Nothing like an anniversary to give you a moment to look back at the year and see where you've been. It's been a challenging year continuing to make these images. More and more I have moments where I start to pick up the camera and then realize I've made that image already. Some days I feel I should be pushing myself to uncover new aspects of the experience. Then other days it seems plenty adequate to be true to the mundane and repetitive nature of the life of a commuter. Expand and contract.
Even though I still have a hard time calling myself a blogger, I can't argue with the power and inspiration the medium has given me. With the discovery of the online blog I've been inspired to make more and more images away from the subway. I am very close to launching a new site for those images.
Thank you for all the support and encouragement. I read every email and though I can't respond to them all I take to heart your reactions and ideas. One of the things I'm most proud of is the level of dialogue that takes place here. Most of the time the comments originate from an emotional or personal response to an image. Even though I stood there and made the image I am constanly amazed at what I can learn from your comments. Your thoughtfulness is very appreciated.
For fun I recommend a browse through the archives via the new "all at once" page.
Here's what we were doing last year at this time.
And of course day one.
And finally I think this interview is very nice.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that I'm taking a week or so off so I can print images for my upcoming exhibition in January. I'm still making pictures every day so stay tuned.
Thanks everyone that voted! Beaten out by cute puppies. Can't be very surprised by that.
Awesome. These were some of my favorite images. Thanks for doing what you do, and keep it up. You're a constant inspiration.
Thanks for sharing those pics I look at every day before taking the parisian metro. The Eiffel Tower is on my way, every day different, but always smiling at you.
I love your work, I just love your work, always very sensitive
Thanks for sharing those pics indeed
This is just amazing...
I come here everyday, just for me to discover another of your beautiful pictures.
The text you just wrote is very touching and very true.
Your pictures make me realize that we must be thankful to be alive.
NYC is the place to be, the subway has its own codes and it's a real world in itself.
Thanks for giving us some of your time and thanks for the magic you bring in MY life through YOUR eyes.
Happy anniversary!
Well done - I'm looking forward to your next several hundred images! Best of luck with your launch of a new site .
congrats! keep up the great work!
Congratulations! I visit your site every day.
Congratulations! You thank us but we thank YOU for taking the time to share your talents with us. You are a regular stop for me each morning, just after that first cup of coffee. I wish you great success in all of your future endeavors!
This is the best photoblog out there. I haven't seen any other site that has such a beautiful narrative that has consistently evolved since its start.
Thanks for all moments.
Congratulations, T! What a good run you're having! I hate to think of a day when I can't see your take on the underground, so here's to another great year. Or more!
Travis - The All At Once page is amazing. Just watching the thumbnails pop in was something to realize that you as a person were present for ecah one of those moments. Talk about a journal of your life not just that of the system and world around us. Very cool. Happy Anniversary.
Congratulations. Best shots together!
all the best wishes and please if you ever see a lady with a red hat...
be careful!! She could be from Berlin. :-) (no not me)
I hope you will continue this. But it allso would be interesting to see your other pictures.
Because you always hit the moment, when something special appears.
A mood, a second of something special, a look. You catch it.
Applaus.
I wish you the happiest anniversary of all time (until the next one). I really appreciate the very hard work you've done with this photoblog, no many people can concentrate themselves on 1 particular subject and achieve a constantly looking forward artwork.
It was very rarely repetitive, always full of life, despair, waitings, love also, etc. You've remarkably stilled moments of people's life...
I wish you the very best for your new website project and just can't wait to see what's your going to post there !
happy anniversary,
François
Congrats from Buffalo, NY to NYC on another successful year, Travis!
Happy anniversary.
I don't think being true to the mundane life of a commuter is a bad thing. Keep in mind that for those of us not in The City, the life of a New York commuter is anything but mundane. You provide a fascinating glimpse into a world most of us will never know. I've rode the train here, but MARTA doesn't hold a candle to the diversity and general weirdness of the NYC subway.
cool images
So, will you continue this site when you've launched that other site? Hope you do, think it's a beautiful project.
Thank you!
:-)
visito este blog diariamente; é muito belo...
parabéns ao autor.
Congrats. Wonderful as usual.
Congratulations. I enjoy checking your site every day. You've even inspired me to be a bit braver with my camera, which is no easy task. Best of luck for another year and more beyond.
Wow 2 years already! Congratulations Travis. I love coming to this site because I get to see my favorite subway system in a new image everyday. The people, the trains, the stations, the environment, everything. You've turn something so routine as a subway commute into something so beautiful with your pictures and I appreciate the time and effort you've made with all of this. I hope you can keep this going a little while longer cause this is an increrdible site. I wish you all the best and thanks again for all the pictures you've shared with us.
Congrats and looking forward to lots more!
keep up the good work, enjoy it very much.
Congrats from Paris, France...Keep up your wonderful images...
I live in NY, and I recognize my daily life in your photos, but lots of times your eye shows me another side. Nevertheless I understand your frustration and maybe another blog is the answer but I would also like if you include other shots in this blog. Whatever you decide. I will continue to visit. Congratulations on the 2 years.
Nice montage. Thank you for your web. It's an excellent way to learn how to make good photos.
NO....it can't be.... another year? I can remember last year when you were putting together the top 4, top 10, something like that. I went through the archives and had trouble choosing just one a month!
