Life and Love on the New York City Subway | Photos by Stanley Kubrick (1946)
Here is an explanation from Kubrick about how he took these photographs:
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“I wanted to retain the mood of the subway, so I used natural light,” he said. People who ride the subway late at night are less inhibited than those who ride by day. Couples make love openly, drunks sleep on the floor and other unusual activities take place late at night. To make pictures in the off-guard manner he wanted to, Kubrick rode the subway for two weeks. Half of his riding was done between midnight and six a.m. Regardless of what he saw he couldn’t shoot until the car stopped in a station because of the motion and vibration of the moving train. Often, just as he was ready to shoot, someone walked in front of the camera, or his subject left the train.
Kubrick finally did get his pictures, and no one but a subway guard seemed to mind. The guard demanded to know what was going on. Kubrick told him.
“Have you got permission?” the guard asked.
“I’m from LOOK,” Kubrick answered.
“Yeah, sonny,” was the guard’s reply, “and I’m the society editor of the Daily Worker.”
Τί θλιβερὸ πράμμα ὁ Σταθμός,
ποὺ μόλις νἄχῃ φύγει τὸ τραῖνο.
Οὔτε στιγμή, μόλις ποὺ ἐδῶ
στὶς ράγιες του βαριὰ σταματημένο
καὶ πηγαινόρχονταν γοργά,
ἀνίδεα γελώντας ταξειδιῶτες.
Κι᾿ ὅσοι ποὺ μείνανε κι᾿ αὐτοὶ
δὲν ἔχουνε τὴν ὄψη τους σὰν τότες.
Ἡ ἄδεια θέση κι᾿ ἡ σιωπὴ
μέσ᾿ στὸ Σταθμὸ ποὺ τοὔφυγε τὸ τραῖνο.
Κι᾿ αὐτοὶ ποὺ μείνανε σκορποῦν
κ᾿ ἔχουν τὸ βῆμα τὸ ἀποφασισμένο
ὅσων τὴ μοίρα ἀκολουθοῦν.
Κάθε φορὰ τοὺς φεύγει κι᾿ ἀπὸ κάτι
καὶ κεῖνοι μένουν στὸ Σταθμὸ
λυγίζοντας τὸ θολωμένο μάτι.
Στρέφουν στὰ ἴδια θαρρετοὶ
δῆθεν κ᾿ ἡ πλάτη τους κυρτώνει πίσω.
-Καταραμένε χωρισμὲ
ὅμως κι σένα ἀπόψε θ᾿ ἀγαπήσω.
Γιατί τὸ «χαῖρε» ἦταν γλυκὸ
καθὼς τὸ χέρι σειόταν στὸν ἀέρα
ἀπ᾿ τὸ μαντήλι πιὸ λευκὸ
κι᾿ ἀπ᾿ τὸν ἀνθό, σὰ φῶς ποὺ ἔφευγε πέρα,
ποὺ δὲν τὸ εἶχα ἰδῆ ποτὲ
τόσο γαλήνια ὡραῖο τ᾿ ὅραμά σου,
Καταραμένε χωρισμέ.
Μοῦ τρέμουνε τὰ χείλη στὄνομά σου.
'Ενα βράδυ στο Σταθμό / Μαρία Πολυδούρη /
Gare du Nord / Παρίσι / 1927
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