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

“The City Game” 2005

If you’ve grown up in a city in the northeast, you remember what it’s like. Playing with someone else’s ball that’s worn so bad, strings are coming out of it. It’s cold out and you’re wearing a t-shirt and then someone lets a pass slip through their fingers. Now you have to wipe the yellow dog piss snow, or something a lot worse off the ball and you look for some newspaper. Fingers numb, starving, throat dry from no water fountains, you keep playing till all you have are those old greenish streetlights, barely making it possible, for you to know if you’ve hit your last jump shot…

All Photos © Matt Weber

Matt Weber "New New York", (Street photography), Coney Island, Women of New York

Coney Island 2010

I went to the Mermaid parade last week, and of course as long as I don’t shoot the parade, I have a chance to get what I’m looking for. Of course, I have no idea what that may be. This picture made me happy because it falls into that category of things I’ve never seen before, and know I’ll never see again…A bunch of kids playing under a beach umbrella, flanked by twin sentinels in profile, ready to pop…Now that’s what I’m talking about!

All Photos © Matt Weber

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

“The Summer of ’88”

I have a pal who swears this summer will be brutally hot. Of course he’s not a meteorologist but if he’s right, nobody suffers a heatwave more than the homeless (and the elderly) Back in the old days, hydrants were open all over the city and at least if you had a bar of soap you could stay somewhat clean. The kids were happy too. These days the sprinklers are on, but they pale compared to the hydrant’s at full blast. I’m not for wasting water, but I’ve noticed that in some parks, the water fountains are becoming scarce. Not everyone can drop a two spot on a bottle of Poland Spring…

All Photos © Matt Weber

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

Brooklyn 2007

In the not so distant future, I can see some guys sitting in a bar or on a stoop somewhere, having a very silly argument. Whoever wrote this lovely tag in etching fluid, will be boasting how he got up big time in ’05 and all of sudden a couple of older guys with potbellies and gray hair will walk over and say, “You guys ain’t shit” Those older guys will have been writers from the ’70s or ’80s who actually wrote on the outside of trains, in grafitti’s heyday..

A parallel could be made by comparing the Vietnam vets who came home and found themselves being told by guys twenty years older, that their war wasn’t shit compared to the “Real War” (WW II)

All Photos © Matt Weber

Matt Weber (Street photography), 9/11 Related, Men of New York, Portraits, Subway

Subway “9/11 Hero” 2005

There are all sorts of heroes in this world. There are the athletes that some of us root for as kids or even worse, still do as adults. Then there are the underpaid nurses who care for us when we get old, barely making ends meet, as they meet our rear ends with a towel…This fellow spent time at ground zero, and whether or not he had to deal with body parts, he surely had to breath those noxious fumes which lingered for several months. The smell of all the metal, plastics and who knows what burning, was so vile that breathing it on a daily basis, could make even the toughest people sick. His eyes seemed to have seen the worst of it, and I think he gave a lot more than most of us did after the terrible massacre on 9/11…making him a true hero.

All Photos © Matt Weber

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

“Broadway Local” 2005

There is a complaint that “Street Photography” doesn’t ask enough questions and only provides answers. I disagree. I have looked at this picture for several years and all I can conclude is that the beautiful young lady on the right is probably a very dedicated Christian or Catholic. I also know that she was headed either uptown or downtown on the I.R.T. I have no idea about anything else. The woman on her left could be her mom, but could also be her step mother or an aunt. Does her father play a large role in her life? Did he leave the woman on the left? Is the young woman a virgin. (like her homegirl Mary?) Is there a chance she’s already pregnant? Is she happy? Has she found a college yet, or did she drop out of school? Does she have a dog? A cat? A hamster?

Most of the people in my photos are open to a variety of questions and I never know anything for sure, other than what they look like and what they are wearing.  I wonder what answers my pictures provide. I also prefer letting my mind wander and questioning what I see. I have never felt a shortage of curiosity when looking at photos taken “In the real world” Staged photography, on the other hand is extremely easy for me to decipher. I can usually read the artists intent quickly, and find it very boring…Of course with a tenth grade education, my point of view is probably dubious at best, and easy to dismiss. If only I had an MBA in fine arts, I’d be able to see things more clearly…