Great shot! Whenever I ride the subway or train I always want to photograph what I see but I do not want to intimidate anyone with my camera. Maybe one day I will work up the nerve to make it happen.
Hello Greg, Great pic and insight, as usual. I completely relate to your feeling of connectedness. In 2000 I started riding the train from the South Suburbs to the North Side of the city. 2000 was the first election that I voted in, so I read the newspapers every day to learn more about politics. Most people on the train did the same. The election results were split pretty evenly, so there were definitely people who read the same news but came away with very different views--even here in Illinois. We related to each other primarily on a basic level- pregnant women sat, instead of being forced to stand, on crowded train cars, etc.
The day before my birthday in 2001, however, all of that changed when Muslim radicals flew airplanes into the Twin Towers. Over the next few months, I noticed a marked difference in the way we all related to one another. Strangers I sat next to most mornings were asking how I was doing, and vice versa. We talked about the news, and for the first time, it seemed, we all agreed on one thing and with one sentiment. We related to New Yorkers as to fellow city-dwellers and fellow Americans. It was such a powerful thing to see how tragedy galvanized us. It surely was an experience that I would not have had had I commuted by car every morning.
It's a testament to your skill that you can spark conversations and trigger memories with your pictures.
I enjoyed my trip on the METRA. Traveling by railroad does carry a very real sense of "city-life" from an earlier period. People sitting silently, for the most part. They wear their lives on their faces. Their postures speak of the burdens they bear, or not. There's this feeling of "we're all in this together"...but we're really not.
Great shot! Whenever I ride the subway or train I always want to photograph what I see but I do not want to intimidate anyone with my camera. Maybe one day I will work up the nerve to make it happen.
ReplyDeleteTafari
you take such awesome pictures. Miss you in the A
ReplyDeleteHello Greg,
ReplyDeleteGreat pic and insight, as usual.
I completely relate to your feeling of connectedness. In 2000 I started riding the train from the South Suburbs to the North Side of the city. 2000 was the first election that I voted in, so I read the newspapers every day to learn more about politics. Most people on the train did the same. The election results were split pretty evenly, so there were definitely people who read the same news but came away with very different views--even here in Illinois. We related to each other primarily on a basic level- pregnant women sat, instead of being forced to stand, on crowded train cars, etc.
The day before my birthday in 2001, however, all of that changed when Muslim radicals flew airplanes into the Twin Towers. Over the next few months, I noticed a marked difference in the way we all related to one another. Strangers I sat next to most mornings were asking how I was doing, and vice versa. We talked about the news, and for the first time, it seemed, we all agreed on one thing and with one sentiment. We related to New Yorkers as to fellow city-dwellers and fellow Americans. It was such a powerful thing to see how tragedy galvanized us. It surely was an experience that I would not have had had I commuted by car every morning.
It's a testament to your skill that you can spark conversations and trigger memories with your pictures.