Darkness around Tompkins Square Park

Since moving from the Upper to the Lower East Side last year, I’ve come to really enjoy my new neighborhood and all its charm. It’s not as pretty as the Upper East Side, doesn’t smell as good, may not be as safe (a loosely defined word nowadays anyway), but it sure has more character. I’ve especially come to love Tompkins Square Park. Besides being known as a haven for the homeless in the 1980s, it is also the site of many a riot (1988, 1874, and 1863, and 1857!). Ahh. What’s not to love?

I considered making these photos brighter, but I kind of like the darkness mixed with the harsh glow of the streetlights. I was going to write some long flowery thing about comparing darkness and light, nature and technology, but it was all going to be pulled out of my butt and insincere. Honestly, I don’t take pictures for any sort of meaning. I take them because I think they are pretty.

None of these were taken with a tripod. I set my camera (a Canon 40D) to take an unlimited number of shots (well, as unlimited as the card is) while the shutter was held down. I figure at least some of them wouldn’t be blurry. I think, overall, I did okay considering 1. weak girl arms, 2. small girl hands, and 3. holding a 40D at 10:30 at night on a Sunday while also keeping an eye out for potential ne’er-do-wells.