Understructure

Linus Gelber

The swooping arched tile ceiling at the entrance to the subway in the Municipal Building is a remarkable New York nuance. Since this is downtown New York, of course, a security guard citing 9/11 tells me I can't take pictures here. Because, as you can see, terrorists can make deadly use of this image, right?

I stand my ground, as is my habit, and after two layers of supervisors and one small bit of yelling - which I feel bad about, actually, because he wasn't the guy who makes the call at the end of the day - I am given permission to go back and shoot, as long as I don't take pictures of the entrance door. Like, whatever.

This week's Utata Thursday Walk is a long hot start-of-summer outing. I kick it off at the Municipal Building, at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, and start the first stage walking across Chambers Street, all the way to the Hudson River. From there it's a quick amble down to North Cove, and then I close the photography part of the day at Astor Place in the East Village for New York's first Bubble Battle, which is a hoot.

The Thursday Walk is a running project of the Utata photo tribe. It's set up much as it sounds it might be. When Thursday comes, we go for a walk, with the camera, and then see what transpires. It's a terrific way to focus the mind's eye, and since there are no goals, I respond to each one in interesting and unpredictable ways. Or at least so it seems to me.

For the most part, I do my walks on Fridays, when I'm off work. Thursdays, you see, are a state of mind. See the rest of my Thursday Walk images in the Getting the Hang of Thursdays set.

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