I discussed it in some depth on this post from 2008, but back in the spring of 2004, I bought my first digital camera. It sounds quaint now, but they were still fairly newfangled at that point. I'd been fighting the incoming tide of digital photography in much the same I'd been pushing back against the onslaught of mp3s over compact discs (and, more recently, Kindles, Nooks and other tablets over actual books). But, with a brand new baby daughter having just arrived, my obligation to send pictures of my lovely little offspring to relatives and loved ones on all corners of the earth demanded that I succumb to the ease and convenience of digital photography. I made a vow that I'd still continue to use film, but -- obviously -- that never happened.
Almost a decade later, had I kept that vow, I wonder where I'd get my film developed these days? Can you name a nearby photo lab that's still open? I don't think I can.
In any case, becoming a parent in 2004 opened myriad new chapters in my life. But it also served, in turn, to close others. While, yes, getting married was a big step, it was having my first child that really served as the Rubicon-crossing from whence there was no return. My life changed. My world perspective changed. My priorities changed. Maybe not all overnight, but the fact remains that I was forever transformed.
On a small scale, I don't believe I ever shot another role of film again after Charlotte was born. It was a vow that was just too difficult to keep. Moreover, I just wasn't spending as much time taking pictures of things other that my family by that point.
That changed back, though, gradually. In time, I was back to taking pictures of my favorite things in New York City. But by this time, I felt as though there'd been a significant sea change. Whether it was because of the events of September 11, 2001 or -- again -- because I was now a dad, the NYC I'd captured in my box fulls of black & white film didn't seem the same. As such, I didn't give the pictures I was now taking as much consideration, I suppose.
Quite recently, as I recently lamented, my desktop home computer (my third iMac) has crossed a Rubicon of its own, and is sorely in need of being upgraded, if not entirely jettisoned in favor of a newer, faster, stronger model. As fate would have it, however, I'm just not in a position at the moment to be droppin' those kinds of dollars. As such, I'm trying to squeeze that last bits of life-blood out of the thing. I'm freeing up as much space on it as I can by offloading huge swathes of stuff onto external drives and purging like mad.
In the course of doing same, I started going through my pictures in iPhoto more scrupulously -- deleting meaningless ones and lightening the load. During that process, however, I was struck by how many images I'd amassed since April of 2004 of things that -- by this point nine years later -- are no longer there. I routinely post photo round-ups of since-vanished New York City locales from back in my proper film days, so in that same theme, herewith a new edition of Things That Are Not There....
The Hog Pit (22 9th Avenue) circa June 2004
Extra Place (1st Street between Bowery and Second Avenue.. behind CBGB) circa August 2004
9 Second Avenue circa August 2004
291 Bowery circa August 2004
The High Line circa September 2004
Tower Records on Broadway and East 4th circa January 2005
The Cedar Tavern on Univesity Place circa January 2005
Subterranean Records of Cornelia Street circa September 2006
Cool Stuff on Lafayette Street just north of Bleecker circa February 2006
CBGB on the Bowery circa March 2005
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