Harpreet Kaur
Journal 4
English D 394 (Prof. Scanlan)
September 29, 2015
My Favorite Picture
I chose the photo “Manhattan Bridge” by photographer Berenice Abbott. It is simply a close up of one of the pillars of the Manhattan Bridge, the angle caught my attention. The photographer took this picture at an angle where she was looking up at the bridge. During the 1930’s, old 19th century buildings were being torn down to make way for new, tall, shiny sky scrapers. The Manhattan Bridge was built in the 1800’s making it a very old structure surrounded by a new changing environment. While the photograph may seem odd at first as you look at it, you can make sense of it. When most tourists come to New York they always look up at all the tall sky scrapers and structures. This is how people see New York structures stretching far almost reaching the clouds.
Though today New York City looks the same to us, we do not really realize all the change the city had been through. Throughout the decades there has been a steady change into the City we now know so well. This photograph gives off a sense of someone in awe. In awe the bridge or even the city itself. It is ironic how people who are not from New York City visit all the structures that are quite popular such as the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan Bridge, while people who live in the city probably never took a photo or even visited these structures.
Hi Harpreet Kaur, I found your journal about Berenice Abbott’s photo “Manhattan Bridge, From Bowery and Canal Street, Manhattan to Warren and Bridge Street, Brooklyn”very interesting. You mentioned the angle caught your attention, when I first time to look at this picture, the angle also caught my attention. The photographer took the picture on the special position, made the bridge look like tall buildings. I agree with what you said about the angle looking like shiny sky scrapers. I like how you gave a lot of information on the history of the Manhattan bridge. My question would be, why people who live in the city takes photos like photographer?
It’s the effect of newness. Er… newity? Unoldness. Whichever the case may be, it’s because we’ve been exposed to it a hundred times or more, because we live in the city. Tourists take note of these landmarks because they haven’t seen it in real size, where as we see them outside of the window everyday. In a sense, the photograph is a sort of memento to those who don’t live in the city, and an eyesore to those that do.