Hi! We're the Bakers, from Indianapolis

Hi! We’re the Bakers, from Indianapolis, 2005

 

I believe you can find interesting photographic subjects anywhere if you just sit long enough to become sensitized to what’s going on around you.

But if you’re lazy, there’s always Times Square.

It doesn’t take any sensitivity to find interesting subjects in Times Square. They’re everywhere. Everything’s bigger and brighter and more vivid.

If the Statue of Liberty represents America’s promise of open arms, freedom and opportunity, Times Square is America’s big wet kiss of commercialism. Come see the lights. Come taste the life. Be part of the crowd. And for God’s sake, buy something.

Not sure what to buy? No problem. Practically every inch of every building in Time Square is covered with some kind of bright pulsing marketing message. See the show that everyone’s talking about.  Taste the soft drink that refreshes. Drink the whiskey that’ll make you more sophisticated. Bank with the bank so big it has to be called America. 

For me, though, the biggest thing on display in Time Square is the people. They come in all shapes and sizes at all hours of the day every day of the year. I’m not sure why they come other than to be part of a very large shared experience. But come they do, and they take countless pictures of each other to prove they were there.

Hi! We’re the Bakers, from Indianapolis is part of a series of photographs of visitors to Times Square taken in just one hour on one summer evening.  Other visitors photographed in the series included a group of co-workers from Milwaukee out on the town after a seminar, a young soldier and his new child-like bride, a family up from North Carolina who wondered, “Do these people know Jesus?” and a hopped up couple from Pittsburgh just looking for a little mischief. 

The series starts here. 

It’s part of a larger series called The Big Apple Collection.