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Larry Racioppo on what it means to make a living as a photographer.
Inside Street Photography |
The official newsletter of Street Photography Magazine |
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| Monday, 2 Sep 2024 | Reading time: 8 mins | Read online
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As the Labor Day holiday approaches, I’ve been thinking of all the jobs I’ve had since I turned 24 in 1971, the year I began trying to “make it”, that is support myself, as a photographer in New York City. Between 1971 and 1989, I worked as a waiter and bartender, cabdriver, photographer’s assistant, photography instructor, laborer and carpenter.
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This is not uncommon for NYC creatives. On July 8, 2024, Maya Pontone wrote about this topic in Hyperallergic:
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“Out of 13,377 respondents who participated in the “Portrait of New York State Artists” survey over the course of three months in 2022, more than half (57.3%) said that they made under $25,000 the previous year, and 85.7% earned less than $50,000.
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"Compounding this distressful reality, nearly half of the survey participants (45.5%) said that they depended on gig work and temporary jobs, while 63% revealed that if they were suddenly required to pay an unexpected $400 in cash or a cash equivalent today, they would be unable to do so without using credit.
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"It’s no surprise that we see drastic disparity in artists’ pay, but this survey paints a picture of the problem and what needs to change,” Calderón continued. “We need to establish that art is labor, and we need artist-centric solutions to improve the lives and livelihoods of artists.”
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Her article wasbased on survey results published at the end of May by Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY), a $125 million initiative that kicked off in 2021 to provide monthly guaranteed income and work opportunities for artists living across the Empire State.
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For more information and possible job opportunities, please see CRNY’s website.
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In the 1970’s one popular job for artists, writers and musicians was driving a NYC taxicab. For me and my friends, it was not a regular 9 to 5 job but a “shape up” job. You could show up at a garage and give your “hack” license (often accompanied by a five dollar bill) to the dispatcher. If there was an unused taxi available, you could drive it for an 8 to 12 hour shift.
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Based on the union/management rules of the time, drivers kept a percentage of their fares as pay. No credit cards back then - cash only.
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| My writer friend Mark O’Conner at our garage on Pacific Street, Brooklyn, 1978. |
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Ace NYC journalist Tom Robbins was one of us. In a recent email to me, he wrote, “Driving a taxi in the early 1970s was a wonderful way to learn the city, eavesdrop on the other half, and make a few shekels at the same time. I wasn't thinking of myself as a would-be reporter or writer at the time, just looking to pay the rent. The joy - and possible menace - of having strangers jump into the back of your taxi and tell you where to go was like a nonstop mystery march through the streets.”
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In the late 1970’s, I began my second long-term “side gig” as an unskilled laborer, and over time became a good carpenter. I was unaware that there is an unlicensed artist-driven underground construction economy until I was brought into it by two Cooper Union grads I met at the Park Slope Food Coop. (The poet Gary Snyder recommends every artist should have at least one other way to earn a living.) We renovated lofts in SoHo and brownstones in Park Slope, eventually taking turns as the “contractor” who “ran” the job. We were relatively young and although often frustrated, still hoped to resume our art careers.
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The Beaver Crew, left to right, in 1982:
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| Sean finishing a sheetrock ceiling, Larry cutting a door opening into an exterior brick wall, Peter preparing old studs for sheetrock, Ron nailing wooden strips to an interior wall. |
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| Self-portrait as a carpenter, wishing to be a photographer, 1981, in my studio. |
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Looking back, I remember more of the fun and laughs we shared than the hard, dirty and sometimes dangerous work we did. As the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca wrote, “What was hard to bear is sweet to remember.”
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Except for two years in NYC’s CETA Artists Project, I supported myself as a carpenter, with an occasional photo assignment, until 1989, when my luck changed.
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New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) was looking for a photographer who knew construction! Through a series of chance encounters, I was hired to photograph vacant land, distressed buildings and gut renovations throughout the city. With its modest but steady pay, vacation time and health coverage, my HPD job changed my life. I originally thought that I would work for a few months, but wound up staying for over 20 years. (I am planning to tell the full story of my time “shooting for the city” in a future column.)
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Photographing for HPD rejuvenated me, and I began working on several new personal projects. While a carpenter, I had tried to photograph the carpenters, electricians and plumbers I worked alongside. But I was disappointed with the results and eventually stopped. While at HPD however, I was at construction sites to photograph, not hang sheetrock. In addition to the “official” photographs I made for HPD using a 35mm NIKON FM, I made black and white worker portraits with an old 120mm Yashica Mat twin lens camera.
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| Young Man with a Chipping Hammer, 1995 |
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Although my photographs do not compare to those made by Irving Penn, as seen in his brilliant book Small Trades,
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I’m proud of them. As I made them, I was experiencing the goal sought by artists everywhere, as best expressed by Stuart Davis:
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“We are interested in preserving ourselves as artists who want to work as artists and live like human beings.”
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About the Columnist
 | Larry’s portrait by Anna Delaney |
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When I returned to South Brooklyn in 1970 after two years in California as a VISTA Volunteer, I was 22 years old with no plans and a $30 camera I barely knew how to use. I took a course at the School of Visual Arts, a job with the telephone company and began to photograph my family and friends. Things worked out better than I could have expected. I’ve been making photographs for over 50 years, and have some things I’d like to share. |
Readers can respond directly to me – larryracioppo@gmail.com. |
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