Thank you, Ruth.
In 1978 Central Park Werst resident Ruth Orkin published a book of pictures titled A World Through my WIndow which depicted her small slice of the world. Taken from her window overlooking Central Park she captured a host of pictures of New York, New Yorkers and the changing Manhattan seasons.
My rather more humble abode at 310 West 56th Street west of 8th Avenue, a few blocks south, offered less glamorous vistas, but no less interesting. 14 floors up and three blocks west of 6th Avenue (“Avenue of the Americas” to tourists) it was high enough and set back enough to offer interesting possibilities.
As losing my Leica M3 to a chain snatcher would have killed me – these were among the worst years for personal safety on the streets of Manhattan – I bought an inexpensive Pentax ME Super with 20mm, 40mm pancake, 135mm and 200mm Super Takumar lenses. Loss of any of these to theft would be inconvenient but not heartbreaking. While the quality of the body was ‘iffy’ at best, the camera was small, unobtrusive and the lenses were fine. The minuscule 40mm ‘pancake’ was especially sweet.
Wooden water tanks abound on older buildings
Night vision
Water tank with pigeons
My local restaurant on 8th Avenue, when my bank balance approached zero. The southern Italian restaurant just behind, Patsy’s was (is?) a favorite Mafioso dining place.
The MoNY (Mutual of New York) building was on my west side on 7th Avenue. The spire announces rain/snow/fog and so on, and the temperature and humidity were alternatively displayed below.
MoNY on a frigid evening, a storm approaching
Detroit steel
Old and new
6th Avenue skyscrapers. No architect was involved in the design of these horrors.
Carnegie Hall on 7th Avenue
Sunset
Birds
Tanning, with pup
Taken in 1980-86, Pentax ME Super, 40mm, 135mm and 200mm Super Takumar lenses, Kodachrome, ‘scanned’ with a Nikon D800.