Fifty Favorites, Number Forty-Four

16 June '12 -- If you enlarge the image you will see written at the bottom of the sign, "sidewalk cynic". This fellow was sort of a hybrid of a beggar, a hustler, a comedian, and a social satirist.

Fifty Favorites, Number Seventeen

7 September '09 -- This is what happens when there are more drivers than there are cabs, there is no union, and owners of taxi garages have nothing to stop them from splurging on their own greed.  Five years after this picture was taken Uber comes along, the drivers defect to Uber in droves, and the value of the medallion drops from over a million dollars apiece to virtually nothing.  That, owners of taxi garages, is what is known as "karma".

Fifty Favorites, Number Thirteen

                            

13 March '09 -- Now here is a really cute message that I think well expresses the sense of humor of New York City.  At first glance this looks like just a typical sign which was handwritten onto a fence beside a vacant lot.  But if you look carefully between the letters P and I in the word "DUMPING", however, you will find that some wiseass has added -- in red ink -- the letter L.  Considering that this was in Chinatown,  a place where every other shop is a Chinese restaurant, I thought it was very funny.

Fifty Favorites, Number Eleven

1 January '09 -- New York City, where bare walls are seen as canvases by many, is overflowing with street art.  This shot was taken on Houston Street, which separates Soho from Greenwich Village.  

Fifty Favorites, Number Seven

20 February '08 - People asking for a handout are a common sight in New York and they have often been my subjects.  I gave this man a dollar in exchange for posing for this portrait. 

Fifty Favorites, Number Four

17 July '07 - New York City is bursting with messages.  It's one of my favorite subjects.  This fellow, tempting fate, caught my eye while waiting for a red light in Midtown.

Columbus Circle

Penn Station

Midtown

Hell's Kitchen, 4 a.m.

Times Square

Soho

Times Square

Times Square

Bushwick, Brooklyn

Merci, Marie

The Girl With The Love Tattoo

On The Street

Midtown

Midtown

Times Square