34th Street Underground

[rick barclay]

Indifferent to the suffocating late August afternoon heat, New Yorkers
patiently await the arrival of their air conditioned train. God bless Mayor
Koch or whoever thought to upgrade the system. When I rode the subway
as a teenager, the only air conditioning you got on the N.Y. subway was
from the open windows of the cars. That was back in 1964 when I worked
for Western Union down on Chambers street--my first real job after high school. I believe they used to call this the 7th Avenue Line; my son, who
was with me and goes to school up here, corrected me and let me know it
is now known as the 1 & 9 Line, or some such thing. Whatever. To me, it's
just a vast, dormant vein of imagery waiting to be tapped .

Your comments and suggestions are welcomed, as always.


http://flashdaddee.com/subway_4.jpg

[arogop]

A little dark but I like it.

[rick barclay]

No flash used. But it's supposed to be dark, since it's the subway.
The NY city subway for the most part is a dark, drab, forbidding type
of place. It's hot, noisy, and dirty, but the cars are air conditioned and
seemed to perform well for the short time I rode them Sunday. The people
look and act as if they are resigned to their subterranean fates, which
makes for good photography IMHO, because the atmosphere down there
is so stifling and oppressive that people are simply more candid about
minding their own business and thus leave themselves open to an
unexpected snapshot by an aspiring photographer. Naturally, any use of
a flash would destroy that moody candidness and lead to all sorts of
possible unpleasantness which we should be trying our best to avoid.

[hank1105]

Cool pic, but even better writing. I travel on the NYC subways often and I know exactly were you are coming from. Nothing like getting on the subway car with no AC and crammed in with people. Things could be worse. :lol:

[BOBinsane]

wow this is a really good picture to me. I don't think I have much to complain about this. I just hope that the MTA doesn't ban photography before I get a chance to visit New York sometime in my life!

[rick barclay]

Thanks. There were even better ones to be had Sunday. The subway
was crawling with cops. It didn't occur to me to try to take a cop shot
until I was well on my way.

[Sailor Don]

Rick,

When I look at the rail closest to the wall, I see a regular pattern of black angled marks on the top surface of the rail. At first I thought they might be reflections of the vertical black pillars on the wall, but then they don't seem to line up on the same offsets. There is some similar "patterned" imaging on the other rail, but it isn't as evident, probably due to less light reflection off the top of that rail.

Can you tell from your original if these are reflections of the black pillars, or a result of digital imaging? Back in the days of 35 mm film, there would be no question about moire patterns in the film emulsion.

Isn't it dangerous to ride the NYC subways with valuable photographic equipment? :?: Or perhaps your son was your bodyguard. :D

[rick barclay]

In my opinion it just the flourescent light reflected off the tiles and the overhead girders. You can also see a pattern if you look between the rails.

Yes, it can be dangerous toting $7,500 worth of camera equipment around
New York. That is something that was in my mind before I even left home.
But it also depends in large part as to when and where you are that determines the degree of danger. 34th st isn't a dangerous part of town
at 2 pm on a Sunday with more cops patolling than hookers on 42nd st.

As for my son :) I can still whip his skinny butt on any given Sunday
and snap off a few pics while I'm doing it.

[tiger20]

Naturally, any use of a flash would destroy that moody candidness and lead to all sorts of possible unpleasantness which we should be trying our best to avoid.

well put. Much too "proper" for NY lingo though...

[waynejgilbert]

i think you captured the system well nice shot.

[thedude]

I've never experienced the subway. I think that your picture does an excellent job of showing me what it's like, but your narrative completes your short story.
I never knew the terminals aren't air conditioned. Of course, to a Texan, that's unthinkable! LOL

I really like how the picture shows the change in grade of the tracks. I never realized the system changed elevation, I guess I thought of the system as completely flat, albeit underground.

One question; is the lighting correct? Everything seems yellowish...is that the color cast of the lights?

[rick barclay]

No. I don't think the lighting is correct here. But I'm far from an expert in these mattters of lighting technicalities and so I can't explain why it appears
yellowish. Some of my other indoor shots also have a dim look to them
even when I use my EX-550. I think it's just that there's not enough light
getting to the sensor.

[nighthawk]

One question; is the lighting correct? Everything seems yellowish...is that the color cast of the lights?

Even if it's not perfect, some of the terminals have that kind of look to them. I think you did an excelent job of capturing the feel of the subway. I can almost smell the urine. :lol:

[thedude]

One question; is the lighting correct? Everything seems yellowish...is that the color cast of the lights?

Even if it's not perfect, some of the terminals have that kind of look to them. I think you did an excelent job of capturing the feel of the subway. I can almost smell the urine. :lol:

I guess that's what I should have said. I didn't mean correct from a technical standpoint. I meant were they correct as what the scene actually looks like.

Since I've never been there, I don't know.

The nearest comparison I can come up with is if I were going to take night pictures of a parking lot scene, I would assume that they would look more natural if they looked orangish-yellowish due to the sodium lights. If I were to color correct, then I would be losing what the 'atmosphere' does for the picture and would be better off taking a picture of my living room!

[rick barclay]

:) Ha, ha. Nice metaphor, dude. Go into some of those stations and you'll
do better than "almost." The day that picture was taken and after riding
from 34th to Columbus Circle, me and my son went to Central Park, where
an exhausted father plopped himself down under a tree only to be assaulted
by that unmistakable ammonium smell. Nature's call is most definitely universal.

When I rode the subways in 1964 I saw puddles of urine, some with people
lying in them, right in the subway cars themselves. I hope and think the
situation has improved somewhat today. I do believe the subways are shut
down for an hour each day for cleaning, which would be a tremendous help, but I'm not sure on that.

[BDM]

Interesting shot. I remember riding the subways quite a lot when I was a college student (Columbia) back in the late fifties. There was no air conditioning. But then I was only in the city during the school year and not in the summer so it was not all that bad. But I do remember when there was a fire and the trains all stopped for a very long time. That was not pleasant. But most of the time the system took me to where I needed to go with dispatch. And the fare was only 15 cents! Now, that sure dates me.

Bruce

[rick barclay]

Wow! Holy crap. Somebody here actually older than I am? I think I
paid .35 to ride the subway. A slice of pizza was .25. I do remeber that. My son's a soph at Columbia. Nice to meet you. I look forward to my next city visit and photo shoot.

[D4VE]

Gosh, that is a narrow platform. By London, St Petersburg or Paris standards that is dangerous. :o
Good shot though :)

[rick barclay]

Oh, it's much wider than shown. This is a picture of the uptown-bound local tracks. On the other side of the platform is the uptown-bound express side. And there are benches available for those who want to sit and wait.
The 34th street station services tens of thousands of commuters on a daily
basis. You should see this place on a weekday morning during rush hour.