It was a cold, sleepy afternoon, early in March. I was walking to a deli around the corner for a cup of coffee when I saw a couple dozens of sewing machines lined up on the sidewalk. I snapped a few shots with my T4. Having some twenty exposures left, I decided to stick my head inside the shop and ask if I could take some pictures. The men smiled and welcomed me in.

Izzy, who brought in an old sewing machine for Soto to repair, gave me a quick tour around the place like it was her own. I followed her around, finished the roll while she explained how amazing each of the machines was. They were old, beautiful and probably had many stories to tell. I wished I had my SLR and a couple more rolls of film with me. Next time, I thought.

A few days later, they were gone.

Here is a larger image of the Singer Double-Stitch machine. I'll post a few more images from this roll soon.

I had thought about playing around with multiple exposures but never gotten around to it. I shot the first two frames of this roll in the EOS-3 the day before. That morning, I didn’t feel like lugging along the SLR, so I took it out and put it in the T4 instead. The result was quite interesting. I will have to try the entire roll next time.

On the first Saturday back in NYC, knowing there were countless hours on a computer waiting the coming Monday, I refused to think about it. Instead, I loaded the EOS-3 with a fresh roll of film and headed downtown.

After walking a short stretch of street fair, I ended up in Washington Square Park. Songs after songs, I sat, enjoyed the beautiful afternoon and good old blues. Soul Man was one of my favorites that they played. Life in front of the computer was a world away. Not accepting any donation, I got them a few bottles of water from a vender nearby, the least I could do.