Last summer a friend from the Rockaways was selling a camera collection.
Leicas and Hasselblads.
They had cost a fortune in the 70s.
I offered him $500.
He said no and sold them for $600.
I should have upped my bid, because nothing is better than real film.
Just take a look at these photos by Helen Levitt.
Helen Levitt was a high school dropout from Bensonhurst, but in the 30s discovered the enigmatic chalk drawings of Harlem children and shot them with a Leica.
Jean-Michel Basquiat must have seen her work.
Oh, for those years of then.