These amazing street photos show 20 years of New York’s gritty glam era—through one woman’s eyes
From 1975 to 1994, Carrie Boretz chronicled city life
There are no smartphones in Carrie Boretz’s photos of New York — no stooped screen-ward gazes, and no compulsive snapshotting by folks on the street. When these photos were made—from 1975 to 1994—people had their heads up. Boretz had her lens up. The city was alive.
“People were absorbed with one another, with gestures, with humor, with intimacy. Riding public transportation and reading a book or talking and gesturing or kissing or just daydreaming,” says Boretz.
“I am tired of watching people looking down and absorbed in themselves, or watching them take selfies,” says Boretz. “I miss observing people regard things through their eyes and hearts instead of their camera phones; people really feeling their experiences, not just recording them.”
From Brooklyn to Midtown Manhattan, from Queens to the West Village, and from Harlem to Studio 54, Boretz sought out busy, public scenes that would turn viewers’ attention back toward the everyday wonder of everyday life. She’d journey to all neighbourhoods and “just try and blend in.” And as with all great bodies of New York street photography, the subway and its riders feature prominently.
In spite of the many related changes to street environments and human interactions within (graffiti removal teams, digital cameras, the Disneyfication of 42nd Street, ads as big as buildings, the self as brand, Stop and Frisk, geo-tagging, Instagram) some things remain unchanged. New York has always been full of characters and it remains incredibly diverse. Sometimes Boretz observed different ages, creeds and races in perfect harmony, but other times the dynamics felt more problematic.
Boretz is routinely applauded for her sly humor, which is present in many of her most famous images, but was also very sober in her observations at times. She documented public scenes as she found them and she trusts the intelligence of the viewers to read between the lines.
Street: New York City — 70s, 80s, 90s is a book of 103 images from the New York boroughs. It’s an elegy to a time when the city was a bit rough and tumble. “New York seems less interesting now and more sanitized,” says Boretz.
Carrie Boretz’s Street is published by PowerHouse Books. All images courtesy the publisher.
