Doggy Style

Over the past few years i've been photographing the dogs of New York City. There is something about them that I am just drawn to. I empathize with how lonely they look, how they wait patiently for their owners, their particular individualities. And they just kind of make me smile inside.

These are a few of my favorite.

The Rock

December of 2007. Rockefeller Center, NYC.

Christmas is almost here and what comes to mind in NYC more than Rockefeller Center. The tree, the ice skating, the cold, the pretzels, the chestnuts.

Summer Riding

June 2, 2007. Riding to Coney Island.

with Kristin of lemmemakeit and Ken of DBCR

A haiku:

Hot, sunny, sweaty,

Riding bikes in NYC,

Exhilarated, free.

Ok maybe not, but riding is one of the best things about summer. No trains needed, only two legs and two wheels and you can get to anywhere you want in the city.

Coney Island. The perfect destination. A great ride—first through the industrial waterfront area on 1st and 2nd Avenue between Park Slope and Bay Ridge. It's like a time warp just to ride down the cobblestone streets, over now defunct train tracks, past giant warehouses and factories, beautiful in scale and the patina of bricks who've endured decades of soot and wind and salt from the East River. There are still working garment factories over here and you can see Chinese women milling around on lunch break and I always wonder what life must be like for them and how different it is from workers of a generation ago, or even three. Probably not much.

Riding past you end up in the Belt Parkway Bike Path, pedaling alongside the East River (which is not actually a river). There are fisherman lining the path, catching what they can for a good meal later on. This guy caught four and let me snap this shot right after he caught one. This takes you straight to Coney Island (or at least what's left of it). Always a good time once you get there.

And sometimes you are just too tired to ride home.

McDonald's of the Millennium

September of 2002. 42nd St. bet Broadway and 8th Ave.

It was awe inspiring, mesmerizing, stupefying. It stopped me in my tracks as I walked from the N train to my apartment down the street—that small sanctuary from the madness of Times Square and the filth of Port Authority, five flights up, but not far enough. I was like a moth attracted to the bug zapper but trying to keep away because I knew that it would kill me with it's fried food and saltiness. It was beautiful, all reds and yellows and light. It was warm just to look at, like a synthetic fire hovering above, keeping passersby warm, saying a big hello and welcome and why don't you come in for the best fries you've ever had. It was an oasis to look at, a sight to behold. It was the McDonald's to end all McDonald's'. Nobody could resist—not the policemen on horses, not the homeboys from Harlem, not the tourists from wherever they're from.

But I did.

Only In New York

June of 2006. Broadway, near Prince St.

This is one of those things that continually amazes me—how people will go out of their way to put their trash in the wrong place. Surely it would have been easier for any of the 30 or so people who used this stuffed lamp post as a garbage can to walk to the nearest corner and drop it in its proper receptacle (perhaps a 2 on the difficulty scale of garbage disposal). But instead they chose this lamp post (i'd say an 8 on said scale) Steps needed to complete this option:

1. Bend down (no bending needed when tossing into a real garbage can)
2. Locate an empty space where they could place their rubbish (take a look, there is much there)
3. Shove garbage into its final resting place (ok, maybe not final but it doesn't look like it's going anywhere anytime soon)
4. Ensure that none of the other items within were disturbed or fell out (notice there is no garbage on the sidewalk around the post)

This phenomena, of course, is not the lone blight of the lamp post—many other things serve as unintended trash receptacles in this city. Let's review:

1. Bicycle baskets (both front and back)
2. Ledges
3. Entry gates to brownstones
4. Full garbage bags (that people place other, loose garbage atop)
5. Free publication dispensers such as the Voice or L (I recently saw a bag of beans and potato chips in one)

Upon inspection I noticed it is mostly coffee cups in there. Maybe it's the caffeine that makes them do it.