Matt Weber (Street photography), Men of New York, Old New York, signs

Fear & Loathing in New York

reagan-aids-protest-matt-weber-nycWatching the HBO movie, “The Normal Heart” brought back a lot of very sad memories last night. Like most New Yorkers, I lost friends and I remember the fear which the virus caused many of us to feel. I recall how badly some people behaved including many from the right. The comments I’d hear in the back of my cab or see written on walls were sickening. There was a shortage of sympathy, and as usual a handful of people made a huge difference in fighting for those who couldn’t fight for themselves…

©Matt Weber

Matt Weber (Street photography), homeless, Men of New York, Old New York

“The Last Days of the Bowery” 1986

bowery-bum-matt-weberI have mixed emotions about this picture. He came up to my cab looking for some money, which he got, but I felt compelled to take a picture of a man who had lost everything. I know he may have had a rough childhood and taken to the bottle at an early age, but I also can’t help but wonder if he had served his country many years earlier. If he was 60 when I took this picture, he would have been 18 in 1944. He could have seen things no one should have  in Europe or the South Pacific, and he certainly could have been old enough to have served in Korea. I realize it’s total conjecture, but I think many of the poor men who ended up on the Bowery, were at one point soldiers…

Matt Weber (Street photography), Men of New York, Old New York, Times Square

One in 5,000,000,000 Times Sq. 12/31/86

Mike-tyson-times-sq-matt-weberWe all wish we had taken certain pictures from a different POV. It was the last day of 1986 and I was driving a fare south through Times Sq. Maybe if I had my other camera, I could’ve done it another way. In a world with five billion people, what were the odds of seeing the baddest man on the whole planet cross the street while waiting for the light to change? Maybe I could have used my elbow as I focused my 6×7 to lay on the horn and get his attention. Oh well this all I have…

©Matt Weber