The Overseers

Archival 16x20 inch black-and-white fine art print on Epson Art Cotton Smooth 250 gram paper. NYC Village Halloween Parade street photography, Greenwich Village, 1982–84.

This evocative black-and-white 35mm shot captures a surreal moment during the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade between 1982 and 1984. Perched on a second-story balcony of a brownstone down the block from the photographer's apartment at 59 West Tenth Street, participants in elaborate masks—including a goat-like demon and a beaked figure—overlook the crowd below. The analog film grain emphasizes the theatricality of the scene, where a large, winged puppet with a wide-eyed, expressive face is prominently displayed over the railing. This photograph marks one of the final years the parade traversed this specific residential block between 5th and 6th Avenues, perfectly enshrining the Do-It-Yourself creative spirit of the era's neighborhood celebrations.