciation for photography as an art. I now understand the thrill that a photographer gets from snapping a shot and realizing that it is his or her ideas that made that unique view of real life possible. Photography is something that I have discovered that I have an interest in and I hope to pursue it later in life. One thing is for certain; I will never look at another advertisement wall the same way again.

My theme for the street photography project is American dream. I want to express my feeling towards American dream that doesn’t exist anymore. Throughout my photographs, I try to tell the viewer the hardship of immigrants, came to find a better life, in the New York City. With the ideology of American dream, these immigrants, who were doctors and businessmen in their old country, came to America only to find themselves washing dishes and selling fake merchandise off the street. I also connected to the new immigrants because my parent went through the same struggle. Living in a Chinese community myself, I want my photographs to be dark and serious.

For me, I separate my photography into two sections, each with a different purpose and meaning. For the black and white photographs, I take photographs of only hard working immigrants in New York. I believe with black and white style I can best portray the daily life of immigrants. For my colored photographs, they represent hope, and some of the colored photographs will be used to illustrate some of my feelings not relating to immigration. I think by categorizing my photography this way, I can find a better balance that will be clean and direct.

I have never done street photography before, thus this is my first experience. I was surprised that I was nervous. Shooting photographs in crowded locations such as Chinatown and Flushing made me uncomfortable, I was always afraid of the stares from the crowd. In the beginning, I would hesitate to shoot photography up close of people, fearing they would be offended. I think my biggest accomplishment during the street photography is having the courage to ask people if I can photograph them.

For my first photograph of Manhattan, I was bothered by the frame. I did not want to include the whole view, yet unable to decide which part of Manhattan I should photography. In the end, I decided to use this frame because it allowed me to include the trees, which showed how far away I was from the building. Without much experience with the camera, the focus of the photograph represented precisely what I wanted the skyscrapers in Manhattan to be like. I wanted the building to be there yet blurring.

It was also difficult to take picture of street vendors as well as the workers in the supermarket in Chinatown because the crowd was in constant motion. I had to wait for the right moment. Since I took these photographs at afternoon, I had to battle with the diminishing brightness from the sun. Using the black and white style, I was able to convey my ideas at the same time avoiding the empty darkness in these photographs. The black and white style created depth to my photographs.

I took all of my photographs in Flushing while walking home. The photograph with the chef, preparing food, was the first one I took. I could have only included the chef, but I decided to include the food at the left as well. I wanted to frame this way was because I want to show the viewer the job of the chef, chopping the same type of food over and over again for days. I want to point out that new immigrants came to America to make a living; they didn’t care about their interest in the job as long as they are getting paid.

For the colored photograph of a street in Chinatown, I had the option to shoot it from the closer street corner or the farther one. I decided to shoot from the farther street corner because I wanted the photograph to have a shape, with the street narrowing in the end. I regretted that I took the photograph in the afternoon, there wasn’t any detail about the building in the photographed that I wished I included. Every time I walked in Chinatown, I would always compare it to cities in China, the familiar Chinese signs and traditional Chinese stores. The street photography project gave me an opportunity to share about my opinions that could only be explained by photography.

With my last photograph of sunset, there is still hope that American dream still exists for someone. But the truth is that, gradually, the window of opportunity is closing, like the sunset.

           Home to fashionistas, bookworms, figure skaters, weddings, or passionate moviegoers, Bryant Park is a melting plot attracting people of all ages, interests, nationalities, and countries.            During the first two weeks of September, paparazzi, journalists, and publicists all crowd around the famous white tents trying to get a glimpse of the celebrities and fashion icons attending New York Fashion Week, one of the four major fashion weeks in the fashion industry. Fans and tourists swarm the white tents awe hoping to get a glance of prestigious fashion designers in this highly coveted and exclusive by invitation only event. Several weeks later, these block long tents are removed, and almost magically an ice rink appears where children and adults fill the rink, skating uniformly in a counter-clock-wise direction. Visit during the summer months, and you won’t see an inch of the great lawn as spectators enjoy a nice picnic while watching musical performances or the favorite, HBO/Bryant Park Summer Film Festival. As a result, it seemed only fitting to take all my pictures at Bryant Park; not only one of my favorite places in New York City, but also a dynamic place full of excitement, diversity, literally evolving with each season.

           I was very frustrated when it came to picking a theme for our photography project. I had no idea what or who to take pictures of, nor did I know how I could include the theme of cultural encounter. However, my adventure to Bryant Park, as always, surpassed my expectations.

