Coney Island can certainly give Times Square a run for its money when it comes to photo ops and camera toting tourists. Cell phones everywhere, of course. But plenty of “real” cameras, too, and even a fair amount of organized shoots. Here are the top ten things I see people taking photos of along the Coney Island boardwalk, and therefore, the top 10 things I try hard to resist: 10) Exterior signage of Tom’s Coney Island Restaurant (for some unknown reason); 9) Rides, various, every; 8) People dancing to the boardwalk DJs; 7) posted Coney Island boardwalk maps; 6) The garbage drums (they’re painted with Coney Island-theme imagery); 5) Sea gulls (they’re big and fat); 4) Various buskers; 3) Nathan’s signage, or really, Nathan’s anything; 2) The Cyclone (it’s like a camera magnet); and 1) (by far) Themselfies.

This image was taken on a cloudy, it’s-about-to-rain-any-second day. The beach was more or less deserted, and this man was standing alone, facing a stormy horizon, apparently deep in contemplation - a striking black silhouette. It seemed like a rather serious moment. Right next to him was this colorful children’s jungle gym, a place for fun, but not at that moment.

Sometimes the picture you take isn’t the picture you get. In this case I thought I was grabbing a shot of these two women taking a selfie. But when I looked at it later, i saw that I caught this guy walking past behind them and photo bombing, his girlfriend none the wiser. I never even saw the guy. I was totally focused on the ladies. I guess the lesson here is just keep taking pictures, lots of them. You never know what surprises await.

Every time I visit the boardwalk, without fail, I see someone, or a number of people, standing where this guy is, taking the same picture he’s taking. And for the life of me, I can’t understand what they’re photographing. Is it Tom’s Coney Island, the food place? The Pepsi sign? Do they think the roller coaster is the famous Cyclone, though it clearly says “Soarin’ Eagle” on top? I know there’s something fascinating there, because so many people are recording it. I just don’t know what it is.

The Coney Island boardwalk has always been a fascinating place to me. Both old and new, a mix of every type of character imaginable, home of the famous Cyclone roller coaster and Nathan’s Hot Dogs, so stubbornly old fashioned and even dated, but still, irresistible in the way it appeals to the most basic human wants - immediate gratification, easy thrills, deliciously crappy food. It’s comfortable in the way most things nostalgic are. Unpretentious, kinda dumb, it just is what is is. So one day, with time on my hands, I grabbed my camera, hopped on the Q train, and headed to the boardwalk. I had no idea what I’d shoot, and when I got there, then first thing i noticed (after Nathan’s) was that every other person had a camera and was taking photos of just about everything - but mostly ferris wheels, The Cyclone, Coney Island signage, Nathan’s Famous, the performers, their girlfriends and, of course, themselves. So I took a few photos, whatever. At some point I saw a couple sitting on a bench, he facing away from her, she away from him. It was just a curious image, and made me wonder what was going on there. Do they even know each other? I photographed them, hoping not to be noticed, and walked on. Then I noticed a small family who seemed to have made a camp of another bench, with all of their beach paraphernalia so meticulously arranged on the bench, and I snapped that one, too. And it started to seem really interesting to me, these little, almost theatrical moments happening on one bench after another. So I just keep going with it, as it offered a very different way to view the Coney Island boardwalk scene, maybe something 1000 other tourists weren’t taking home in their cameras. So here we are, some 50 images later. I plan to keep at it throughout the year, and see how things evolve as the weather chills, the rides stop, and the coats and hats come out of the closet. Should be interesting. Every time i go the the boardwalk now, which is once or twice a week, I’m again surprised by what the benches and this relatively little strip of boardwalk give me. I see something brand new every time. Will it sustain itself throughout the year, or will run its course in the very near future? Who knows. And that’s part of what’s so exciting about it, the unexpected, the unknowing.