Monday, September 24, 2007

Upper East Side, Sept. 2007


Anyone who doubts the social power of the Internet should meet up with some of their Web friends. Even if you’ve only known each other in cyberspace, when you meet face to face, you FEEL like you know each other. It’s a real relationship; it’s not an illusion.

I’m part of a loose-knit group of photographers on Flickr who document street art in New York City. We all run around and try to capture transient stickers and wheatpastes and spray-painted stencils before they get painted over or cleaned away. We all look through and comment on each others’ photos, keeping track of what’s going on out there in the world of the street.

Yesterday we finally got a chance to get together - eight of us. We met at a centrally located gas station on Houston Street and walked around SoHo shooting stuff, while talking about how we got interested in all the art around us. We compared notes on the artists and on the peculiarities of Flickr, spending a couple of hours out on the street and getting a late lunch. It was really fun! And just like when I met Reya and Ched back in June, I sort of felt like I knew them all already!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

How great! I bet your afternoon was a lot of fun. Yes! The internet, blogging, flickr and other sites are creating real (not just virtual) communities in ways that didn't exist until just a few years ago. It's so exciting to take part in this phenomena!

Love the "crystal ball" in your pic, and its shadow, too.

Anonymous said...

People worry that the internet isolates people, but I don't believe that is true at all.

Anonymous said...

I've found this to be true, too - and I wasn't expecting that it would be, really.

P.S. - I have very much liked the pictures from the last 3 days, especially the stencil of the tree - I LOVE trees, and have a ton of photographs of them.

Anonymous said...

You should change that link to the one that goes directly to the group.
http://flickr.com/groups/520138@N21/

The group is publically viewable, they just can't join unless we invite them...

I mean I still have over 120 pictures to post!

Anonymous said...

i wish i could meet up with some of the bloggers!
that happy little tree looks like you
;0)