drain tracks
what is it about grime that's so fabulous? is it the history it connotes? is it the hip, low-down urbanity it adds to the mundane? whatever it is, it's sexy, and thousands of people will look at this, numbly, without seeing it at all.
i took this on the 6-line subway platform in grand central station, people milling about as they waited for the train, sweating. nobody paid attention to the antique tiles telling us where we were, or the years of grit, abandoned metro cards and lost IDs covering the train ties. i tried to imagine the engineer who first hammered this sign into the wall, using a stencil for the paint. what was his name? where did he go after work for a beer? what did he wish he'd done with his life? and what train did he take to go home?
and then the local shuttered onto the tracks, struggling, a busty old lady late for her dentist appointment. the doors opened, we elbowed our way inside, and left.
Jennifer König
4 Comments
Reader Comments (4)
I don't know what it is for you... but for me I think the grime intrigues me because it is so opposite of what I grew up with on the East Coast of Florida. It's so incredibly themepark and touristy and bright and shiny there.
Every time I'm in New York I want to photograph every spot of grit... and I absolutely LOVE the subways. Its like a time capsule. A true to life time capsule that records real history, the good and the ugly, and feels honest.
I'm not so much a fan of grime, even to shoot. I do like some grit now and again. But I tend to want to touch things, and grime makes me eek a bit. I think I like seeing pictures of grime but not being confronted with it.
Crime, either. :-)
hey ya -- nice to find you out here. quieter place to contemplate somehow.
Hi Jennifer, I am delighted to see there is a blog now at your URL instead of your flickr stream. I subscribed to this right away after being subscribed to your flickr stream already since I left flickr. After following your splendid photography for so long I am excited to see what you will come up with here as well. All the best! Ulrich
PS: I saw your post on flickr today, I hope, you get your Umlaut back...