Times Square

Thanksgiving Dinner, Lost in Yonkers

West 10th Street, Brooklyn

By the time this post hits my blog, I'll be in New York for Thanksgiving week.  Before leaving, I wanted to publish one last post and thought, in counterpoint to the season, I'd post something from summer.

I took this shot in 2005 on West 10th Street and the Boardwalk on Coney Island in Brooklyn during the Mermaid Parade.  For those who haven't been, the Mermaid Parade is sheer insanity, but in a really decadent and fun way.  Hundreds of people pack both side of Mermaid Avenue to watch the craziness. 

Zen and the City

Zen and the City

I've been going over some old photos, just for chucks and grins I guess.  Nothing in particular, just checking out what I've done in the past, how I've grown as an artist, how my technique has changed and came across this image.  

I remember taking this photo in 2004, walking down the streets of Midtown Manhattan at the height of Christmas week, tourists everywhere, the crowds, the hustle, the bustle, the grit, the rush, I really remember it all for some reason.  What I also remember, is the space passersby gave the six people on the sidewalk.  

If you've ever walked the streets of Midtown in the middle of the day you'll understand the the crowd.  For those who haven't, picture an intense river of people, a river oftentimes possessed of its own power, one that pushes and pulls, ebbs and flows to its own will, irrespective of any one individual's desire.  If you're not careful, you'll be caught up in it and miss your destination.  

This river of people made a wide berth for the six on the sidewalk.  Impressive, I thought.  Impressive I still think. [more after the break]

Alone in a Sea of People

New York Subway, somewhere underneath Manhattan

Big cities fascinate me.  Each one has its own feel to it, and yet in many ways they are all the same.  Large, bustling, vibrant and full of life.  Full of people living the novels of their lives.  I love to visit large cities and just hit the pavement with my camera. 

If you wander the streets of any large city, though, you'll soon enough encounter the solitary, the lonely, and the pensive.  Sometimes they are quite literally alone.  Sometimes they're surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the city around them, they are alone in a sea of humanity.

Thinking about stuff in Portland

With some the solitude is welcome, a brief respite from hectic lives or the demands of others.  With others, though, the solitude is imposed, either by a society that ignores their plight or by the demons in their head that alienate them from others. Sometimes it is easy to tell which is which; sometimes it is more difficult.

The photos in this series span from December, 2007 to August, 2011.  They weren't taken as a series but just as shots over time.  It wasn't until I started culling older shots that the series came to mind. 

The entire series Alone in a Sea of People can be viewed on my Flickr feed here.