Source: TIME
Although New York City’s bright lights have enticed tourists and kept Times Square aglow, over 20 years ago, the concrete jungle was known more for its widespread graffiti. In these rare photographs from Christopher Morris, a London-based photojournalism and contract TIME photographer, we get a glimpse of what it was like to commute on NYC’s gritty subway trains in the 1980s.
- According to TIME:
Using ektachrome film and a magenta filter to offset the florescent lights, Morris found interesting subjects in the relatively safe commuting space of midtown Manhattan, further north in the Bronx, and the eastern wilds of Brooklyn. He also happened to be working at approximately the same time as Bruce Davidson, a photographer who memorably chronicled 1980s subway life, and whom he admired greatly.
The images that emerged from his months-long project show subway cars being tagged, and stations covered in dirt and grime, but we also see commuters going about their business — reading newspapers, listening to music — beneath advertisements for vacation deals and aspirin.
The Beauty In The Dark 