Toby Old: Times Squared

Times Squared
Toby Old
Chameleon Books, 2002
Hardcover, 120 pages
ISBN: 0-9125829-27-X

For over 25 years, Toby Old has had a photographic dialogue with Times Square - at different times of day, in all lights, and during all seasons, with its multitude of events, parades, theater, sports, sex shops, and industries - taking place simultaneously on, in, and around the crossroads of the world. Old offers us a different look at Times Square - the underside of society, photographed as segments linked to a certain period of time, to a specific place.

Toby Old's images pull no punches. In a fraction of a second, his square-format camera, in capturing the freakish moments of the fringes of our culture, presents his vision of America.

Through reading the introduction by Richard Gordon, himself a professional photographer, and by looking at the 114 full-page duotone photographs themselves, we get an insight into Toby Old's world - how his pictures vibrate with the pulse of life; how his images challenge our notion of conformity and speak to us today.