A Walk Around Times Square
“There is no place like New York” is a comment I often hear from those who live in the Big Apple. In fact, I often wonder if the phrase was a twist on Dorothy’s “There’s No Place Like Home” incantation in the Wizard of Oz. While I need a bit more elbow room and feel more comfortable in the woods, I do on occasion visit the city for work or play. Regardless of the reason for the visit, I do enjoy walking the city with a camera hanging at waist level and releasing the shutter to see what I can come up with though once in a while I do lift the viewfinder up to eye level.
Most of the images I captured were taken in and around Times Square, which always reminds me of one big advertisement. It wasn’t quite as crowded as previous visits, but just as interesting. I stumbled upon the Good Morning America studio where the weather guy, whose name I think is Sam Champion, was outside mingling with fans. I wanted to get up close to get his photo but the police informed me that I was blocking too much pedestrian traffic because of my very large backpack. Surprisingly, a policeman asked if I wanted to set my backpack down next to the mailbox so I could get closer for a shot. The second surprise was when he offered to watch my bag. His offer to help was very nice and worrisome at the same time given we are living in a post-9/11 world. Maybe I did not fit the profile of a terrorist.
My favorite was seeing Elmo out and about greeting pedestrians and tourists as well as a gentleman walking in a kilt. There was a photo I captured that would be a proud addition to the people of Wal-Mart site but I decided to spare everyone the image. The Naked Cowboy who is not really nude to my disappointment was nowhere to be found. I have yet to capture his image. If I do not get one in the next year or so, maybe I will don my favorite Stetson hat and Lucchese boots as well as my biggest camera so I can play the role of the naked photojournalist. Or maybe not though one of these days I will visit this wonderful city for the sole purpose of doing some great street photography as opposed to just snapping my way to and from another destination.
It’s a pretty amazing place, and I don’t find the offer from the office that surprising.
In the 1970s till the mid 80s the city was definitely rough around the edges. I’ll recant a short story I wrote to a friend of mine…
“I was once in the Grand Central immediate vicinity. There was a very old lady there with shopping bags. Going in to take the train maybe? I don’t know. Anyway one of her shopping bags let go and canned goods started rolling everywhere into the street. I turned and had that weird moment of “what do I do?” Too late. A business suit man had just jumped out of cab gave me a look, shoved his briefcase at me and said, “Here, hold this.” And he went into the street after her cans. He retrieved all of them and piled them up in front of her. He was kind of like Superman in a Brooks Brothers suit. He grabbed his case from me and said something like “Ok, you got it from here.” It was like The Flash! We’ll I got her all rebagged. You know those little old ladies – they always have those extra bags. I got her fixed up and stable and continued on my way.”
Sometimes the random acts of kindness happen just that fast there. The last time I was down there I had a camera with me and didn’t even shoot. It was a wonderfully warm day. It was just great to walk around, smell the lunch time food, sit a bit in the park, watch the professional dogwalkers, and just enjoy in general.