All Photos © Matt Weber
All Photos © Matt Weber
Times Square 1986
All Photos © Matt Weber
Photographing NYC for 25 years, six of them while driving a New York City taxi. Trying very hard to capture the city as life unfolds, meaning I never stage any of my photos! Also I am a close confidant of the immortal Dave Beckerman, (quintessential NYC photographer) and owner of the first photography blog in the known universe. View all posts by Matt Weber
Black and White Street Photographs of New York City by Matt Weber
Ahhh….Times Square in the 1980s.
I didn’t make it to NYC until June of 2001, but from what I’ve read online, many people prefer the pre-Disney-fied Times Square.
Personally, it reminds me more of Vegas than Disney, but I’d be interested in your thoughts, Matt. Certainly Times square in the 70s & 80s offered more intriguing photo opportunities….no?
Yes, but I didn’t shoot much because they peddlers would actually make preemptive strikes and warn me not to shoot any photos. There was danger, sex and drugs and it wasn’t a place you’d want to spend a long time in, but it kept you on your toes…I suppose the place, despite its flavor, was a complete cesspool and is better off a memory!
Thanks for the response, Matt. I love visiting NYC once a year, but I know it’s a very different city compared to the NYC of the 1970s which I’ve either seen on Youtube or read about in books. Although it seemed to be an amazing time for artists/creatives of all types, crime appeared rampant. I recently read the book “City Boy” and the author claimed if you lived in NYC in the 1960-70s, you were practically guaranteed to be mugged or have your apartment broken into.
I believe it was the NY Times that recently did a segment on photographer, Jill Freedman, who took many street photos of NYC in the 60s & 70s. For whatever reason she moved away from the city, but returned for the first time recently after many years. She said when she visited Times Square, her first reaction was tears. It was a very different NYC than she’d remembered. However, she said her new goal was to find what was left of the “real” NYC, because she knew it had to be there somewhere.
BTW-I visit your blog regularly and really enjoy your work and reading the captions that accompany many of the pics. You’re work is amazing and inspirational…and in some cases, educational. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your work and talent.
Greg, thanks very much! As a teen during the ’70s I did get mugged or at least asked for money at knife point a few times…Luckily our apartment was only robbed once. They took our B&W TV and probably sold it for $15…It was the a different place and in some ways better, and in other ways worse…