“The simple answer to why I take pictures is that it makes me happy.”
~ Martin Elkort
(1929-2016)
Coney Island has always been a refuge, a place where New Yorkers could slip away from the pressures of the city and, in summer, its unbearable heat. When Marty made this photograph in the 1950s, that same sense of easy community was everywhere. In the scene, a merry-go-round spins past a small chamber holding brass rings, each one replaced the moment another is pulled free. As the ride sweeps around, children lean out, reaching again and again for a ring. The expression that grew from this simple gesture has taken on a life of its own—full of aspiration and metaphor—but this is where it all began.
