New York City, 1990

500 Weeks #20

New York City, February 1990

As mentioned in the previous post, I was working at a weekly, community newspaper as a graphic artist, when I walked into the managing editor’s office and made a verbal boast about how I could take better photos than the writers.

I had experience with cameras, but mainly motion picture cameras. I made short films on Super-8 film in high school and had studied film production at Ryerson University in Toronto. When I was in Ryerson, first-year photo arts students did a foundation year that included still photography as well as film production. Motion Pictures studies was my major, but in first year I actually got better marks in stills than in film. All through school, my main interest was in lighting and camera work. 

New York City, 1990 and not a cell phone in sight

Once I graduated and started working in the film business, I was part of multiple film crews, but was no longer involved with photography. I worked in an equipment rental house in the lighting and grip area, I was a production assistant, a driver, and a third assistant director, but no camera work. 

New York City, 1990

Just prior to my bold boast to the editor, I went on a trip to New York City and made sure I brought along my camera, a Pentax K1000. For the trip, one of my brothers-in-law - #thirstychef - was kind enough to lend me a couple of extra lenses: a 28mm and a 135mm. This gave me wide angle and telephoto options to go with the standard 50mm I already owned.

Apparently, I carried some sort of on-camera flash unit with me

I had a great time exploring around the city and taking photos. I decided to shoot B&W negatives and colour slide film. The editor at the paper had impressed upon me that professionals used slide film.

New York City is home to Spider-Man, the Ramones, The Velvet Underground, Andy Warhol and Martin Scorcese, which is to say, my sense of the city came from my youthful love of comic books, music, art and movies. Everywhere I looked, I saw another visual cliché: Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, yellow taxicabs, water towers, pushy crowds, bright neon, and on and on. New York City does not just look like that in the movies, comic books, and posters. It actually looks like that in real life.

I sent the exposed rolls of slide film to a lab and one of my old high school friends – #gerardphoto00 – was kind enough to develop the B&W negatives for me. From a tech standpoint, the exposures on everything looked solid. This was an all-manual camera, so while I was out of practice, I still knew the basics. Even if the photos were not perfect, they showed a lot of promise.  

I would refer to these images as my proof of concept. A photojournalist has to be able to work anywhere, under any conditions. I thought I would be technically capable of creating still photographs under non-controlled, available light situations, and now I had evidence that I could. 

New York City is one of the main centres for the creative and business sides of the art world. For an art student, a trip to NYC is a form of pilgrimage. You go to visit the galleries – both private and public – to see the pieces you have only glimpsed in textbooks. To roam sections of the city that have inspired or been a part of the creations you have studied so much about and to check out the vibe in the stomping grounds of you creative influences.  

One of those influences was Keith Haring, a graffiti / pop art giant who ran a retail establishment called The Pop Shop in Soho, which sold T-shirts, hats, posters, buttons, post cards and fridge magnets with his images on them. Top of the agenda on day one of our first full day in NYC was to go to the Pop Shop.

We checked out the stores offerings, “ooowwwed” and “awwwwwed” at how he had decorated the place, made a few retail decisions and were standing in the checkout line when the front door was opened. Someone popped their head in and asked the whole store “Is Keith dead?”

Inside Keith Haring's Pop Shop in Soho., NYC, February 16, 1990.
Taken the day Mr. Haring passed away

It was Thursday, February 16, 1990 and sadly, Mr. Haring – who had been suffering from AIDS - had passed away.

As we wandered away from the store, depressed by the news, we started to notice fresh graffiti on the sidewalks and walls: “R.I.P. Keith” “Keith, We Love You” etc. These little memorials were spreading out over the city as the day passed. It was a beautiful reminder about how personal an impersonal place like a big city can be, and how strangers can show their heart and feelings to a fellow creative.

If I had been a practising photojournalist at the time, I would have made sure to photograph those small pieces. But I was not yet a pro, that was still a week away.