Amazing Candid Photographs Capture People On The Streets Of New York City In The 1980s

New York in the 1980s was a very different city, from pre-Disney Times Square to graffiti-scarred subways to the vibrant but ungentrified sections of Manhattan to the ruins of the South Bronx to the pre-9/11 World Trade Center.

Photographer Steven Siegel has been capturing the life and times of New York City for the past 30 years. His images are sometimes warmly nostalgic, sometimes deeply disturbing and sometimes simply a revelation of how much New York has changed in just a few decades.

“Photography for me is much more than the act of ‘taking pictures.’ I use photography as a way of literally opening my eyes to the surrounding world… and that particular perspective carries over to even when I’m not photographing…

“The act of photographing forces you to live in the present and concentrate on “the here-and-now”… a very good thing in and of itself… Others achieve this through meditation and religion….Photography is a way of achieving this state of mind… and be creative at the same time… a great “two-fer”!”

More: Flickr h/t: vintag.es