Self-taught photographer Michael Sean Edwards has been an East Village staple for more than three decades, since moving to the once-gritty neighborhood from Toronto in 1977. Using “slow” film called Ektachrome Type B, Edwards documented neighborhood life with a cinematic touch and eye for detail: trash-can sculpture, a recurring graffiti tag, a doll on a street sign, the corner coffee shop. He only recently uploaded the resulting photographic prints to Flickr, in a photoset that’s been making the Internet rounds. We spoke with Edwards to get the background on a selection of his most compelling shots from 1978 to 1985.
Some technical notes from Michael Sean Edwards:
“The film I used was Ektachrome Type B, which is balanced for artificial light, not daylight. I used an 85B filter to correct the color balance. It was a common thing in movie shooting in those days and I was a film editor for a living and had learned most of what I knew in film production. For stills it was not a common way of doing things at all, because there were lots of daylight reversal films available. I really liked the look of the Type B film though, and it was a very slow, fine-grained emulsion. I think I got better colors that way, because the Type B emulsion is less tolerant of color temp differences, and so I put up with the lack of speed.
These rolls of film were the only color films I ever developed myself. It was a pain in the ass: about six different baths and very precise temperature control. They really turned out well. I did them in my kitchen on 7th Street.
The pictures were all taken with a Nikkormat FTN camera and a 28mm f2.8 Nikkor lens. A few of them were taken with a 135 mm lens (Guajana, for instance).”
For more from Edwards’s East Village photo archive, visit his Flickr page.
Comments (11)
Michael,
Your images brings it all back and then some.
If only they could bring back all those who are missing and dearly missed.
Beautiful work.
Thanks Carolyn. There is a lot I wish I had taken pictures of. Remember the guy with the hat made of bags who used to always be around Leshkos? I could never get a shot of him.
You still here?
Regards
Michael
Yes! and yes with a good deal of art from that period.
My images are on Flickr too but not sure how to share them.
Doing “close to home” images in a crane covered Tribeca!
Should be fun in 20 years… I should live that long!
Best,c
I love your photos… so many memories! I am wondering if it was you who took a photograph of me in front of my store at 84 E 7th Street around 1990-91. Image of me early 20s wearing flowered pants standing next to a Nev (???) graffiti sign. The photographer stopped and asked if he could take some shots as I was standing there, said he was documenting the East Village and had been doing it for some time. A week or two later he returned with a beautiful 8×10 color photograph for me. I’d like to know if it is one of your shots or if not, if you can tell by the style which EV photographer may have taken it. I’d like to get a bigger print for myself because my mother has it and won’t part with it. Please email me at inthepink002@gmail.com so I can send you a scan of the image.
[...] Flavorwire » Exclusive: East Village Redux: Michael Sean Edwards [...]
Michael– I met you and Christine Vachon years ago in the EV, when you were both making movies and working as proofreaders. I think of you guys sometimes although I know you are no longer together (and she is now a famous lesbian!) because you were both so passionate about what you were doing. hope you’re still buddies–
Freddy2000
Where did we meet?
I saw that Christine had tweeted about the photos, which was nice. We have been kind of out of touch with each other, but life is long.
I posted a photo of her on flickr from back then just a few days ago.
Regards
Michael
I went to college with her brother and I met you guys up at Riverside drive. Someone sent me the link to this article about her:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/nyregion/08routine.html
and it made me think of you as well– and then I found the pictures!
Ahhh.
Thanks for the link to the article. I had not seen it.
michael
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