           As I walked to Bryant Park, I realized it was the perfect place for my project. I first took a lap around the block, marveling and observing everything and everyone around me. I then walked across the New York Public Library, and went to the ice rink at the center of the park, where I allocated an ample amount of time. Following Jeff Mermelstein’s advice, I started snapping images of bystanders, figure skaters, newsstands, trees, and buildings – everything that I encountered in my path. At the ice rink I studied the various people tripping, skating, pretending to skate but really gripping the side of the rink, laughing, and twisting into odd positions as they braced their falls. I surveyed their faces and noticed that each individual had a different reaction and facial expression. Instantly, I realized my theme would be “one block, one park, many personalities.”

           Despite shooting figures of all shapes, sizes, ages, and nationalities, I found that my most interesting figures were children and young adults. They weren’t afraid to expose their naïveté and curiosity, and I strived to capture them in their uninhibited essence. By catching them in the midst of their actions, I was able to get candid pictures, where each figure’s true personality shone through. For example, in the image titled, “Narcissus, is that you?” we see a little boy fascinated and fixated on a fountain pond. While a murky and brown tinted pond overflowing with discolored autumn leaves is an ugly sight to many, the boy’s intense focus and engagement seems to indicate that he is looking at something beautiful, deserving of all his attention. Although there were hundreds of people in the park, he wasn’t distracted or interested in anything else. Despite standing a few feet away from him, I felt invisible as he completely disregarded my presence. Thus, his interest and curiosity overpowered everything else in the park, and that is what I wanted to capture.

           Another one of Jeff Mermelstein’s suggestions that I found very useful was taking pictures without looking through the viewfinder. In the image titled “Patiently Waiting and Watching,” I held my Sony Cybershot digital camera at my knees and clicked on the shutter. After uploading all my pictures, I realized that by luck I had snapped the two figures sitting in the middle of the sidewalk centered in the frame. I also wanted the focus to be on those two figures, since the pedestrians, car, garbage bags, and even leaves in the frame appear to be in motion and slightly blurry. Seeing these two figures static in such a dynamic scene captured my interest, and made me wonder why they were sitting there. I also tried to illustrate images in various and unconventional angles, which is seen in the image “Holding on for Dear Life.” To achieve this angle, I sneakily put my arm completely over the edge of the rink stretching my arm as close as I could to the ice. As a result, I was level with this three-foot boy, who was struggling to stand upright like a newborn deer stumbling over its first steps. My favorite image was perhaps the one I captured with pure luck. Looking out onto the rink, laughing at both adults and children discombobulated on the fresh ice, I couldn’t help but notice the young girl next to me. Like energetic toddlers, she was laughing and talking three-year old jibberish as her parents were conversing. I was fixated on her jubilant and adorable character, and wanted to take a picture of her. However, her parents were standing a few feet away, and I didn’t want to blatantly photograph her in fear of their reaction. Therefore, I put the camera under my right elbow and looked up at the surrounding buildings to my left. I attempted to give the illusion that I was simply holding my camera, while I was actually pressing the shutter several times. When I came home, I discovered I had captured her in two very distinct and contradicting poses. In one she is innocently staring out into the ice, while in the next she is grabbing her older brother’s face with a devious smile. This put a smile on my face as she exposed her unpredictable personality and power, bravely unlocking her seat belt and profoundly standing on her carriage.

           Soon after, I wasn’t worried about what others were thinking, and casually took pictures of random people on the rink. Whenever someone was staring at me, as if I were caught red handed, I would simply turn in another direction taking pictures of other objects like a typical tourist. Perhaps the best part of New York City is that nothing is weird, nothing is out of the ordinary. In some places, people would aggressively attack you verbally and possibly physically. However, I felt free and comfortable, which was evident as I took over three hundred pictures in a span of two hours. I was the artist, my camera was my brush, and Bryant Park was my muse.

           Finally, I decided to put all my images in black and white; some of the colors were very distracting and took the attention away from my message. The black and white color added an increased intensity and deeper meaning to my images.

