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22 Photos You've Never Seen From 1970s NYC
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jan 9, 2015
Modified Jan 9, 2015
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jan 9, 2015
Modified Jan 9, 2015
Share
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David Oppenheim has lived in Brooklyn for 37 years, but when he was a teenager growing up in Westchester County he ventured into the city with his camera, and kept capturing it all into his 20s, when he was a student in Manhattan. He recently shared some of his photos with us from that era, and now he's back with more.
Oppenheim, who is currently looking for a gallery where he can exhibit his images of old New York, tells us, "Most of these photos were taken when I was studying photography at School of Visual Arts and living in Peter Cooper VIllage on the East Side on 20th Street in the early '70's." Many of these photos are from that area, and have more of a "slice of life" vibe than the previous ones we've seen from his archives.
"My biggest surprise in scanning these (and therefore resurrecting these wonderful images)," Oppenheim tells us, "was they are both similar but in many ways different from my other published photos. They seem to have a less 'designed composition' aspect to them and more of a broader viewpoint. Most of the photos seem to have a theme of people in an environment who are both part of it and yet seem to be in a world of their own (are they lonely? Are they pensive?). Did I look for this when photographing them? I don't think so, but I found it to be so."
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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