Writings, Reviews, Cultural Criticism
When I think of commerce in New York, I tend to think of Wall Street, but there’s commerce on the ground, too: people doing whatever it takes to earn a living. Here are samples that run the gamut from shoppers in the flagship store of the world’s most valuable corporation to buskers in Washington Square Park.
Street photography in Manhattan is like shooting fish in a barrel. It’s so easy.
There’s been a lot of talk in Toronto about the practice of “carding” where police stop people on the street and ask for ID. A number of events have converged to make it a hot-button topic.
I’m not a trainspotter. I don’t know why people do it. But photographically speaking, a train can be an interesting subject or piece of background. I’ve noticed a pattern in my own shooting: trains pop up all over the place, so I offer some samples here.
Sunday night, after everyone had finished in the tunnel by the Glen St. exit from the Sherbourne subway station, I went back with my tripod and a wide lens to document the results. Here are some samples of the #graffiti from wallnoize7.
On Saturday morning, it’s as if the graffiti army showed up: kids (am I showing my age?) lined up on either side of the tunnel, traffic cones at either end of the tunnel, ladders, boxes of spraypaint, and a guy with a clipboard doling out paint and telling people where to go.
I saw Spudbomb doing his thing under the Bloor West Go Rail overpass. I don’t know if Spudbomb is a person or a collective. Or an aspiration. Or a poltergeist.
The Baldwin Steps climb the Iroquois shoreline which was the shore of Lake Ontario when ice age melt water made the lake significantly larger than it is today. The steps rise from Davenport Road to Casa Loma and offer a great view of the city to the south. Climbing the steps serves as a pointed reminder that, no, the city isn’t flat.
For the first time in years, I walked under the Bathurst Street Bridge. This is the old iron bridge that goes over the rail lands south of Front Street. Now, a chain-link fence blocks access, but there’s a gaping hole in it that looks to me like an invitation.
Now that winter is over, Toronto sits in a brief seasonal limbo. Although it’s warm, the buds haven’t come out yet, so the trees are winter barren. City workers are scurrying to clean up all the residual grime that settles after snow melt. Earth day is here and people are gathering up the last remaining…
This is the second installment in a series of images of Paris. I post them here as a way to pause and mark events that have thrown the city into turmoil.
Here are three images I took one night in Yorkville. Must go back for more, especially in the summertime when it’s crowded. Each of the images has a person in it.
The entrance to the ROM – Royal Ontario Museum – is a great place to go people watching. People are drawn to the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, so there’s a lot of tourist gawking going on.
I was walking down Parliament Street past Regent Park when I heard a voice: Excuse me. Excuse me. May I ask you a question? There was a man sitting on some steps. He held out his hand and asked for money. I gave him a twonie.
Toronto had its first decent snowfall of the 14/15 winter season. Although not the first snowfall, it was the first to screw up traffic and require snow removal equipment.