My first full year as a photographer was 1954. It was also the first time I went on New Year’s Eve to Times Square. It was frustrating because I was still shooting with borrowed cameras with slow, fixed focal length lenses. Add to that film that was low ISO, you get the idea.
The subject, though, was amazing, deafening sounds from horns, huge masses of peole, general good vibrations, pockets of violence, tenderness, people so packed that if you were in there your biggest job was to avoid being swept off your feet. Consequently, the shooting was always on the edge of a mob, where I could at least lift up the camera.
I went every year for many years. The targets were there but the “bull’s eyes” were rare.