           After browsing through my images later that night I was satisfied with the result. In a 9.603-acre park stretching a full block, I was able to encompass a diverse crowd exhibiting an entire spectrum of emotions. Perhaps there are only a few places where you can capture people in their true vulnerable states, and Bryant Park was just the place. Whether they are struggling but determined to stand upright, or laughing at their clumsiness, as they lay sprawled out on the cold ice, there was a beauty in each figure’s face and reaction, and that is exactly what I wanted to showcase.

street-photography3

(Link to Movie)

I thought that this project was going to defeat me. I had no idea what to take pictures of. The only things that I had ever taken pictures of were people or major landmarks while on vacation. I had never taken pictures spontaneously or for the sake of making art. I had only had experience taking tacky, postcard-like photos of the Eiffel Tower, or the Coliseum. What did I know about being a “street photographer”?
I stressed about having a theme, about where to take these photos and whether or not my photos were even worthy of being called “art”. I wandered around aimlessly through the streets of Midtown Manhattan with my little pink camera in hand but nothing caught my eye. All I could think of was how unusually cold it felt and how it seemed to be a little early for all the Christmas decorations. I thought of doing a series called “Christmas in July” documenting all of the early Christmas decorations and how they irritated me but I decided that would look too much like a tourist’s visit to the city for the holidays.
I looked everywhere for inspiration. I asked people for their opinions and what they would do if they had to do a street photography project. I even found out that I knew the famed “Chelsea Red” guy through a very unusual series of events and random questioning. After my mindless wandering and numerous interrogations I gave up and went home.
The next day I was riding in the passenger side of a car, still clutching my camera wondering about what to photograph. I started taking random photos of what I thought was nothing. I photographed everything and anything that I could get into my frame. I ended up shooting my entire set through the window of a moving car. This added a certain level of difficulty to getting my shots but I welcomed the challenge. If I missed the shot there was no way for me to go back to take it, unless I had the driver make an illegal u-turn or double back around the block. I looked for eye-catching boutiques and geometric bridges; pretty much anything that had an interesting pattern or look.

My frame was greatly limited by the fact that I was in a moving vehicle and that I, myself, was limited in movement. I tried taking pictures of things that were behind me by use of the side-view mirrors on the car. That’s when I came up with the title of my series. The little phrase on the bottom of the mirror, “Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear”. I think that the title suits the set in that it represents the restrictions that I incurred while trying to create my “art”. Even though you can see the objects in the mirror, you have to gauge how close they are. Even though I was able to see all the things around me, I had to estimate when to take the photo in order to get the shot I wanted. There are limitations.
With the way that I took my photos I was able to achieve different angles that, perhaps just walking on the street would not be able to produce. The photos all seemed to organically manifest themselves. At many times I didn’t quite know what I was going to get when the shutter closed but I ended up really liking what came out. I saw things that I wanted to shoot that I would normally whiz by without even a second glance. This route that I had traveled so many times before was suddenly beautiful and interesting. Things didn’t just blend into the background of the city. I actually studied my surroundings and wanted to include them in my series.
From this project I have gained a new appreciation for the roads that I have traveled on so often. I now see these streets in a new light. No longer will I think of the Pulaski Skyway and grimace. I won’t automatically think of its relentless and plentiful potholes. Beauty can be found in the most unlikely places, sometimes all it takes is a little bit of traffic for you to stop and notice it.

Mantras

Egyptian Feline

“Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.” Claude Monet was a fine artist, actually a good bit better than fine and he could barely come to grips with unbridled possibility of color. It’s overwhelming, so much so that we tend to dismiss it. Photography is a terrific way to capture some of the inquisitiveness which makes us human. There are a few instances in which photography can show us little more than what we can view, but often photography reveals to us how little our eyes permit us to see.  Normally we don’t see things as they are; the familiar is forced into the background of our focus. The couch we are sitting on is no longer a collection of darks and lights, patterns and textures; it is simply a couch.  Even though we live in a world full of color, we often don’t appreciate how powerful colors are. We blend it into our minds and don’t notice the beauty of its affect. This project focuses solely on colors, not in one specific area, but in our environment.

This project made me ask myself: what color would define New York? If its sobriquet holds any weight the big apple should be red. Yet that doesn’t seem to do the city any justice. So I went to the place by which the rest of the world defines New York City: Times Square. I took a series of photos, and when I got home I realized that no single color could define this city. It is made up of the dark gray concrete, the peach-white-black-brown-olive skin, the canary yellow taxis, and the dim green waters of the Hudson and east rivers. It is made of an immense palette created by wistful men and women.

This past weekend I went to a cranberry farm in New Jersey and now I know a sea of cranberries makes for a gorgeous picture. It is at once light and heavy, similar to red, which is at once radiant and dire. The top of a cranberry ocean is a papery red-the red of Valentine’s Day, while just below the surface is ox blood and heartbreak. This photo is an exercise in the texture of red, the depth of the trees, and the lightness of the cranberries, made it a beautiful summary.

