color

In 1980, Bruce Davidson began to photograph the New York subway system. He first started photographing in Black and White and then decided that the project required color. Davidson generally asked permission before photographing someone -- ironically the one notable exception was a man Davidson did not know was blind. It is one of my favorite images (p. 54). He offered to send them a print of the picture. Yet most of the photographs do not appear posed. The breadth of life on the New York subway system is impressive. You will see beautiful women, daring and frightening young men, some violence, people dealing with crowded situations, lonely people, business people, elderly people, musicians, graffiti, people in love, street people, an arrest -- in short the full panoply of life in NYC. It's just wonderful. The images are a bit on the dark side which fits the subject. Davidson used a flash -- as this was necessary. Many of the images have too much flash but I did not find this to be more than a modest distraction.

The quality of reproduction is excellent. I learned about the variety of humanity below the ground in New York. The enterprise was not without risk. Someone stole one of Davidson's cameras. The book does not make the NY subway seem to be a safe place but certainly one where it's possible to genuinely connect with the humanity we all share.

Highly recommended.