Growing up, before I ever traveled there in person, my formative impressions of the New York City of my imagination were shaped by three things:
The gangs, graffiti, drugs and gunplay of movies like West Side Story, and later Superfly or Serpico; novels of the gritty urban experience of '60's ghetto life like "Down These Mean Streets" by Piri Thomas, who passed away just recently; and music by bards of the street like The Last Poets and Gil-Scott Heron who in spoken words and minimal harmonies described the dark core of the Big Apple.
Watching the massive march of a Halloween parade that passed by my apartment on its way up the Avenue of the Americas this Fall, and the lo-fi imagery I was able to capture with my Diana camera of these denizens of the dark, brought back nightmarish memories of this earlier era, when urban legends of LSD-laced candy and razor blades hidden in apples put the trick in trick-or-treat.
Could anything be scarier than....
...a gang of Smurfs?
Enjoy (sort of)!
william
Great photos, they're very mysterious.
Posted by: Janet M | November 21, 2011 at 08:59 AM
i like your pictures. when i lived on christopher street, i was part of the parade, whether i liked it or not. one halloween i got into a cab, during the parade, only to find two squeaky balloon breasts being rubbed against my window, and the whole street laughing.
Posted by: Diane | November 22, 2011 at 03:05 PM
Love the pictures Billy :)
Posted by: Elsita | November 30, 2011 at 07:27 PM
Hehe, weird people :) But, good photos. William, thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Profesionalno fotografiranje | March 21, 2014 at 04:35 AM