URBAN BLIGHT – Page 3 – Black and White Street Photographs of New York City by Matt Weber

November 26, 2014November 26, 2014 Matt Weber (Street photography), Old New York, Urban Landscape

Lower East Side 1986

I think these tenements were on or near East Houston Street.

©Matt Weber

November 23, 2014March 29, 2015 Matt Weber (Street photography), Cars & Buses, Old New York, Urban Landscape, Women of New York

The Bronx 1989

This image and most others can be licensed for documentary use and is also available as a signed print…

©Matt Weber

November 21, 2014March 29, 2015 Matt Weber (Street photography), Cars & Buses, Old New York, Urban Landscape

Stripping Cars 1988

Another image from the good old days when your car could vanish instantly and then be stripped in broad daylight!

This image and most others can be licensed for documentary use and is also available as a signed print…

©Matt Weber

November 11, 2014March 29, 2015 Matt Weber (Street photography), homeless, Kids & Teens, Old New York, Urban Landscape

Urban Blight 1988

There were quite a few welfare hotels around Herald and Greeley Square back in the ’80s and this pictures is one of my better views of what the welfare kids did with their “spare time”

This image and most others can be licensed for documentary use and is also available as a signed print…

©Matt Weber

October 25, 2014October 25, 2014 Matt Weber (Street photography), Cars & Buses, Old New York, signs, Times Square

42d & 8th Ave, 1985

©Matt Weber

October 24, 2014October 24, 2014 Matt Weber (Street photography), Old New York, Times Square

“DEATH WISH 4” 1987

©Matt Weber

August 1, 2014August 1, 2014 Matt Weber (Street photography), homeless

East 9th Street 1988

If you were in the vicinity of 9th St & 3d Ave. back in the late 1980’s you may remember this fellow who was usually panhandling on the east side of third Ave…

©Matt Weber

July 6, 2014July 6, 2014 Matt Weber (Street photography), Men of New York, signs

Recently I was told by a very knowledgeable fellow that photography was dead, and that we had entered the post photography era, or something to that effect. Well maybe the fact that everyone has a camera and is photographing every single person on this planet, could have devalued the art slightly.

I’m not an expert on the business end, and I may be the worst business person on earth, but there has been a big change in actual prints and how they are sold. An Edward Weston pepper will still get furious bidding, but many other living photographers (Like myself) are finding it harder to sell even our best images….

Bla bla bla. I know this is old news.

©Matt Weber

June 26, 2014June 26, 2014 Matt Weber (Street photography), Men of New York, Old New York, Urban Landscape

Sutton Place 1987

This was a perfect example of how bad things were in New York during the ’80s. Sutton Place is one of the most prestigious addresses in the city and the canopy was like this for months. Even the high rents these “poor” folks paid couldn’t keep their building in tip top shape.

©Matt Weber

June 9, 2014 Matt Weber (Street photography), Old New York, Urban Landscape

Riverside Park 1986

I think I photographed these benches as they were the perfect symbol of New York’s decline in the 1980’s. The parks were so unsafe that you might have been better off staying home, but in this case if you were willing to risk it, you couldn’t even find a place to read your paper…

©Matt Weber

May 22, 2014October 26, 2014 Matt Weber (Street photography), Harlem, Men of New York, Old New York, Urban Landscape

“Junk Man” Harlem 1988

I never was able to make a perfect print of this image and now 26 years later, I think this scan will be able to pull it off…

©Matt Weber

May 12, 2014May 12, 2014 Matt Weber (Street photography), Cars & Buses, homeless, Old New York

“Trolley Entrance Queensboro Bridge” 1985

There was a group of homeless fellows living on the 59th Street bridge thirty years ago, and the trolley entrance was yet to be removed for reasons unknown to me…

©Matt Weber

March 26, 2014March 26, 2014 Matt Weber (Street photography), Old New York, Urban Landscape

“Store For Sale” The Bronx 1986

©Matt Weber

March 26, 2014March 26, 2014 Matt Weber (Street photography), Old New York, Urban Landscape

Basketball Court Bronx 1987

©Matt Weber

March 25, 2014March 25, 2014 Matt Weber (Street photography), Cars & Buses, Old New York, signs

And Moses said, “Let There be Traffic, Forever!”

I love old signs. The Cross Bronx Expressway has had traffic problems for as long as I can recall. This sign may have predated the “parking lot” which it became, but I guess without it, things would even be worse…

Matt Weber

March 16, 2014March 16, 2014 Matt Weber (Street photography), Old New York, Urban Landscape

“Urban Blight” 1986

Just found this one and it’s the perfect example of how bad things were at one point. This picture is one of the best I took that year and I am amazed that I never noticed it before…

©Matt Weber

June 29, 2013October 26, 2014 Matt Weber (Street photography), Harlem, Old New York, Urban Landscape

“Doll” Harlem 1989

©Matt Weber

May 6, 2013October 26, 2014 Matt Weber (Street photography), Harlem, Urban Landscape

Harlem Stoop 1989

This image will print very well and would make a wonderful gift for someone who likes things old, not new and shiny…

©Matt Weber

March 22, 2013March 22, 2013 Matt Weber (Street photography), Graffiti-NYC Tags, Old New York

Ave. A 1989

©Matt Weber

March 6, 2013March 6, 2013 Matt Weber (Street photography), Harlem, signs, Urban Wildlife

“Lottering on Stopp” Harlem 1988

©Matt Weber

January 28, 2013January 28, 2013 Matt Weber Color, Offspring, Subway

“My Little One” 2012

When I was in Junior High, all I thought about was ways to get into subway tunnels and make mayhem. My kid’s no fool, at least not yet. She’s sporting a 98.5% average! Yes, the lil’ one’s on the “High Honor Roll” and I’m glad she’s serious, and not following in my footsteps!

©Matt Weber

January 26, 2013March 2, 2013 Matt Weber (Street photography), Graffiti-NYC Tags, homeless, Old New York, Urban Landscape

The Thunderbirds 1990

I was shocked when I found this arrangement and it takes a bit to shock me. I guess I thought it may have been one of those Santeria sacrifices which were quite popular in New York twenty years ago. (Might still be)