Turns out that tons of subway operators, conductors, dispatchers, and other employees moonlight as photographers. Both because of their unparalleled access?flash a badge here, flash a badge there?and general knowledge of the ins and outs of the system, its cars, their graffiti, its platforms, its signage, its fill-in-the-blank, these transit-loving folks amass incredible shots and serve as de facto chroniclers of a crucial, yet ever-changing, piece of New York City's infrastructure. Atlantic Cities' Sam Frizell attended a mass transit and trolley modeler's convention, which is apparently where all these folks hang out and gab about their obsession, and learned lots more about these double agents. They gathered to buy and sell photographs and other memorabilia, but most of all, to ogle each others' images and wax nostalgic about the subterranean jungle of yore. Among the more notable names, who could slip under the radar except for in books like these: Glenn Rowe, who shot 1991's deadly 4 train collision under Union Square and Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton riding the 7 train in 2000; Mike Piselli; Ed McKernan; and Steve Zabel.
· NYCsubway.org [official]
· The New York City Subway Operators' Photography Club [Atlantic Cities]
· Don A Top Hat And Ride The Newly Opened Subway Of 1905 [Curbed]
· Sepia Tones archive [Curbed]
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