Matt Weber (Street photography), 9/11 Related, Kids & Teens

September 11th 2001

When I was fourteen I took the test for Stuyvesant high school and actually passed. I took the easy way out and went to Music & Art because I knew the academic demands would be much less. These kids were most likely from “Stuy” and I can’t blame them for being happy. At that age it’s possible to be happy under almost any circumstances. As you get older I think every bad bit of bad news, whether it be political or just another senseless bombing in the middle east, has a way of getting under your skin. The advice I often get is “If you can’t change it, don’t worry about it” If everyone felt that way, nothing would get done. I don’t know how I would have reacted to 9/11 when I was fifteen. I might have been like all the “tough guys” who wanted to “Nuke ’em All”.  I’m proud that I haven’t become a conservative guy in my old age. It’s so easy to do…

All Photos © Matt Weber

Matt Weber (Street photography), 9/11 Related, The Urban Prisoner

September 11th 2001 10:28 AM

I sincerely apologize if this picture causes any pain to anyone, but I have decided to post the photos I took that morning and I realize that they can be very depressing. There is a need for discussion about what lead to the massacre and everything which happened as a result of the attacks that day. I am probably not capable of neutral and sensible debate, so please don’t expect me to see the Saudi point of view. I realize that we had military bases in Saudi Arabia and that there is a sacred black cube there which may contain Allah himself, but I never want 3,000 people to be incinerated, no matter who they are…

All Photos © Matt Weber

Matt Weber (Street photography), signs, Women of New York

“This Bud’s For You” 1990

I keep putting off the posting of many of the pictures I took on September 11th…Maybe I’m trying to delay explaining in detail, what happened to my daughter. I know that the images will make most people sad, but since I started to post some from the days after the 11th, shouldn’t I just keep going? I also have to contain myself from going on and on about how much I despise organized religion. The psychos on the planes that day, propelled the religious right in America to make one terrible decision after another. Since what I have to say matters very little, I’ll just try and keep it to myself…

All Photos © Matt Weber

Matt Weber (Street photography), Coney Island, Offspring

Coney Island 2007

I think this may have been taken in Astroland but the main story is that “Little” loves the water gun game, and always loses. Finally last year with a lifetime record of 0-15 she beat a young boy and was thrilled with her victory. It’s amazing that winning can be so important to a girl at such a young age, but I guess it’s just part of the human condition…

All Photos © Matt Weber

Matt Weber (Street photography), Fights & Playfights, homeless, Subway, Times Square

“Homeless man watching Tommy “The Duke” Morrison go down” Times Sq. 2009

Once upon a time I really enjoyed watching the Saturday afternooon fights on ABC TV. Saw Ali a few times when he was still Cassius Clay. I watched the Hagler-Hearns fight in a state of shock at the amount of punishment they endured. The first few years of Mike Tyson’s carreer was something to behold. Watching him despatch his opponents in less than two minutes time and time again, was astonishing. Unfortunately, when Mike decided to bite off Holyfield’s ear, I had seen enough. I know that are always going to great boxers and I guess I finally lost my lust for watching two men try and destroy each other.

Mayweather is a great fighter, but when he just pronounced on HBO that he’s the best fighter of all time, he made me wonder. Then I had to wonder no longer as he proclaimed that he was not only better than Muhammad Ali, but he thought that he was even better than Sugar Ray Robinson! Yes you bad and you know what…fuck off

All Photos © Matt Weber

Matt Weber (Street photography), Graffiti-NYC Tags, Urban Landscape

“Up against the wall mutha fukka” 1990

When I took this picture in Riverside park they had finally painted the handball court’s wall. It had been covered with vintage graffiti by the local legends Barbara & Eva 62 who I’m guessing came from the Amsterdam projects just a few blocks away. There had even been a few Sharks & Jets tags from the 1960’s which were paying homage to the movie “West Side Story” Oh well…

Then I met this guy Frank, who was Irish and had bright Orange hair. He hung around the 79th Street boat basin with a couple of old-timers. They were gay and Frank was 66 years old. I always do the math in my head to know how old someone was in 1945 in order to surmise whether or not they might have served in World War II. I asked him where and what he did during the war. He said he was on the USS Missouri which fought in the Pacific. He had to load the sixteen inch guns and described handling these giant cartridges of gunpowder, knowing that if there ever was a problem, he’d be dead before he knew what hit him. When I heard he had died of AIDS soon thereafter, there was something very unsettling about a guy who’d risked everything for our country just withering away prematurely…

All Photos © Matt Weber