Photo Prayer 2023-02 -- Fill Up On Bread
“Fill up on bread! If I heard that once, I heard it a thousand times.” That is what my father said when he remembered living in New York City, one of eleven children growing up in Hell’s Kitchen and the Lower East Side during the Great Depression. If I heard my father say that once, I heard him say it a thousand times. But his is not the city I know. Mine is a city of Jamaican taxi cab drivers full of humor and wisdom. Mine is a city of helpful high-class women living in the Upper East Side with twinkles in their eyes. My city is gleaming and bright. It is forgiven. In my camera, it is redeemed.
Photo of New York City from the back seat of a yellow taxi cab.
Photo and text copyright 2023 by Danny N. Schweers.
Those who comment get to see all the comments and the author’s responses.
More photographs of the author’s January 2023 visit to New York City.
You can subscribe to these as they are created, and comment. Click here to learn more.
Comments
Tom wrote:
Powerful, Danny!
George wrote:
Thank you for your perspective on NYC! I understand (I think) what you are saying and also what your dad said. It is a complex city. One of the first adult books I read was a Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It was an eye opener for me and gave me a view on NYC even though I had not been there. NYCers are usually smart survivors who also possess the capacity to understand and have empathy for others. To be able to retain your own sense of self whilst being immersed in the mass of humanity requires real strength of character I think. You have brightened my day in a time of chaos and pandemic and widespread irrational violence.
Bernadette wrote:
WOW--- I LOVE this!! Pic + prose!
Elaine wrote:
Love this. God bless your Dad, Danny. What a difference a generation makes!
Craig wrote:
Wow, if it were only so easy! I’ve been seeing photos of Hells Kitchen lately (what do they cook … deviled eggs?) … and it definitely doesn’t look like heaven. Beauty in the eye of the beholder ... or lens?
Pamela wrote:
Great photo! I’m wanting to visit Hell’s Kitchen. 🤞we’ll get there this year.
Alice wrote:
Great photo, especially out of the back of a taxi cab.
David wrote:
Your photo framed by the taxi window is a great way to capture how small and timid we are in the midst of the city's intimidating scale. Thank you.
John wrote:
Amazing photo Danny!! I had assumed it to be a collage of some sort. Can’t believe you “got it”. And my own glances out the window from cabs run the gamut from “sparking joy” to sparking whatever the opposite of joy is. (I’ve noticed that the weather is very important to which it is — much more so than in most cities.)