Graffiti is usually an exercise in futility. It is often of dimwitted design and message. I found an exception not 6 blocks from my house. I was walking toward the bus stop when a vagrant I passed said, “Enjoy your life miss.” I muttered “thanks” and as I looked at him I noticed this piece behind him. When I returned with my camera later that day, the man was nowhere to be found. But the colorful wall painting remained. The airy blues and yellows allowed for the message to shine through.

Gray is my favorite color. It is the only color that can attribute itself to a majority of events, where the world of vibrancy lays no claim. Feelings are usually gray. When I saw the cat outside my window climbing a roof, I thought the whole image felt lonely and curious. It was a reflection of sorts.

Some writers seem to write with magma, nature paints with it.  I was fiddling with my camera’s color accents at my kitchen table when suddenly I saw only reds and oranges. This cup which held both my tea and my reflection was colored a rich orange. The cup became irrelevant, and only the contents mattered. The other glasses became envious, and there was a revolution in the dishwasher.

Pink balloons regularly bring comfort. In the absence of other color they look isolated. The way talent is often isolated. This poses the question if any color or uniqueness is real when there is no comparison.

White and green are simply natural. A pure color scheme that is downright angelic. My mother brought these flowers home to add some ethereal beauty, the way mothers do. Only it looked so pure that it was deathly. It reminded me of pale faces and cold bodies on Sunday mornings.

I suppose this project made me more observant. I walk by the same church every day, and I just noticed the golden fountain fastened to the side of the building. It depicted a swan and a child dancing. The statue was a combination of liberty and freedom; it felt inherently American. And in no other color is American freedom more perfectly displayed than gold.

Winter is rearing its blustery head once again, and the trees go last and they go quietly. When a tree dies, its bark becomes faded and the leaves get blown away. But every so often there is a warm spell in the middle of October and the tree makes a final stand and leaves sprout right from the trunk and this time I got a snapshot. This green is a rebellion against the seasons and a hopeful stand for life.

When dealing with the colors of New York, one must take into account flags. We have over twenty ethnic parades, each of which has its own flag with its own myriad of colors. So at Washington, D.C., I took a picture of all the flags that hung there. The predominant color is red; the universal color of independence and sovereignty.

It is only fitting that at a park where children play under sprinklers would be the perfect place to find rainbows. The rainbow is an object of lore for kids and adults alike. It is the possibility of unending color, and perhaps a pot of gold. The rainbow here lies on the ground underneath jets of water. The picture is almost too perfect, children will step on this red-orange-yellow-green-blue-indigo-violet floor, and they’ll be happy.

I found a man and his mother who both wore fairly interesting shirts. Both mother and son wore Barack Obama shirts. Color became a paradox on November 4^th, 2008. It is now both irrelevant and progressive.

[Attempting to upload slideshow]

