The Buildings May Be Gone

Photo Copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

September 11th, 2001 was Primary Election Day in New York, and I was nowhere near the Towers that day.

But I worked part time at the World Trade Center on and off for about a year in 1980, as an elevator operator for a security firm that oversaw WTC maintenance.

I ran the 50 car — sub basement 6 to the 108th floor in about 95 seconds.  The elevator repair crew performed maintenance on it nearly every week, and claimed its speed would accelerate unless they tweaked it regularly.

They were magnificent buildings. But they can be replaced. Some were.

The people we lost that day can never be replaced.

One was a young man on his second day at work as an assistant engineer at the Towers. We had worked together on a political campaign earlier that year.

Another was the Mom of a dear friend I did not meet until a decade later.

And another was a high school classmate, a captain in the FDNY.

Good people. Gone in an instant.

Their memories will live on, a testament to the impact they had on family, friends, co-workers.

Forever.

 

 

From The Archives, 1981: Tom Cuite

Photo copyright © 2021 by Gerry O’Brien

Tom was your classic old-time pol: a World War II veteran who served in New York’s State Senate, lost a bid for Congress the year I was born, and was rewarded with a seat in the New York City Council. He rose to Finance Committee Chairman, and in 1969, Vice Chair and Majority Leader — today’s equivalent of City Council Speaker. In 1977, I was his 18 year old opponent in the General Election. It wasn’t close. I took this photo of him at the Montauk Club in the summer of 1981.

From The Archives, 1979: Flatbush Avenue Dog

Photo copyright © 2021 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1980: Cape Broyle, Newfoundland

Photo copyright © 2021 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1985: South Dakota Valley

Photo copyright © 2021 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1980: A Shadow Across Prospect Park West

Photo copyright © 2021 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1993: Carpet Kitten

Photo copyright © 2021 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1985: The Badlands

Photo copyright © 2021 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1980: Newfoundland Blockhouse

Photo copyright © 2021 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1983: Mayor Ed Koch

Photo copyright © 2021 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1979: Truck Nap

Photo copyright © 2021 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1980: Portrait of Tom Stewart in SoHo

Photo copyright © 2021 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, Circa 1980: Lucky Shoes

Photo copyright © 2021 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1981: Urban Dragon

Photo copyright © 2021 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, Circa 1978: The Flower District

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1980: Cape Broyle, Newfoundland

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1980: Cleaning The Catch

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1981: County Chairman Vince Albano

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien 

Fun Fact: Vince was the brother of John Albano, creator of DC Comics’ Jonah Hex.

From The Archives, Circa 1981: Richard Nixon

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

America’s 37th President is now only our second most corrupt Commander-in-Chief of all time, thanks to Donald Trump.

Nixon was many things, but he refused to challenge the election results after his close 1960 loss to John Kennedy, because he knew the damage it would do to our country. And when Barry Goldwater and other old guard, conservative Senators traveled to the White House in 1974 to tell Nixon it was over, he left office peaceably. Trump, on the other hand, has repeatedly refused to say he will honor the results of this election, and has spoken many times about ignoring the constitutional two-term limit.

If you live in the United States and haven’t voted yet, today is your last chance. Perhaps for a long time. VOTE.

From The Archives, 1985: Staring Into The Abyss

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

Photoshop’s New Artificial Intelligence

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

The newest version of Photoshop uses Artificial Intelligence to do a number of absolutely amazing things. Colorizing black & white images is just one of them.

This photo, taken in South Dakota in 1985, took about 3 seconds for Photoshop to colorize.

It’s not perfect, and you can tweak the settings (I’ve left them as is), but out of the box it’s beyond  superb, and the coming refinements will perfect it.

 

From The Archives, 1983: Mayor Ed Koch

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1980: Bokeh On The Lake

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1980: Appointment With An Old Friend

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, Circa 1978: You Like Pie?

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1980: Cape Broyle Dusk

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1980: Foal And Mare

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, Circa 1979: Moon Over Coney Island

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1980: Abandoned In Newfoundland

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1980: The Brooklyn Waterfront & Manhattan Skyline

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, Circa 1978: Subway Scenes

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, 1985: Bare Tree In South Dakota

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

From The Archives, Circa 1981: Pressmen

Photo copyright © 2020 by Gerry O’Brien

I haven’t done much new photography during the pandemic, so I recently started scanning old 35mm slides and negatives from my archives. These photos were taken from the late 1970s through 1996, when I switched to digital cameras. I haven’t seen most of these images since I shot them, decades ago.

These were taken with an Olympus OM-1N camera (https://www.imagingpixel.com/p/olympus-om-1n.html)  and a 50mm 1.4 lens. I generally shot Kodachrome 25 and 64, or Plus-X, Tri-X and Agfa Superpan film. Photoshop has enabled me to restore most of the better shots; there are lots of scratches and dust. Some of the slides and negatives need a lot of work.

I don’t miss film at all; digital is easier to use, faster to access your images with, and is much better in low light. Plus, software can mimic any film stock ever made. And don’t get me started on yesterday’s manual focus cameras — Photoshop and high pass sharpening can do only so much when your manual focus was as bad as mine.

I’ll post images From The Archives about once a week while they last. I hope you enjoy them. And I look forward to civilization returning to normal so I can start shooting on a regular basis again.