A NYC Photographer Spends 9 Years Capturing People on Their Way to Work, and the Results Are Eye-Opening
Danish photographer Peter Funch has been taking photographs of the same place at the same time for 9 years. Later on he found that he captured the same person a few times and that person looked nearly identical to the pictures made a few days apart. That finding turned into an amazing photo project named “42nd and Vanderbilt.”
These pictures cover the period from 2007 to 2016 and were taken from 8:30 to 9:30 in the morning in New York City. Editing the shots, the photographer found out that daily shooting in the same place, at the same time, yields a surprising result: you see the same people repeating the same rituals over years.
Street photography can be unpredictable and full of surprises. We probably don’t even realize that day after day, and year after year we do the same thing, eat the same food, drink coffee from the same shop, have the same haircut, and even wear the same colored clothes.
Who are these people? Are they sad? Are they happy? It doesn’t matter, they are random people on a busy street, they are part of us.
Just ordinary people going through an ordinary morning routine, rushing to work, getting ready for their busy day. Looking the same every day... Is it cliché or consistency? You choose for yourself.
You would think that these 2 pics were taken only a few minutes apart. And you would be wrong. Have you checked your wardrobe already to make sure that your shirts are more than one color?
The photographer found that many people even have the same expression every morning. And the same glasses sticking out of their pocket the same way.
The photographer must have been taking gazillions of photos to fish out such identical images.
We can even play a little game. Who do you think this man is and what does he do?
Is this beautiful girl a student? Or a teacher? Whoever she is, she looks consistently very happy.
Wardrobe is a personal choice after all. Remember that one of the greatest minds of our society, Steve Jobs, wore the same black turtleneck, jeans, and New Balance sneakers every day for years and it didn’t stop him from being who he was. We don’t know these people, and who knows maybe some of them like Steve, simply have no time to waste.
What do you think about this photo project? Or maybe you saw someone you know personally. Tell us about your thoughts in the comments.