Honey, if you get this message, come rescue me! I’m trapped inside this subway car!

Image by Ed Yourdon
The photo makes it look as if this woman is about to get her leg stuck in the closing subway-car doors. But in fact, she was sitting on the subway seat on the far side of the car, so her legs were perfectly safe…
Note: this photo was published in an undated (Jan 18, 2011) Everyblock NYC zipcodes blog titled "10023."
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This is a continuation of a series of subway photos that I began in the spring of 2009, and which you can find here. I created another Flickr set here in 2010, with photos from IRT subway stations at 96th Street, 42nd Street (Times Square), and Christopher Street/Sheridan Square (in Greenwich Village). The photos in this set were taken at the 72nd Street IRT station.
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Note: I chose this photo as my "photo of the day," among the photos uploaded on Jan 18, 2010. It illustrates something that is both a good thing and a bad thing about the "process" of photographing something that eventually gets shown to people other than the photographer — i.e., the photographer himself inevitably knows much more about what was going on at the instant the photograph was taken (and possibly during the several minutes before and after that instant), and therefore tends to ascribe more "meaning" to the photograph than the viewer could possible achieve on his own.
In this case, it something fairly simple: I saw the woman with her cellphone sitting on the subway seat, while the train was stopped in the station, and the doors were wide open. Because of her pose, and the look of concentration on her face, I thought she would make a good photo, and I began to aim my camera in her direction — just as the subway doors began to close. So I took the photo more hurriedly than I would normally have done, hoping that I might be lucky enough to capture her image before the doors were completely closed. The result was a happy bit of serendipity: the shutter clicked (electronically speaking; god only knows what really goes on in these digital cameras) just as the shutters tightly framed her head and hands. A split second later, the doors were closed, and the train was starting to move on toward its next stop. I wasn’t sure what I had gotten until I uploaded all of the photos to my computer (yes, I could have reviewed the image on my camera screen, but I had already moved on to the next photographic opportunity), at which point I said to myself, "Hah! I got you!"
The viewers, of course, have none of this experience, none of the emotions that preceded or accompanied the actual taking of the picture. On the other hand, they are free to experience their own emotions, and to conjure up whatever "story" their imaginations might concoct about the circumstances before, during, and after the instant when the photo was taken. As I have learned by asking people what they thought was going on at the moment such a photo was taken, sometimes their imagination produces a "story" that’s even more interesting and memorable than what the photographer himself experienced; and sometimes they get nothing out of it at all. I suppose that’s just one of many reasons why photographers sometimes love photos they’ve taken, when everyone else just shrugs; and also why photographers are sometimes puzzled about photos they’ve taken and essentially ignored afterwards, while the public reacts with great enthusiasm. C’est la vie…
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Over the years, I’ve seen various photos of the NYC subway "scene," usually in a relatively grim, dark, black-and-white format. But during a spring 2009 class on street photography at the NYC International Center of Photography (ICP), I saw lots and lots of terrific subway shots taken by my fellow classmates … so I was inspired to start taking some myself.
One of the reasons I rarely, if ever, took subway photos before 2009 is that virtually every such photo I ever saw was in black-and-white. I know that some people are fanatics about B/W photography as a medium; and I respect their choice. And I took quite a lot of B/W photographs of my own in the late 60s and early 70s, especially when I had my own little makeshift darkroom for printing my own photos.
But for most of the past 40 years, I’ve focused mostly on color photography. As for photos of subways, I don’t feel any need to make the scene look darker and grimier than it already is, by restricting it to B/W. Indeed, one of the things I find quite intriguing is that there is a lot of color in this environment, and it’s not too hard to give some warmth and liveliness to the scene…
To avoid disruption, and to avoid drawing attention to myself, I’m not using flash shots; but because of the relatively low level of lighting, I’m generally using an ISO setting of 3200 or 6400, depending on which camera I’m using. As a result, some of the shots are a little grainy – but it’s a compromise that I’m willing to make.
I occasionally use a small, compact "pocket" camera like the Canon G-12, but most of my photos have been taken with my somewhat large, bulky Nikon D300 and D700 DSLRs. If I’m photographing people on the other side of the tracks in a subway station, there’s no problem holding up the camera, composing the shot, and taking it in full view of everyone. But if I’m taking photos inside a subway car, I normally set the camera lens to a wide angle (18mm or 24mm) setting, point it in the general direction of the subject(s), and shoot without framing or composing.
What I find most interesting about the scenes photographed here is how isolated most people seem to be. Of course, there are sometimes couples, or families, or groups of school-children; but by far the most common scene is an individual standing alone, waiting for a train to arrive. He or she may be reading a book, or listening to music, or (occasionally) talking to someone on a cellphone; but often they just stare into space, lost in their own thoughts. Some look happy, some look sad; but the most common expression is a blank face and a vacant stare. It’s almost as if people go into a state of suspended animation when they descend underground into the subway — and they don’t resume their normal expression, behavior, and mannerisms until they emerge back above-ground at the end of their ride.
Anyway, this is what it looks like down underground … or at least, this is what it’s like in the stations I’ve visited and photographed so far. If I feel energetic enough in 2011, maybe I’ll try to photograph people in every subway station. It would be interesting to see what kind of variety can be seen…
The Volvo C30 Electric Car claims third place in top 2010 green cars. It stands out in the current market as it looks like a regular family car at first glance.
Driving the Volvo C30 Electric Car Driving the Volvo C30 Electric Car reminded me of the fact that when we have more electric cars on the road, I will have to remember the Green Cross Code again, and not just listen out for oncoming cars, but look as well. It is so quiet that when I turned on the engine I didn’t even know it was on!
It has no gears, but the motor’s power is there on tap and is delivered seamlessly. It runs from 0 to 60 mph in under 11 seconds and features a limited top speed of just over 80 mph.
It has a usable range of 93 miles between charges and the 24 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery can be charged in about eight hours via a 220-volt household outlet.
The Volvo C30 Electric Car as A Fleet Car
Expected to be on general sale in 2014, the results of prototype tests are very promising for the Volvo C30.
There are cars in the demo fleet which are equipped with advanced measuring instruments. This is so that Volvo Cars can build up additional information about how parameters such as driving habits and charging patterns can affect the battery and its lifetime in an electric car.
The C30 does not have the expected whine of an electric car, and with exhaust emissions which are zero, it would appear that the only downside is that its range is limited to 75-95 miles in normal driving conditions. Therefore for around town fleet use and trips that fall within the range this car is a promising fleet candidate.
It is expected to be priced at £22,500. If British Government support is forthcoming as we expect then, it could make an interesting choice.
Passengers and Luggage
The Volvo C30 Electric has the same safety, comfort and interior space as the standard Volvo C30. The only difference is that the C30 Electric is powered solely by electricity, so therefore it has absolutely no exhaust emissions on the road.
Security and Safety
The C30 electric has received plenty of care to ensure it is safe and highly capable of passing the high crash standards of Volvo. Also a lot of work has gone into ensuring that if the car is hit that the battery doesn’t go up in flames.
Volvo C30 Electric Car at a Glance
- Appearance like a regular family car
- Almost silent engine
- High Volvo safety standards
- 0 to 60 mph in under 11 seconds
- No gears but seamless motor power delivery
- Usable range of 93 miles
- 24 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery which can be charged in about eight hours via a 220-volt household outlet
Jackie writes for the blog of the best commercial fleet insurance company, Cover 4 Fleet Insurance. They offer cost effective and custom fleet insurance packages. http://www.cover4fleetinsurance.co.uk/commercial-fleet-insurance.html
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