Posted by I’ve had the pleasure of seeing and capturing some powerful urban images over the last few years. In our new Photo Thursday series, I’ll share some of my favorites and “put them in motion” so to speak, telling the stories behind the pictures of our city life today.
I remember the day well. I stepped off the bus a block away from downtown Troy, NY and it’s famous outdoor market. The weekly popup event was one of the biggest of its kind in the state, I was told. But the acclaim could not prepare me for what I was about to see. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people walked the street, closed off to traffic on a beautiful summer day, looking to visit with an endless plethora of vendors lining this repurposed urban row.
The picture above tells a tiny but important piece of the story… a small city of 50,000 that plays host to a massive gathering of New Yorkers every weekend. This is what happens when you close roads to traffic and let people roam free. This is what happens when you repurpose beautiful old city structures and reinvigorate their history and character with small business growth. The vendors under their tents, local artisans, farmers, musicians… and the people that drive for miles, or walk a few blocks, all flocking to support this magical weekly occurrence. The photo above is a photo of urban health, or at least urban healing after decades of neglect. This is how it begins, this is how we reconnect. This is the sort of environment that breeds a new beginning for our small urban venues.