Tue 03 Mar
2009
People Want Coffee Even in a Snowstorm
I was really feeling sorry for myself for having to put on my winter boots in order to make it through the snowstorm and cold weather to get to work yesterday. And then, right there in front of The New York Times building, was a reminder of how thoroughly pampered and just plain soft I am: at least I got to wake up hours later than the woman running this coffee and pastry cart, and at least I don’t have to spend my workday beneath the flimsy protection from the elements that her cart provides, and at least it’s warm enough inside my office for me to take off my coat. In retrospect, I really should have bought a cup of coffee from her that morning.
Remarks 6 total remarks were added before the post was closed.
awesome, this cart looks like it’s in motion. bye bye smart car, hello smart cart.
But boy does she make a pretty picture. And boy, the black and white does something here, lights it up like a movie backlot, except with all the detail it’s clearly not a movie backlot, so the image steps out of time and, as New York can sometimes do, enables a seemingly mundane scene to become emblematic of modernity itself.
I love how the precision and fussiness of symmetry meet the visual details of snow in the city.
May the shifts in such cramped exposed quarters be relatively short.
06 Mar 2009, 04:43 am
The coffee seller would probably enjoy seeing see your lovely picture of her. She’s very nice—always greets me with “Hello, beautiful!”
06 Mar 2009, 02:28 pm
Khoi, I’m really enjoying your photographs lately!
I love Mister President, and his iconic billboard on subtraction’s home page. But… I wonder if these new images will ever find their way to that spot. Perhpas that div should be called #doghouse—or better, #whitehouse—instead of #cover.
28 Mar 2009, 05:44 am
hi Khoi, so nice of you write about her. sitting bahrain, i would say, i would love have a coffee from her cart. can you please have a coffee for yourself on my behalf and show her photograph.
best,
umd