Someone Is Always Watching on the NYC Train

Maggie Soladay finds connection with her fellow subway riders by documenting the daily crush of humanity on the trains that snake their way undergound in NYC. She dedicates this photography project to her brother Mike, who was killed by a drunk driver.

When I moved to NYC in 2002, I wanted to document the thousands of diverse faces and people I see in transit every day, but it’s not easy to find an unthreatening way to take photos. It’s difficult to be unobtrusive when I have an enormous camera hanging around my neck.

Then came the iPhone. My favorite photo apps are LoFi, Camera Bag, Photogene, MillColour, MosaicCam, Polarize, SepiaCamera, and Instagram. Rarely Hipstamatic. But my big secret is the SpyPic app which puts a false page on the screen so it isn’t obvious I am using the iPhone’s camera.

Every day I feel like I am in a car full of compatriots and companions, and it is a silent, poetic-feeling conversation I have with my subjects.

I dedicate my blog, Subways, to my late brother Mike who was a huge advocate for bicycles. As teenagers, we made a pact never to become suburbanite commuters; one person per car and adding to traffic, pollution, general waste and excess. He was 20 years old when he was killed on his bicycle by a drunk driver. This is also my way of sharing his memory.

Girl sitting in NY subway with long black socks

1.New York chic in a nutshell

Crowd waiting in NY subway for line 7

2. If you've ever been a subway commuter, you've been here.

Commuter wearing tropical pants in subway

3. Train and platform. Two worlds collide briefly.

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two women with different styles in subway

4. Where people of all walks of life come together in peace until the next stop.

Happy hour 2 for 1 beer in subway

5. Every last drop counts.

woman putting makeup in subway train

6. One must question the efficacy of sticking a pointy stick-like object into your eye while bouncing up and down between stations. If this doesn't show New Yorkers have balls, nothing will.