April 11th, 2018: Flying Rats of NYC

[xoxoxoBruce]

Aspiring Professional Photographers have a tough challenge, always struggling to photograph something different, something to make their work stand out.
Of course they are always working on better quality pictures than we snapshotters take, but a unique subject matter is all but impossible to find.

But photographer Andrew Garn isn’t like most people.
“Watch a flock of pigeons in your local park or sidewalk—at first impression you might think they were all alike,” he says. “But if one were to observe for a few minutes, you would not only note the startling range of feather patterns, but behavioral diversity as well.”

Like many New Yorkers, Garn started out ignoring pigeons. But thanks to a visit to a pigeon coop years ago, he’s become an unexpected flag bearer. His new book, The New York Pigeon: Behind the Feathers, showcases their overlooked beauty in a series of sometimes humorous, sometimes startling images.

As I grew up in Manhattan, I actually never really noticed pigeons. I saw them, but never genuinely looked at them. In late 2007, pigeons came to mind when I was searching for a new, underexplored photography project. Under-recognized topics have been a consistent theme in my work over the years—I have documented U.S. penal architecture, Stalin-era industrial plants built with forced labor, the Las Vegas homeless, and 42nd Street/Times Square, pre-Disney.

It became a very long a commitment, around 10 years, one of those projects that took on a life of its own. As I got more involved, more layers of pigeon culture became apparent and I became part of a larger pigeon community.

Apparently NYC flying rats have mastered mind control also.

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