My Party

16x20 inch Black & White print on Epson Art Cotton Smooth 250 gram paper. From the NYC Village Halloween Parade, 1982–86.

Friends, family, and neighbors crowd the fire escapes of the photographer's own Greenwich Village apartment building, celebrating the annual Village Halloween Parade in the mid-1980s. The lowest landing is packed with partygoers overlooking the festivities in the street below, while on the floor above, people lean over the railings operating long ropes — maneuvering unseen puppets that dive down toward the costumed revelers. Captured on Kodak Tri-X film with a 35mm camera and the powerful burst of a Norman 200B flash, the image preserves the vertical energy of a classic New York City street celebration.