Time Spent

  When I venture into the center city area I hide from the mainstream masses because I have no interest in photographing them let alone sharing the same air. I ride the mostly empty subway lines from one end to the other. I venture into areas that would scare the hell out of the new city dwellers. I use an alleyway full of dumpsters, graffiti, rats and junkies because I prefer them over the sidewalk izombies and alfresco diners that flank both sides on Walnut and Samson streets. I eat and fraternize in diners where most of the staff and regular customers are 10 to 20 years my senior. I prefer the chaos, the unknowing, the unplanned, and the oddities. I'm talking the real things, not this overly curated, instagramable, homogenized, branded existence they call city living. Honestly my MO hasn't changed in almost 15 years even when I was living in Old City.