(11.21) Photographer Tod Seelie has been documenting the New York scene for over 15 years with his work appearing in The New York Times, New York Magazine, Rolling Stone, Spin, Juxtapoz, Thrasher, and, because he’s a super nice guy, right here at The Daily Dose. The best of these images have now been culled and curated for his extraordinary new book BRIGHT NIGHTS: Photographs of Another New York. The volume includes mini essays by Tod’s friends and peers that help set the stage of what was happening and what it was like to to live in New York between 2000 and 2012 when most of these pictures were taken.
Of his work, Tod says: “My photos of New York are unusual. I shoot at the edges; I don’t really take pictures of landmarks. If you see a picture of the Williamsburg Bridge it’s because I’m shooting an illegal party taking place on top of it. I focus on various subcultures in all their forms, but I can’t resist iconic images of my New York: burning cars, flattened rats, abandoned buildings. I’ve spent many nights over the last decade in the crowds at DIY rock shows, bizarre parties, and guerrilla art shows in abandoned buildings. These images mix with street scenes, intimate portraits of friends, and moments that inspire a double-take of confusion and wonder. Rough bike gangs appear next to amateur strip contests at drag parties, followed by a fancy dinner in a train tunnel.”
Not surprisingly, more than a few Providence acts have crossed his path with two making it into the book: Black Pus and the What Cheer? Brigade. (Seelie writes that the WC?B photo “has been getting a very strong reaction.“) Tod the photographer became Tod the photographed in a recent New York Times article — Sidestepping the Digital Demimonde. The piece examined the possible demise of truly “underground” scenes — formerly the exclusive domain of the hip, in-the-know, insiders — now that everyone in attendance is snapping away and sharing as it’s happening. Well, probably. But Seelie, who was “heavily inspired by Nan Goldin’s Ballad of Sexual Dependency,” is a real photographer who has created a fascinating document for which the participants, as well as music fans and cultural historians, will be grateful for years to come.
Book signing, 7pm to 10pm, Thursday, November 21, 186 Carpenter Street