Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Shift Shots 9/22/09

This night I recall specifically a strong silence in the under-developed and over-developed contrasts of Long Island City. So in the second picture I had to get out of the cab to feel the stillness against my face as I tried to hold the camera steady to match the pause of time itself: Sorry a bit too over the top for you perhaps, but there is just something overwhelming to be said for being present when it seems all life-forms have called it a night, but me, and for a moment I feel like I own something. I think there was a couple who took me from the animal hospital on the manhattan side of the 59th Street Bridge, over to their condo on the Queens side. It was a rare event for sure, their pet cat probably had an emergency operation and usually neither of them would've been awake at such an hour. And these early hours of the shift produced the best photographs of the day.

Long Island City, Queens
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Turtle Bay
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Surely the bagel people also enjoy being the few who own the dawn.

7 comments:

Linda said...

I LOVE this post and can almost feel the stillness through your words! You captured the feeling/experience so perfectly others can share in it! A rare gift!

NYC taxi photo said...

oh your too kind, your comment sounds more eloquent than my post.

Unknown said...

Wow. I love these night shots. They remind me of the types of scenes I love to see in movies. It's like you can see and almost feel the night. Happy I came across this blog ^_^

Kalei's Best Friend said...

I don't think most know that people who work at night may have one up on the ones who work so called normal hours...U guys get to experience the quiet...and people like the bagel guys are the ones responsible for getting things ready and working for the day folk...Great night shots- I could hear the crickets as well as feel the cool air...

not displayed said...

I love the light elements of the first photo. I find it mesmerising. I keep coming back to it.

Anonymous said...

Love the photos nyctaxi photo.

Though I mostly sleep and wake with the moon and sun, I remember being thrust from a drafty room-for-rent in Assisi in the middle of the night for three nights running, chased out each time by a growing horde of hungry mosquitoes - 62 bites in two hours one night! After the first tortuous night the owner offered to douse the room with Raid, which I politely declined. By the third night I had given up trying to sleep and instead ventured out into the early dawn of Assisi and walked, and discovered an early morning version of Assisi most travelers don't ever discover...

Eugene Salomon said...

There really are two New Yorks -day and night. Having driven the night shift for so long, I have an opinion as to which hour of the WEEK is the stillest. It is on Sunday night (technically, Monday early a.m.) between 3 and 4. The fewest people on the streets, the fewest vehicles on the road. It is like a single note at the end of a symphony that fades into silence. (to wax poetic)