Journey on the El

New York City's elevated subway (the El) is redolent of the city's industrial past and the mundane present of mass transit, but it also seems to offer the promise of a realm lifted above the errands of the streets. From the vantage point of a moving train or from the platform of a station, one may see not just parts of a neighborhood but an expanse of skyline and stretches of urban terrain. The upper sections of nearby buildings come into focus, as do structures on roofs like water towers, skylights, and bulkheads. Seeing a stretch of tracks from a train window can transform a commute into a journey. In addition, the El interacts in fascinating ways with surrounding streets and architecture. I have been taking photographs on, from, under, and around the El to explore the ways in which it influences our aesthetic perception of the cityscape. Taking these pictures at twilight has been an important aspect of this project. During this transitional time, the change from daylight to moonlight and artificial light seems to awaken the city's own dreams, apart from the business and errands of its inhabitants. For me, these dreams are expressed in basic shapes and patterns, as if the infrastructure were communing with its own geometry while distracting details are hidden in shadow. The shifting light brings out forms that may disappear in the darkness of night or remain invisible during the more chaotic visual world of daylight.