It’s finally cold in Mississippi, and I love it. My natural temperature is “sweating in air conditioning” so I’m fine with having to wear a coat and thick socks and have to adapt to changing seasons and whatever it is people do elsewhere in the world. Winter doesn’t last long here and the cold barely even makes it through the day sometimes (it’ll be in the 60s and 70s this week), so it’s a rare treat.
In the South we don’t have some of the same experiences other places have, due to geography or geology, and so we’re missing some of the unique emotions which come after. Yes, we have standing in a field in the Delta at night watching stars fall, that’s a good one, and perhaps a disproportionate amount of that is the best pie I ever had, and even though I’m not in the stadium this year we have a lot of we are literally watching the best player in America throw that ball.
But this year I’m missing a cold-related experience that’s maybe not just in New York, but one I associate with it: almost freezing to death walking from the train to this little place in the East Village for dinner, have you heard of it, it’s supposed to be great, I can’t feel my hands.
Staring at Manhattan, Polaroid Land Camera with Fuji FP3000-B (2014)
Two pillars of my childhood were comic books and television. I almost exclusively read Marvel comics, and the writers and artists of The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man centered the stories in the Five Boroughs (well, when they weren’t in space). At age nine I read jokes about Staten Island and knew that Doctor Strange lived in Greenwich Village without having any idea what any of that meant—only that it felt real, and that the world was much larger than our bedroom community outside of Birmingham, Alabama.
Brooklyn apartment building, Polaroid Land Camera with Fuji FP3000-B (2014)
Outside of the comics it felt like half the TV shows or movies were set in New York—even Sesame Street was there. The City seemed gigantic and grimy and endlessly fascinating, if scary. I was half sure The Warriors was real, or at least could be real, as real as Red Dawn could be real.
Waverly Diner, Greenwich Village, Polaroid SX-70 (2019)
It was only about this time ten years ago I traveled to NYC, through the incredible grace of a friend who was out of town over Christmas and offered up his apartment in Long Island City. By law, all Southerners on their first trip to New York must immediately take the train to Times Square, regardless of when their flight lands.
Polaroid 600 with Impossible Project film (2014)
I don’t have many photographs from that time—the Impossible Project had just started up, and the film could be notoriously wonky. The chemicals in the films also don’t like to work when it’s really cold, so you have to coax it along. I just have some really wonderful impressions, mainly of walking—the endless walking!—and of the trains.
Polaroid 600 with Impossible Project b&w film (2014)
I loved everything about the subway—the way it sounded (like being inside an engine), the connections to decades past, the chrome of the cars—the incredible maze of it all. I loved there was so much to learn, and that there were even different ways to see it, developed strong opinions that the Massimo Vignello map from 1972 was a work of art, began to long to see the mysterious City Hall station.
Municipal Building entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall/Chambers Street station, Polaroid Land Camera with Fuji FP-100c film (2016)
Most importantly, I just loved wandering around and being able to see things that seemed so very beautiful to me. And yes, I miss that feeling of are we gonna freeze walking from the train to this little place on the East Village, no, I haven’t been there but it’s supposed to be good, and the sudden rush of warmth you feel when you open the door.
So in this time where I’m not traveling, I’m going to listen to Duke Ellington and look at some memories. I hope on this cold morning that you have a good cup of coffee and will enjoy some of these along with me.
Russ & Daughters on Houston, Polaroid SX-70 (2018)
Coney Island, Polaroid Land Camera with Fuji FP-100c film (2016). It was freezing cold, so I kept this shot unpeeled and tucked under my arm for the train ride back to Brooklyn.
Greenwich Village, Polaroid SX-70 (2019)
Williamsburg man with his best pal, Polaroid Land Camera with Fuji FP3000-B (2014)
Harlem apartment building, Polaroid 600 (2018)
The Met, Polaroid Land Camera with Fuji FP-100c film (2015)
Chinatown, Polaroid SX-70 (2018)
AS ALWAYS I am gorjusjxn on Instagram and you can see more of my photography at McCartyPolaroids. Here’s one last one from the train.