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Published by powerHouse Books
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
New York City in the late '70s was a collection of villages with its downtown scene, midtown workers, and uptown elegance. It was also a city that was more integrated than ever before or ever would be again. All of the city's humanity met in its streets with layered soundtracks of salsa, rock, disco, reggae, and soon hip-hop booming for all to groove to.
But, NYC was also a place of chaos and mayhem. Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy with rampant crime it was the city's drug users, dealers, and pimps and prostitutes who ruled the streets of Manhattan.
The grittiness of the city was a beacon and a promise to many outsiders, those who didn't quite fit into any mold, and a vibrant LGBTQ community became the nexus of an underworld of sex workers who liked to party. For a NYC cabbie such as Joseph Rodriguez, the hot spots to pick up fares were clubs like the Hellfire, Mineshaft, The Anvil, The Vault, and Show World.
Losing his first camera and lens in a classic '70s New York stabbing and mugging, Rodriguez's wounds healed and he armed himself with a new camera to document what he saw on the job: hookers getting off their shifts, transvestites and S&M partiers doin' it in the back seat or somehow pulling off an unlikely costume change from bondage gear to emerge from the cab clean-cut in an oxford and khakis ready to face unwitting family and friends.
A humanist at heart, his photographs speak of the dignity of the city's working class from all the boroughs and those struggling to get by.
The Economic Hardship Reporting Project provided funding to support Taxi: Journey Through My Windows 1977–1987.
But, NYC was also a place of chaos and mayhem. Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy with rampant crime it was the city's drug users, dealers, and pimps and prostitutes who ruled the streets of Manhattan.
The grittiness of the city was a beacon and a promise to many outsiders, those who didn't quite fit into any mold, and a vibrant LGBTQ community became the nexus of an underworld of sex workers who liked to party. For a NYC cabbie such as Joseph Rodriguez, the hot spots to pick up fares were clubs like the Hellfire, Mineshaft, The Anvil, The Vault, and Show World.
Losing his first camera and lens in a classic '70s New York stabbing and mugging, Rodriguez's wounds healed and he armed himself with a new camera to document what he saw on the job: hookers getting off their shifts, transvestites and S&M partiers doin' it in the back seat or somehow pulling off an unlikely costume change from bondage gear to emerge from the cab clean-cut in an oxford and khakis ready to face unwitting family and friends.
A humanist at heart, his photographs speak of the dignity of the city's working class from all the boroughs and those struggling to get by.
The Economic Hardship Reporting Project provided funding to support Taxi: Journey Through My Windows 1977–1987.
Product Details
- Publisher: powerHouse Books (February 3, 2021)
- Length: 132 pages
- ISBN13: 9781576879313
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Raves and Reviews
"New York City was a harder place back then, but Rodriguez’s frames manage to find a consistent human warmth."
– Brooklyn Magazine
"In any situation, Rodriguez is not a taxi driver who takes pictures, but a fearless, astute and inspired photographer who happens to drive a cab."
– Luc Sante, New York Times Book Review
"This Winter’s Best Coffee-Table Books of 2020"
– Allison Schaller, Vanity Fair
"Rodriguez’s black and white photographs diminish none of the colour and intensity of the city or its people as we catch fleeting glimpses of S&M club goers, homeless people, elderly couples, children playing in their neighbourhoods, and everyone in between."
– Megan Williams, Creative Review
Images featured in New York Magazine's 50th anniversary issue: My New York!
"He remained true to documenting the delicate dance that is the human condition in action, and I am elated he did. Rodriguez understands that the camera is a pliant tool and not merely a mechanical tyrant – he has made it submissive to his highly mature vision and we have all benefited."
– Michael Ernest Sweet, Street Photography
"Similar to Walker Evans or other great social documentarians, he treats his subjects with dignity. 'The overarching mission of Joseph Rodriguez‘s work is to make visible those we choose not to see… to confront us with (their) everyday humanity.'"
– Emily Dinsdale, Dazed Magazine
"The human is at the heart of his work, which often emerges after long periods of time spent gaining the trust of his subjects. The results are raw, grainy images full of life, revealing the resilience and beauty of the people he represents."
– Nicolas Daudin, Guillotine
“The grittiness of the city was a beacon and a promise to many outsiders, those who didn’t quite fit into any mould, and a vibrant LGBTQ community became the nexus of an underworld of sex workers who liked to party.”
– ColdType
"It is a remarkable, wonderful, poignant, sometimes painful look at New York City from Rodriguez’s point of view as a taxi driver."
– Frames Magazine
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Taxi Hardcover 9781576879313
