New York City 2004 & 2005 (Catching You Up: 2 of 11)

By the summer of 2004, I had the photography bug. I knew that going home to Lititz, Pennsylvania for summer recess was not going to cut it. I needed to be somewhere fast, exciting, and aesthetically vibrant. When my sister offered me a part-time job in her company's New York City office, I jumped at the opportunity. The arrangement was sweet. I worked 3 night shifts a week from 7pm-7am and had every day at my disposal to roam the city with my camera and notebook. NYC offered an endless syllabus for photography. Iconic architecture and 24/7 street life offered the promise of easy-made strong images. I was a novice, and I needed such subjects to hone my eye for photography.

I spent a lot of time during my two summers in NYC riding the 1 train (pictured above) from my home at Columbia University to any location in the city. Any destination was new to me, and I went everywhere. If the 6 train took me to Harlem in the Upper East Side, I'd huff it a mile west on MLK Blvd. When the 1 train took me to Battery Park, I'd jump on the Staten Island Ferry for a free boat ride. There were no inconveniences those summers... just new opportunities.

New York City opened my eyes to architecture and gave me a new found appreciation for their role in the development of cities. My new favorite was the Flatiron Building, which is considered to be one of the first skyscrapers. When it was completed in 1902, it was one of the tallest in Manhattan. On the day that I snapped this image, it looked dwarfed and nestled among the teeming grid of 5th Avenue, 23rd Street, and Broadway. It was as if the city sped along in spite of it. Because its prominence seemed so diminished to me, I wanted to get up close and capture the Flatiron Building in a way that singled it out and reminded the viewer of its heyday.

NYC is an inspirational setting. I did a lot of writing during my two summers in New York. My favorite spot to jot some notes and edit some photos was The Hungarian Pastry Shop on Amsterdam Avenue. It was only two blocks from my room in Wien Hall, which it was rumored, once housed Jack Kerouac. With all my writing, photographing, reading of Camus, and believing that my specific dorm room was Kerouac's ... there's no surprise that I wrote the following reflection after taking the above photo.

"When I return to the city much older, I will remember the thrill and apprehension that makes up a young person in the city. As I wait on the platform, that same subterranean subway wind will chill my tired lungs that once tighted at the site of Manhattan from a rooftop."

Looking over those notes I have to admit, I feel a bit sheepish that the romanticism of the city turned me into a walking Holden Caulfield. However, my two summers in NYC helped me grow up, and validated my hunch that photography was going to be a constant in my life.