Street Advertising, 3/3

New York, New York

Two more pictures of sidewalk-level advertising, but these are directly on the storefront and entryway of the business.

One last phone booth mini-billboard. Over on the right is a semi-trailer that might as well be a billboard. The ads are everywhere you look.

Street Advertising, 2/3

New York, New York

Second post in the Street Advertising series. In Murray Hill and other neighborhoods nearby the workshop center where I can get out to shoot in the early morning before class or in the evening afterwards, paper ads on kiosks and phone booths are pretty obsolete. Phone booths are quite obsolete come to think of it, though now internet connection and charging stations are beginning to appear. Backlit transparencies have been the norm for quite a while now, but they are being displaced by computer imaging display screens. Maybe holograms will be next.

Street Advertising, 1/3

New York, New York

Whenever I spend time around mid-town Manhattan, I'm struck by the sheer quantity of street-level—sidewalk level?—advertising. Then, I notice the way all these mini-billboards, kiosk signs and storefront ads relate to everything else going on in the visual environment. So this post begins a small series of sidewalk advertising pictures made last weekend in New York while teaching a "Digital Platinum" workshop at the Penumbra Foundation.

Springtime Texting: UPDATE

New York, New York

When I got into town Friday mid-afternoon with my pack of supplies for the workshop at Penumbra, we spent a couple hours rearranging things to get the second floor classroom and darkroom space set up for a digital/platinum workflow. Then I got to head out for a couple of hours of photo walkabout. In nearby Madison Square Park I found the flowering trees were weeks ahead of where they are up in northwestern Connecticut, but still weeks behind normal for springtime in New York.

There were people in the park, some of them looking at the promising signs of spring, but most of them texting:

detail

UPDATE

"MAD. SQ. PARK IS AN ARBORETUM

322 trees, two of which are historic English elms that pre-date the Park's construction in 1850"

Pastry Chef

New York, New York

Standing by the entry in the evening gloom, I'm not sure if this guy is welcoming customers or scaring them off.

Grand Central Station, Sunday Evening

New York, New York

We're all photographers now. Or at least everyone is taking pictures, when they're not texting.

Tourism

New York, New York

Six-thirty last evening, at Grand Central.

On Park Avenue

New York, New York

Seven-thirty yesterday morning I was crossing Park Avenue from east to west as these two were crossing 30th Street from south to north. As we converged on the corner, the younger, taller one called out in a British accent, "getting any good pictures this morning?" Less than a full block out the door of the workshop center, I answered, "not yet." Then the older one said, "then take our picture," so I said, "sure." He continued, "this is my new friend, he's from England and we're best buddies now, but he's going home tomorrow." So we made a few shots. Following an idea I got from photographer Mike Peters, I gave them a card that has one of my email addresses and told them to send me an email and I'll reply with their picture attached. They looked delighted, and continued on their way up Park.

Sidewalk Memorial

Waterbury, Connecticut

This memorial is on the sidewalk on South Main Street a few blocks from the center of town, against the cyclone fence of a tire dealer. It's common to see shrines like this at the site of car crashes on highways and country roads but I don't recall seeing one in the middle of a city before. All I could think of was that a car must have hopped the sidewalk and killed a child. A couple of online searches turned up the story, which sadly is just what I'd guessed, except worse.

Tooth and Nail Tattoo

Naugatuck, Connecticut

Yesterday morning, walking along Church Street, the main commercial street in Naugatuck, I noticed a new business in an old storefront (used to be part of an old-fashioned print shop with actual presses on premises) with neat window displays and what looked like a lot more interesting stuff inside—Tooth and Nail Tattoo. The young woman who owns the place happened to arrive as I was taking a shot of the windows. I complemented her on the displays and she invited me inside to look. I think there will be more pictures to make here, but today I'm off to teach my weekend Digital Platinum printing workshop at the Penumbra Foundation in New York.