Matt Weber (Street photography), Color, Offspring, Old New York

“The Fuller Building” 2010

The Fuller building on east 57th Street is very beautiful. Even the elevators are amazing. Here I’m photographing my kid after seeing the Peter Sekaer exhibit at Howard Greenberg’s gallery. Sekaer was a good friend of Walker Evans and traveled with Evans down south as Walker made many of his signature images. Meanwhile Sekaer was busy taking  pictures which at times were virtually identical, and at other times completely different than Evans. The monograph on Sekaer was very overdue and is a good book to say the least. I usually lament the books that come out a few years after a photographer dies, but in this case it’s fucking ridiculous…Peter Sekaer died in 1950 and his monograph was published in 2010!

Better late than never…

All Photos © Matt Weber

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

Times Sq. 2010

Maybe my nostalgia gets a little carried away sometimes…This metal piping was used over 100 years in many subway stations to keep people from falling into stairwells and subway tracks. Hardly ornate, I was still sad to see all remaining traces of this removed from the 96th Street station. It would be nice to have just a smidgen of tradition here and there…

Same thing goes for Coney Island. Ruby’s bar is probably gone forever and should have been given a reprieve. Yes, upgrade the rest, but for once don’t clean the slate completely…

All Photos © Matt Weber

Matt Weber (Street photography), Fights & Playfights, Old New York

“Snow Brawl” 1988

I like looking at old work. I find stuff which I have no memory of at all. This was obviously taken on Central Park West. Snow was always a great treat for me when I was driving a cab. The people were grateful to get a ride, and the city was a winter wonderland. Late at night was great as there were very few other motorists on the streets. That’s why these guys could rumble in the middle of the avenue without fear of being run over…

 

All Photos © Matt Weber

Matt Weber (Street photography), Kids & Teens, Men of New York, Old New York

Columbus Ave. 2006

All of us “Eisenhower Babies” are getting old. Soon we’ll be like him. This guy probably served in WW II and now has to navigate through a gauntlet of punks just to go shopping. How do I know they are punks? Every third word that they utter is NIGGER. Most of them aren’t even black and it’s their favorite word by miles. I know that I didn’t grow up in Washington Heights where many of them live, but 40 years ago, this neighborhood wasn’t the yuppy filled place that is now. We knew enough about history not to throw around the “N” word…I’d hope that gangster culture as attractive as it for the young ones of today, gives way to a more peaceful and less angry attitude…

All Photos © Matt Weber