All-White Attire Party

Looking at some old pictures from 2018, I came across the image that inspired this caricature. Earlier that same year, I was invited to an all-white attire birthday celebration during the month of August at Willie's Steak House in the Bronx. 

Prior to this event, I had never been at Willie's before and didn't knew many people at this bar/restaurant. The one thing I was confident was that they play and dance Salsa music. I don't drink alcohol, so I knew I would feel weird to sit at the bar if I am not spending money in alcohol. I contacted a friend from the Bronx to meet me there; so she and her partner could make my visit at Willie's Steak House more comfortable. 

I rented a hotel in midtown Manhattan and spend my first full day in NYC taking pictures. The following night I took the #6 subway train to St Lawrence Ave Subway Station in the Bronx. I am glad I attended the all-white party event. It was a great birthday celebration among friends. As I recall, I didn't even dance once, not sure why. It didn't matter, it was a great night listening to good Salsa music and hanging out with friends. 

Thanks to Artificial Intelligence, I was able to revisit the all-white attire I was wearing that night, and the NYC subway ride to the Bronx. AI created this new caricature from one of the pics taken that night. Cheers!

The View From My Window

What do you do, when you enter the subway after leaving your favorite bank, and you are the only person on the platform?

With only the echoing sounds of the station, the distant rumble of an approaching train and the visual emptiness of the platform stretching out before you? You take out your cell phone out of your pocket and begin taking pictures, of course.

This may be one of those rare instances when you enter the subway, and the Philadelphia subway platform is empty. Since I am always looking for new opportunities to find objects to photograph, it was easy to notice the converging lines creating a perspective effect for my composition to add depth and interest to this particular image. I love it! 😀

Invisible People

In all the years taking the subway in New York, this is the first time I got to see the cleaning crew in action.

The MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) contracted workers to help disinfect the NYC subway during the pandemic. 

It is a dirty job, but somebody has to do it. Public transportation cleaning work is usually scheduled to be done overnight. I was surprised to see a grandma cleaning the subway around midday during my visit to Coney Island last Monday. 

As I watched her to scrub away grime,  with so many young people jobless, I couldn't help thinking of why is grandma doing this work in our nation's largest transit system?