The photos presented were taken at three separate locations at three different times.  The ones that were taken first are the prominently orange photos, those littered with utility poles and water towers, were taken on the way back from LBI during an early summer sunset.  I gasped at the colors flooding the car and related to my mother how much I love telephone wires.  In response she fished my camera out of the back and handed it over.  I clicked the last of the sun’s fading rays into the memory card and dubbed the collection of blurred telephone wires “pretty jersey” in tribute to New Jersey’s often discounted and ignored beauty.  The set is full of traffic lights and pick-up trucks, the highlight being a perfectly placed water tower, which was well within my camera’s grasp. 
When I first took these pictures in the beginning of the summer it gave me an amorphous idea.  It started with the simple thought of documenting Jersey’s ignored beauty and then rubbing it in the noses of my out of state friends and then it became more soul searching.  A lonely mini-van, trying to figure out how it is that Jersey can be so amazing yet so deadening at the same time.  I cast my family’s white Windstar as the pensive minivan, a kind of super-auto-hero.  This photo assignment allowed me to come back to this long dormant project, though the Windstar was not my mode of transport.  I took pictures from NJTransit buses and out of the sunroof in my mother’s tiny silver Volvo. I took the project wherever I was driven.
I knew that my project would become quite literally street photography so I knew the issues I would have to deal with.  Taking pictures while in motion is difficult and often frustrating.  If the windows of the vehicle are up, direct specs and fuzziness are expected, and unfortunate reflections often encountered.  Also I can’t ask the bus driver to slow down on the highway.  Sometimes I want a certain sign by a certain car and by the time the camera clicks I have the side of a building in my sights instead.  Things get blurred and trucks always come out of nowhere.  The perfect composition is fleeting so I click-click-click until the guy sitting next to me harrumphs and gives me a dirty look.  Then there are those funny and few beauties between the blurred, a single slide of the movie that I’ve seen over and over again.  That building, river, sign that I see everyday made solid for me in some photo betraying my movement yet slyly un-fictionalizing it by making the object stand still for me.
Then when I took pictures at night, in the rain, things became even more complicated.  I had no set idea for style in this series so I was clicking at will, paying little attention to he light and clicking way at tail lights and traffic lights and diner lights.   I shuffled around the shutter speed some, trying to let in more light so as to get a better shot.  Then, as I looked at the photos I took with the longer exposures, I realized I was playing light tricks, having completely forgotten about how pinpoints of light will streak around during a long exposure photo.  I then proceeded to play around with the shutter speed a lot more and took a lot of curly-cue pictures of car lights.  My accidental re-realization made what was a very frustrating picture experience into a rather delightful one.
The final set of pictures was made up of ones that were taken this November on one of my daily bus rides to and from New York.  I happened upon a beautiful day where the trees were bare and the clouds were shining.  The photos I took were in some ways, great disappointments, because the beauty I had seen, in the incandescent clouds and far off vistas, was impossible to catch with the camera I had from the vehicle I was in.  But when I thought I was going to have to settle, I looked through all those photos and found bizarre beauties within the folds.  I made some accidental images that invoke the strange and wonderful beauty I see as I drive through the Meadowlands each morning and afternoon.  It’s otherworldliness, stuck between wilderness and suburbia.
Each set of photographs stands up on its own accord.  There are multitudes of photos from each shoot and you can literally see my journey through New Jersey with each of the series.  At first I was afraid that mingling them would take away from their strength.  Yet as I picked out my favorites from each set and placed them all together I saw all three bizarre personalities swirl together in a carnival whirlwind that I call home.  Separate each group of photographs is Jersey.  The Jersey that is simplified and mocked.  Together they begin the white Windstar’s journey for him.  Together they begin to explain how Jersey is so inspiring yet so depressing at the same time.

After receiving a digital point and shoot camera for Christmas last year, I’ve slowly improved my photography skills. I am by no means even close to being considered a good photographer, but I have learned through trial and error about how to use my camera and how to manipulate basic shots. This street photography project is actually an extension of a variation on the Traveling Gnome that I did while on family vacation over the summer. I took pictures featuring a small, plush 1-Up mushroom that was given to me by someone very important to me, as a way of having her symbolically accompany me on vacation.

The first picture I decided to take was at the train station where I get on the Q train to go pretty much anywhere. I thought that it would be fitting for my project to begin in the same place where many of my adventures begin – at the train station. I actually missed the first train that arrived because it was about to leave when I got on the platform and I decided to get the photo first. This coincidentally led me to my image of the train arriving. I was wondering if anyone would give me trouble about taking pictures without their consent or something but nobody seemed to mind. I found a seat on the train and took a nap.

Luckily for me, the Q train was running along the R line between DeKalb Ave. and Canal St. because of construction on the Manhattan Bridge. I didn’t have to transfer to the R train to go to City Hall and it let me nap a little bit longer. I wanted to take a picture on Broadway between Duane St. and Reade St., where the first Duane Reade was, but it’s no longer there. There’s a Duane Reade on the corner of Duane St. and Broadway and another one on the corner of Broadway and Chambers St., but I guess their rent in the original building was too high and they moved.

From there, I made my way over to the Brooklyn Bridge. I spotted a tourist taking a picture of the Woolworth Building and decided to copy her, plus a 1-Up mushroom. After that I wanted to take a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge and started walking towards the middle of the bridge. Right about where the cables start to rise up to the tower, I realized that it would be difficult to get a picture of the bridge while on the bridge so I felt stupid and turned around to take the train to the South Street Seaport. On the way I noticed that the pedestrian symbol on one side of the walkway had its hand held out like it could be holding something. I waited for a break in the tourist swarms, quickly plopped my mushroom down in position, and stood up to snap a picture.

Determined to get a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge, an icon of New York City, before the sun went down, I hurried over to South Street Seaport and tried several times without flash. My mushroom was dark because I was in the shade so I turned on flash and tried again. This time the picture came out to be satisfactory and I was grateful that we can review pictures instantly on digital cameras. By now, the sun was approaching the horizon and I speed-walked over to the south side of Manhattan, by the Bowling Green train station, to get a picture of the sunset. It was too cloudy to get a nice shot of the sun but I managed to capture the lambent clouds. I spotted a weird statue on my way back to the train station and thought it looked interesting, so I took a picture of it as well.

