| Photography came about by accident. As a child, I was a middle-class kid in Brooklyn. I used to visit the library to study about different occupations. I started out with the A’s in Agriculture, Archaeology, or Architecture. But, I never progressed to the P-levels. I left school when I was 17 to take a variety jobs, including salesman, truck driver, manager, and assembly worker. I ended up working in a wholesale glas plant. There, I injured my right arm and lost the use thereof for 14 months. I began looking for a way of making a living. A friend suggested that I could study photography at The Photo League and get a job to work as a darkroom technician. I signed up for the League’s beginning class. Two weeks later, I was certain that photography would become my profession.My photographic journey began in the streets. New York with its varied cultures and topography presents a new challenge to me every day. My days were spent taking photos with my Zeiss Ikon camera measuring 9 x 12.cm. I spent my nights in the darkroom chatting with other photographers and students. I was obsessed. New York was where I learned the most about myself and the world.1943, while I was working on The Newspaper PM, my first major photographic essay, “Children’s Games”, was shot. The streets were an extension and extension of the house. They were the living areas and the playgrounds, especially for the poor whose crowded apartments left little space for play. The streets were populated by children, who would sometimes allow trucks or cars to pass.Over the years, my experience has included freelance and staff photography for many publications. My independent projects and assignments took me to all corners of New York City, looking for the human face. I photographed people at the Brooklyn Bridge, Coney Island and in the subway. I also photographed kids playing in the East River. I traveled around the city all day long, at night, in any weather conditions. I never felt threatened except in exceptional cases. The city was my home. As I look back at my work during that period, it becomes clear that I was witnessing a moment that no longer exists, a more innocent one.While I understand that the city has changed over the years, and the streets are often more dangerous, the energy that I love remains. No matter where my travels take me, New York is always on my mind. But the “good times” weren’t always all sweetness and sunshine. Even though there was poverty, racism. corruption and violence back then, we believed that it was possible. We believed that there was hope. |