Paris preview #2: Coney Island Quietude

Included among the prints being exhibited at the up-coming show, Graciously Yours (Galerie Thierry Bigaignon, May 24-August 31) are a number of Coney Island photographs that speak to a quiet side of the famed amusement park away from the screams on the Cyclone or the barkers on the boardwalk. Harold’s own thoughts about these photographs underscored his attraction to these the more contemplative moments. Below are a few photo commentaries by Harold from our YouTube playlist of photo commentaries.

Back to an eternal theme…This is in Coney Island — a boy kneeling before the ocean…and the boy doing the handstand in the background…It’s the universality of it. I love back-lighting…It’s that particular calligraphic shape. And the scale — you know each one of us is coming to terms with the universe — the monumentality of it. (From photo commentary on “Follow Your Heart”, 1978, above)

 These moments of repose, these moments when people are quiet within themselves. He’s about to dive off, but in that one moment, you know, people get in touch with their soul place. And sometimes aren’t even aware of it. Yet those are the moments I love most….that quietude. (From  photo commentary on “About to Jump”, 1974, below)

Finally, while I have no photo commentary on the image below, it shows yet another face of Coney Island. Harold loved shooting at night and said this about the photo below in an earlier post entitled Available light: Coney Island at night.

With this photo of Steeplechase Pier, everything is at a distance, making depth of field unnecessary, so I kept my lens wide open. Available light consisted of the single pier light illuminating the people fishing in the foreground and creating the added effect of sparkles below.

Be sure to see these images — and others this summer in Paris!