On the train going to Chinatown I asked a man if I could take a picture of him with my mushroom next to him for my project but he rudely refused. Instead, I took a picture of my mushroom sitting on one of the platform benches. Once I got to Chinatown I asked a street vendor if I could take a picture and I ended up with one of my favorite pictures of the night. His pose was quite unexpected.

I walked up to SoHo to the Uniqlo store to take a picture. Uniqlo and Nintendo are both Japanese companies so I thought it was a fitting representation of a cultural encounter – two foreign businesses brought together in New York City. I trekked back to Chinatown to meet a friend and get dinner in a noodle shop where I eat often. On the way, I spotted a pair of lion statues and vaguely remembered that the Chinese believed that they would guard the entrances where they sat from evil spirits or demons. Finally, I took a picture of my mushroom at the dinner table. Everybody needs to eat some time.

At first I thought it would be a simple task. How hard could photography be? Little did I know that photography was actually harder than I thought. My biggest problem was that I had difficulty choosing a theme. I have always taken pictures of auspicious occasions, family and friends, landscapes and pretty objects. Therefore, doing this project was actually new to me because I would have to go looking for pictures to match up to my theme. After compiling about 200 pictures that I took and leafing through each one, I realized that most of my pictures related to one theme: people struggling to cope with everyday life for everyday living. With the amount of pictures I took in the subway and in the streets, I came up with the title I have because of the correlation between people trying to make a living on the streets and those doing the same underground but in a different way.

At the beginning, I decided to spend a day walking around New York City looking for random photographs, and hopefully, inspiration. I started in my Bensonhurst neighborhood and came upon graffiti on the wall of a run-down building situated next to the train station. I took a photograph of this, which I used on the first slide of my PowerPoint presentation as an introduction. It is a drawing of a bowl of alphabet soup in which the words “art is significance, not appearance” surfaced signed by MM. I remembered that last year as I was walking past the same place, I saw another drawing on the floor signed by Marcus Motion. I admire the art he draws but wonder what made him think this way. I believe that art is both significance and appearance. Not only is art based on the impression it leaves on its viewers, but it also is significance in that there is always a reason or story behind every piece of artwork. That is why I used this photograph to start off my project.

For my next location, I traveled via the MTA transit system to 34^th street and did not have to pay for transportation thanks to the handy unlimited Metrocard. As I was walking between doors, transferring between trains, and dodging people everywhere, I heard music echoing throughout the station as the trains left. My ears led me to a man playing three different wooden instruments that I cannot name due to my poor knowledge of musical instruments. However, all I knew was that it sounded peaceful and smooth amidst the bustling rush of everything that was happening in the 34^th street subway stop. Besides providing soothing music, he was also trying very hard to earn money at the same time. I took a photograph of this man and used it in my project. This photograph is titled “Three at Once.”

My next destination was Chinatown where I took many of my photos. My favorite photograph from Chinatown is the one titled “Making a Living.” Every time I get out of the train station, I take the same route along Canal Street to get to places, and each time I do, I always see an elderly man selling hair accessories on the corner of a street, rain or shine. I felt bad for the man, who has to suffer even at an old age and try to make some money from his items. Sometimes, I buy items from his because I feel bad.

Another one of my favorite photographs is the one titled “NYU Tuition Fund” which I took on 8^th Street. The man was begging for money, not for hunger or shelter, but for tuition for NYU. Surprisingly, many people approached him while I was watching. In the photograph, a woman was talking to him about her major and two other women approached him to offer him soup. I especially like the lighting that makes the eyes focus more attention on the two people in the photo as opposed to the dark background.

I enjoyed walking around and clicking my camera away because I was able to catch some interesting photos. However, I admit I did have some problems with photography. After I chose a subject for my photos, I was afraid to take them head-on because it would seem as if I was invading their privacy. Furthermore if the subject of my photos was a crowd as compared to a single person, I would not ask because to me, single subjects seemed more intimidating. Therefore, for most of my photographs, I asked the subjects if I could photograph them. All of them gave me their consent and only then would I feel unburdened. I had difficulty approaching them at times, but after many trials, I became accustomed to it.  I also realized that having a camera at hand all the time is actually very convenient because I can capture those special moments in time that will never happen again as time passes. To me, photography is capturing a paused moment in life and in this project, I felt like a real photographer.