Snapshots of the City

The streets have a bad rep - or a romanticized one, depending on how you see it - and I haven't done anything to combat that idea.

On the one hand, the streets are riddled with drugs, graffiti, and panhandlers trying to hustle you out of your money. Denizens of the street were forced out there, ejected from society because they couldn't make do within it. That's why it's dangerous to be outside and alone in the city, especially after dark. It's a trope that buskers play off of all the time: One performer takes out a knife and waves it around: "We’re in Chicago, my friends! I hope you all have at least one of these with you. If you don’t, please get one before it’s dark."

On the other hand, the streets are a place of vibrant city life - of throngs of adventurous pedestrians walking from coffee shop to coffee shop, admiring the street art and the street performers who have somehow found a way to escape the 9 to 5 life that plagues the rest of us. Even as buskers are stigmatized (for their close association with panhandlers? for settling in so comfortably in a place that's meant to be a pathway between places, instead of a place in itself? for asking for money in return for art - something that some may imagine should be priceless?), they are romanticized. Who, after all, would choose to spend their days in a place where so many others are forced into?

I don't really have answers. I haven't really asked people for their perspective of the city and its streets... but I figure this time around, I'd let the pictures speak for themselves. Keep this in mind as you look through this: I'm no photographer. In fact, more often than not, I completely forget to take photos when I really should. But here, I've picked out a few photos from these past two years. All of these photos are of subjects taken in public spaces while I was in Boston and Chicago.