Some things just look better in black and white.

I call this photo “Payphone Pusher”. This payphone stands next door to a flower shop called “The Petal Pusher”. I saw that sign for the flower shop and thought that the world could use some Payphone Pushers — folks who encourage occasional use of public phones to help support their survival.

This is a film photo, shot with an old Minolta Maxxum 7000 SLR. I left imperfections and artifacts in the image to complement the ruggedness of the scene.

I think the monochrome sound world of the landline telephone is the aural equivalent of black and white.

A pair of tennis shoes dangles from the wires above, and the Citi building juts up in the distance like a blunt stick on the Long Island City landscape.