Monthly Documentation:
October 2005
October was the second rainiest month recorded in NYC and the rainiest October ever. Subsequently, my mattress viewings were way down. But I ended up accruing 19 mattresses thanks in part to a dry final week when everyone is moving and the sightings traditionally go up. So the final results don't indicate the paradoxical mattress drought that occurs during the rainy season. In fact, I'd dare say it was a windfall.

I also had my first speaking encounter with someone while photographing. I've often had people quizzically look at me as I pull out my camera in front of a pile of trash, and supers often look very nervous as they assume I must be a disgruntled neighbor trying to document a perceived trash infraction, but no one has yet said or asked a word, and I've never bothered to explain myself. Here is the brief transcript of the dialogue:

"I have a better one, you know," a young maintenance guy says while continuing to load more garbage out onto the street.

"Oh yeah?" I ask with genuine interest.

"Yeah, up in my apartment..."

Amazingly, he manages to say this and have it come off more as a joke than a lecherous comment. .

Process: I will photograph discarded dreams in the guise of used mattresses found in the trash during my daily travels about the city.