The Silver Car at the 79th Street Station I & II (Uptown Bound series), 30’ x 30’, 2000 (reprinted in 2006)
I began studying photography in 1993. From the beginning I was attracted to the lights and shadows created by NYC subway architecture, especially the way the cars and tracks are bathed in light from the street. I always marveled at the effects produced. Then in fall 1999, I experimented for the first time with a rented Hasselblad and B & W film. Since it was a medium format camera and difficult to operate by hand, I installed a tripod with cable release on the platform of nearby subway station. Without a flashlight, instead I used a long exposure and a slow shutter speed in order to capture the transforming contours of shadows over time. Nurtured by an artist-friendly atmosphere, I sparked my creativity so freely then and the entire city seemed to let me be absorbed in my works. (I worked at the stations when they were relatively empty–such as early mornings on weekends. Still, I was unaware of regulations prohibiting the use of tripods in stations).
In April 2000, I visited the station again with the same camera, this time using color film. It was a bright Sunday morning and I felt as if the lighting from the street level looked ideal. Just as I had done before, I set up I tripod on the platform and pressed the cable release. I continued to do so for about thirty minutes until a policeman interrupted me. That was the first time that I was ever interrupted in my shooting. I was disappointed, but the results of that half hour’s work developed quite beautifully, and I felt blessed. The images I captured that morning were later titled ”Uptown Bound” and exhibited in a group show which opened at the photo gallery in Tribeca on Thursday, September 6th, 2001.
On the fifth day into the exhibition, Tuesday September 11th, I woke up late to see that the Twin Towers were already crushed by terrorists and had disappeared from the skyline. The world I lived in and loved had suddenly vanished. The gallery was located just a few blocks away from the WTC. The show had to be temporarily closed due to circumstances shutting off everything in Manhattan south of 14th street. On Saturday the 15th, I visited the gallery to make sure that everything was okay. I got off the subway at 14th Street and started walking on 6th avenue, headed downtown. The skyline without the World Trade Center seemed shockingly vast and empty. The gallery itself was unaffected but the area around it was filled with dust and debris. The smell of the burning buildings was still so unbearably strong that my eyes were irritated and it was hard to breathe.
While the city was struggling to recover, subway cars started displaying American flags as a symbol of patriotism. The world grew fearful of terrorist threats and train stations became a target. Sadly, the tense condition has not improved much over the decade. Now this photographic series remind me of the innocence of New York City before 9/11, the city I have loved so dearly since I moved here two decades ago. This year marks the 10th anniversary of this ”Uptown Bound” series since those were first exhibited in the middle of the chaotic time that changed New Yorker’s lives including myself forever.
http://multisoup.com/uptown.html
Masayo Nishimura is from New York City.