NYC, Christopher Street
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Upon seeing these three men in a lively encounter at the intersection of Christopher Street and Seventh Avenue, I was immediately transported to Robert Frank’s photograph of three men, titled simply, New York City, 1955.
The setting is an iconic location, a site of many movies and photographs. Both Christopher Street and its Stonewall Inn are famous as the international symbol of gay
pride.
What comes across in this picture is the energy and vitality of these men and their location. As in Frank’s photo, the central figure is pivotal. In his, the man has his fingers spread in front of his face. In mine, he is holding a cell phone and gesturing. With rings on his fingers, chains around his neck and flashy outfit, even in black and white, he is a colorful character. The men are in an animated encounter, and this allowed me to photograph them up close without being noticed.
The background shows these men in the context of their neighborhood. The billboard of a pained man in a t-shirt, in contrast to the vitality and fun of the three men, points to the emotional breadth of the community. A diagonal runs from the mostly obscured man on the left, through the central figure to him. Like the city itself, even though there is lots of movement and seeming randomness bordering on chaos, there is organization and order here. As a final touch, for whatever reason, the towering buildings in the background remind me of a medieval town in Italy. There is beauty here.