From 1971 to 1977, the Environmental Protection Agency asked freelance photographers to shoot images related to environmental issues that were overwhelming the turbulent ’70s. The Documerica project is a fascinating look at how various communities across America coped with the crises that plagued their small towns and big cities. While there are a fair share of disturbing moments in the striking photo series, there’s also a lot of beauty amongst the chaos. Click through to see a smoggy New York skyline that looks like sweet, perfumed death, one of the earliest electric cars, and indulge your love of dirty subway scenes. Read More »
Children hovering by the subway window to the glow of Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel. A man cowering from a pointed gun. A young vandal at work in a tagged subway car. A punk brooding at a station. In the mid-80s, photographer Bruce Davidson captured New York City’s subway commuters in a ground-breaking series first published by Aperture, freezing the subject in powerful, split-second vignettes.
The Illinois-born photographer has described his subjects as “the people in the subway, their flesh juxtaposed against the graffiti, the penetrating effect of the strobe light itself, and even the hollow darkness of the tunnels, inspired an aesthetic that goes unnoticed by passengers who are trapped underground, hiding behind masks, and closed off from each other.” Decades later, the images seem familiar yet distant, cinematic yet tangible. See flash-frightened women in furs and vigilante crime patrollers in our gallery and look for the third edition of Subway available soon from Aperture.
Subway systems are a perfect location for advertisements for two reasons: one, commuters spend a lot of time within them; and two, potential customers are held captive, either waiting on the platform or squished on the train just looking for an excuse not to make eye contact with the person next to them.
We’ve found some advertisers who’ve thought of some pretty creative uses of this underground space. View all ten examples after the jump.
Recent renovations to the Noting Hill Gate tube station in London unearthed a small passageway with advertisements from the late ’50s, when the section was originally sealed off. Mike Ashworth, the Design and Heritage Manager of London’s underground tube system, uploaded photographs of these posters onto his Flickr site to reconnect them with the viewing public.
Once novel, now vintage, the advertisements seem quite simple in comparison to our modern breed of words and images meant to persuade customers to depart with their money. Many of the posters feature nothing more than a pithy statement with a minimal, colorful cartoon image. How well would these adverts work if they were plastered on subway walls today?
1. Poison lead singer and current Celebrity Apprentice contestant Bret Michaels suffered a brain hemorrhage over the weekend, describing the headache that precipitated the injury as “like [getting] hit in the head with a baseball bat over and over again.” [via People]
2. NPR is streaming the New Pornographers‘ first album since 2007, Together; guest spots include St. Vincent and Beirut. [via NPR]
3. Why does Josh Groban get to be in a movie with Ryan Gosling? I want to be in a movie with Ryan Gosling (and Steve Carell and Marisa Tomei and the funny girl from Superbad). [via Variety]
4. The New York City MTA just released its findings in subway traffic for 2009: the Brooklyn-bound J/M/Z line experienced record highs while Financial District stations dropped off significantly. [via New York Times]
5. For those of you who prefer your series finales spoiled, check out the leaked call sheet from the last episode of ABC’sLost. [via Gawker]
The New York City public transportation system has perks (sprawling network of routes, same admission price for every trip) and drawbacks (odd smells, transients, weekend service changes). And while most passengers channel rage in a highly passive-aggressive manner, we prefer something a little more subtle. Please. Jason Shelowitz is granting our wish with a public art campaign launching citywide via a limited run of hand-pulled, four-color screen prints extolling the virtues of Subway Etiquette. They’re visually similar to the ubiquitous flyers posted by the actual MTA, so pay close attention. Three samples and our own warning after the jump.
Neil Freeman is an artist and urban planner and his Web site, fake is the new real, is an exciting collection of maps, art, and lists. (No, we’re not being facetious. Trust us.) This morning we stumbled upon his roundup of subway systems of the world, presented on the same scale, which among other things, really puts into perspective the fact that the Seoul Metro could kick Paris’s public transportation system in the derrière. C’est des conneries! It also gave our office an excuse for a little armchair analysis. After the jump, a few of our favorite subway maps, what we “see” when we look at them, and what that might mean. You’re next! Read More »
The “one problem” mentioned in the title is an embarrassingly minuscule one, we promise. Nit-picking, really. If you’re a publicist, reading this to collect clips — or blurbs! blurb us for the paperback edition! — honestly, consider this a ringing endorsement. Lowboy was fantastic. We stayed up past our bedtime and rejoiced when we missed trains on the way to work, just to finish the book and soak it all in as quickly as possible. But after hopping onto the bandwagon of laudatory reviews, we almost wished we had a bone to pick. Something to offer besides a “Ohmygod It’s The Holden Caulfield Of Our Generation.” So, what’s the only thing we could find wrong with this outstanding novel? Read More »
