A New Way of Seeing Old New York Contax G1 Rangefinder with a fixed 35mm lens exposed for 1/60 of a second on Fuji 200 Velvia slide film By Abrahm Lustgarten
This photo exemplifies one of those make-the-best-with-what-you-have days where going out, camera in hand, is the only way to escape an otherwise truly dull day. It was the height of summer in New York City—nearly 100 degrees with 90-percent humidity, the smell of rotting garbage steaming off the pavement and wafting in the window. Too hot to work, too hot to exercise, too hot for anything. Then the phone rang.
It was a photographer friend, anxious to find a shutterbug partner in crime for a walk around the city. Let’s call it the photographer’s amble. We met up and wandered in the shadows of avenue canyons toward the Meatpacking District, a vibrant neighborhood full of color and history. Wide cobblestone streets separate desolate, two-story industrial buildings where a once-thriving abattoir industry had spilled blood onto the streets. Today the buildings are slowly being revitalized into trendy restaurants, swank flats, and the occasional art studio.
My companion decided to focus in on images of garbage, bending low to the sidewalk and crawling up to a crumpled piece of paper, an old auto fuse, a knotted soda straw. I was armed with a simple camera ideal for a street shoot, a Contax G1 Rangefinder with a fixed 35mm lens. But I didn’t shoot much at first, I merely looked around, waiting—a long time—for something to grab me. That’s the way photography goes sometimes. But the lesson I’ve learned is to put yourself in an environment where something might change your perspective, and then find the patience to let that happen.
After a short while, as my companion struggled to turn New York’s refuse into art, the gritty environs seeped in. I snapped frames of crackling paint on the front of an old service station, rusted hooks in a meat locker, and then I noticed the puddles. Reflections can be clichéd—mirroring mountain vistas or iconic attractions, fodder for the postcard racks. I wanted something simpler, less obvious. And then I saw it: the cobblestones under my feet echoed the turbulent history of New York, the sewer cover provided a sense of place, the building’s reflection established a feeling of the urban jungle around me… I snapped off a few shots, playing with the collage-like composition, and suddenly all the gritty, ugly, smelly aspects of the city that had frustrated me on this sweltering day merged to offer a shimmering glimpse into a modern-day Babylon.
Abrahm Lustgarten in an internationally published, award-winning
photojournalist whose work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, and Men's Journal magazines. He most frequently covers social, travel and outdoor adventure subjects, and is a regular contributor to Away.com. You
can see more of his work at www.abrahm.com
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