SP is wherever you happen to be photography, shot with any lens or film and done without disturbing the pictures content.
One year ago I started shooting color on the street for the first time in over twenty years. This is maybe the first picture I took which I liked. The first few days of spring are so uplifting. Flowers bloom, women shed their coats and almost anything seems possible…
All Photos © Matt Weber
All Photos © Matt Weber
Nothing funny about this picture. In front of a Foot Locker in Times Sq. this poor woman is soaking her tired feet in a putrid puddle, while the the well to do tourists pay her no mind…
All Photos © Matt Weber
Being a sucker for the tailfin cars of the late 1950s and early 1960s I always try and capture them when they are in traffic. The master of such matters is a photographer named Ray Metzker who took the best picture of these beasts, back in their heyday…
It’s weird to have sired a bonafide “Techie”. Actually it’s weird to have sired anyone at all, but that’s another story. She’s almost as good at troubleshooting as I am, except when she doesn’t get her way with a computer, then look out. I should build a custom “Nerf” computer for her. As I get older and more useless, it will be cool to have her at my beck and call to fix what ever problems OS 11 or OS 12 has…
I could tell you what I think of a man who would insist that his wife or daughter wear something this preposterous to the beach when it’s 90º but I would probably insult someone who believes that this must be done in the name of an invisible entity that is all powerful, yet at the same time, all loving…
All Photos © Matt Weber
This is my daughter after she broke a carton of eggs. One day she will break a lot more than eggs…
All Photos © Matt Weber
All Photos © Matt Weber
Why must I be a teenager in love?
All Photos © Matt Weber
Some of them are beyond saving. They must be touched by humans almost at birth. It hurts, but you do what you can for those who want to be loved and watch helplessly while others whither…
All Photos © Matt Weber
All Photos © Matt Weber
Ancient Pre-War backboard in an abandoned Long Island summer camp…
All Photos © Matt Weber
One of the things I liked about shooting in New York twenty years ago was, that the city was full of unrestored buildings. The old details were starting to show abundant wear and tear, but they were still completely authentic. Today, due to the real estate boom of the ’80s & ’90s most everything has been replaced. The new aluminum door from Home Depot or Anderson windows are a good thing as far as saving energy is concerned, but there was something nice about the fact that a hundred year old door had been opened and closed so many times. Old buildings may not have ghosts in them, but that old door may have been held open by a young James Cagney visiting a girl back in 1922 or…
All Photos © Matt Weber
Most people my age can remember going to one of these automats with their parents or grandparents. The pies were famous for being edible, where as their sandwiches sucked. There were revolving tables inside the machines which were a lot of fun for a kid to operate. Back in the 1920’s when H & H restaurants were popping up all over the city, many of the treats were probably just 5¢…
I always have to stop from waxing poetic about the good old days, for fear of sounding like Glen Beck (The schmuck on CNN)
All Photos © Matt Weber
At one point I had at least fifteen feral alley cats in my backyard. They were mostly interested in my ability to provide food. Momma Cat (on the left) and Uncle (second from the right) were bold enough to set up shop in my apartment. I could never touch them, and they weaved through my pad at high speed late at night. Every time I came home, they would disband immediately and usually flee through the porthole I had cut into my back door. I was only able to domesticate one of them, and he died suddenly one morning. The rest never let me touch them, except when they were asleep. Then they would slowly open their eyes and when they realized, much to their horror, that “The Feeder” was petting them, they would make horrible sounds and acrobatic moves to escape my wanton hands. Their whole world revolved around survival and I guess they figured that the food I put out for them everyday was actually, bait…
All Photos © Matt Weber
Camelot not forgotten…
All Photos © Matt Weber
I must have taken this picture late one afternoon, as they all are headed to the Port of Authority bus terminal…
All Photos © Matt Weber
I think this is a fantastic porcelain neon sign. I once stopped in and tried the food, but I personally did not think it was very good. I may not be an expert on food, but when it comes to old signs, I do know my stuff…
All Photos © Matt Weber
Like most New Yorkers that I know, the world trade center did little for me as far as it’s design was concerned. The buildings were awesome to behold due to their scale and they also reflected light on occasion in a magnificent way.
A joke I heard recently went something like this: A young boy is looking at the skyline from Queens and his dad says “The Chrysler bldg. is the most beautiful and the Empire State Bldg. is the the biggest” The kid points to the left and says what about those? (The twin towers) and his dad says “Oh those are just the boxes which the other two came in”
All Photos © Matt Weber
When it comes to titling photos badly, I must claim to be number one! I have always been able to come up the worst titles humanly possible. Anyway, despite my poor choice of words, I think this picture has “Fared” well over the past 22 years. Even back in the 1980s when Checker taxis were everywhere, I knew their days were numbered. I have dozens of pictures of them and will one day have to do a book called “34 Checkered Taxi Cabs”
All Photos © Matt Weber
A mish-mosh of hands and faces taken on West 86 street.
All Photos © Matt Weber
Old school all the way. An old ’59 Chrysler propped up on a pair of old tires, in front of what may have been New York’s most disheveled repair shop, while an old timer walks his mutt off the leash…What’s a leash?
All Photos © Matt Weber
All Photos © Matt Weber
I guess the most common reaction to this picture is that it could have been taken during any era. The kid sitting in the foreground is my daughter. In 21st century New York it’s difficult to make a “timeless” image. Once again, this is an old scan from a print and one day I’ll upgrade it, but not now…
All Photos © Matt Weber
Black and White Street Photographs of New York City by Matt Weber 