You've also had some great comment echanges that went past the inane "great depth of field" type comments. Your work lends itself to social commentary and I'm so glad you decided to continue yet another year. I know you were struggling a bit with that decision.
There's beauty in the ordinary and you prove it every day.
Thanks Travis, for your work and your inspiration.
I guess im one of your worst type of viewers drop by almost daily and hardly ever leave a comment , I just enjoy looking at the amazin photos you see in the mundane world of the subway looking forward to the new site
i look forward to your photos everyday. everyone is a true work of art. thank you for sharing what you get to see on a daily basis.
your site is my daily treat. and you've inspired me to be more creative myself. thank you.
Travis, thanks for each of them, with special regards for January 25, 2005.
It is certainly presumptuous to say that I know you personally as a result of viewing your work, but that is certainly how it feels.
I would follow you, your camera, and your extraordinary sensitivity to your fellow humans and their environment to any venue you care to explore. My nostalgia for your venue of choice alone would not have sustained my interest for so many months. It is the pictures.
If you let us see what you are seeing, wherever it may be, what a gift.
Hey Travis, Happy Anniversary! Thanks for reminding me of NY. It always brings back tons of memories when I look at your photos. I got another one of my mom friend addicted to your blog. She loves your pics. Great work. You are getting better every day.
congrats, travis. this is still one of my favorite "blogs". you capture the spirit of NYC beautifully. all of the recognition you receive is most deserved.
Congrats, I like your blog very much... Go on with your good work!
Congratulations on your anniversary; I love the blog. Thank you for capturing the singular beauty of our city in such a consistently engaging way.
It's amazing to visit your blog! Congratulations for your work in these two years. when I was in NY I used got the subway every day. I love NY and you make me feel there a lot of times... thank you for your pictures.
Best wishes for the show and new site, Travis.
... it might sometimes seem mundane to you, but the strength of the project, I believe, is in the daily work, in being able to see something new -or seeing differently- everyday.
I am from Brussels, but have a deep love for NYC, and really enjoy checking you out.
I bookmarked you 'daily MTA' and hope to be able to have more glimpses in the future. Cheers!
I've loved loooking at the daily photos, but at at this stage I don't think you should worry about holding yourself to a new one every day (or close to it). It seems to me the "document" stands on its own by now after 2 years.
In fact if i were you I'd take a month or two off, concentrate on your other project(s), and then just post new subway photos every once in awhile, when you're feeling inspired and/or come across something interesting.
Just a friendly suggestion from a long time lurker.
p.s. Don't forget to provide a link to your new photoblog!
I've loved visitng your site for sometime now. Always hoping maybe you captured someone I knew, but even the people i didnt know I feel like I do through your images and their intensity and sensitivity.
I hope you continue to post here! I'll miss it otherwise.
Travis .... Happy anniversary.
This blog is great with fantastic results.
I see nothing but onward and upward for this "hobby" because it's really you. They didn't teach this to you in school... you have given birth.
I think the skills displayed are provoking, but your tenacity and passion is what's mostly presented here and we are all attracted to and admire that. Bravo.
Can I get on a mailing list for your Jan exhibiton..would love to come!
sharon
It has been an incredible year for you, and I've enjoyed your work very much. It's been both a pleasure to view and inspiring in many ways. Congratulations.
i live in london and take the overground train every day to collage.
i have been following your site for a year now, it has become part of my daily routine. your images are incredible.
your photos are the most inspiring on the web.
thanks for another great year!
Bardzo fajne zdjecia, przedstawiajace ludzkie zachowania ,
Sledze tego bloga od sporego czasu , poprostu super
Pozdawiam
Poland
Celebrating a year of great and beautiful pictures ! Happy birthday !
It's funny that you chose the pictures of the kids playing in the subway and the other with the train outside ready to fight against the weather ... Two pictures I really liked ( as the one from the beautiful blonde lady in the subway reading her newspapers while listening to her ipod ... sophiticasted lady ... the way she was dressed).
Anyway, keep inspiring people with your pictures !
I like your blog, makes me wanna visit your town.
Travis--Thanks for the update. I was worried that you were not going to post anymore of your subway pics & I would have to start a new routine in the AM. Good Luck with your next project. I will check out the weblog awards, but you have my vote. Thanks again for all the info you shared with me about by visit to Brooklyn to see our granddaughter. It was so helpful and we felt as if we knew where we were going, and you were right--the people of NY were kind and helpful to us. We enjoyed our visit to Park Slope and plan to come back in the Spring. Keep up the excellent pics--they are truly inspiring.
Grandma & Grandpa
(from WDC)
Hey Travis. A little late but still... Many, many congratulations for two years of continued blogging from the NYC subway system, for sharing your daily commute with the world and for continuing to post excellent photographs.
It was a real pleasure to meet you a while ago and I hope we can catch up again when I come back to NY somewhen.
Keep it coming and looking forward to your new site!
Greetings from Vienna,
Martin
Congratulations on the upcoming exhibit! Your photographs are so wonderfully evocative of the New York subways--always make me want to be there, right then. If I manage to get to NYC while your show's still up, I will definitely check it out.
Keep the pictures coming, please.
great set!