Our pics from the
2009 San Diego Comic Con.
If you clicked over here thinking this was going to be the origin of the Daleks themselves, um, well sorry to disappoint. That's not what this page is. It is about a little project I felt like undertaking after receiving a toy Dalek bank for my birthday. Wouldn't it be fun, I thought, to take him around New York and photograph him in different settings in the city? (I’m sure there are some female Daleks out there, but this one is male. I checked.)
The one that started it all!
It's hard to nail down the exact inspiration. Mostly "traveling gnome" photos and this image at the left, which I created as a Thank You to my friend Greg for the birthday present. Really, it could not be any simpler. Also, Greg suggested I start a comic strip chronicling my adventures in the city. Well, I haven't done that yet, but from that seed sprang this journey. And did I mention that I'm a graphic designer? So . . . the pieces just kind of fell into place.
Seriously, I had just moved to New York from Massachusetts when my girlfriend, Jen, was laid off from her job and relocated. I thought it would be great to join her, so I quit my job, packed up my belongings and my cats, and relocated to New York City. Wow. It sounds pretty straightforward, but I had lived in the same small town my entire life, so this was quite a change. Yeah, I miss my old hometown lake, but all the parks and greenways nestled in this concrete jungle constantly impress me. Job-wise, it’s been a more complicated transition than I thought it’d be. To date, I am still unemployed. So in between a few freelance jobs and looking for work, this seemed like a good idea. I mean I had time on my hands—why not?
And so with my Dalek coin bank and camera I set off.
Did you know the coin bank only measures about 9" high? He's so tiny! Which is good for a coin bank, but problematic when posing him in the city. He often tends to get swallowed up by whatever scene he's in. A lot of pictures might have you asking, where is he? Because of the height issue, I was apprehensive about setting him down and setting up the shot, which usually nictitated me walking a few yards away. What if someone came along and snatched him up? Or stepped on him? Or kicked him? Or. . . ?
Greg's response: He won't serve coffee, but he will warm it.
In the end, I did manage to pose him in different environs without much difficulty. The other type of photograph I experimented with was the forced-perspective shot. These were generally a little more difficult. It required me to hold the Dalek at arm's length and take the picture. Getting the perfect depth of field was a little tricky. Some worked better than others.
The biggest surprise I encountered while doing this was the reaction of the people around me. Generally, I was ignored. After all, it's a busy city, and I'm sure I wasn't the most interesting sight around. But . . . there were some people who came up to me and were genuinely interested in what I was doing. They even thought my photographic odyssey was a pretty neat idea. Others, like the guy at Columbus Circle, passed by and exclaimed to his buddy, "Hey that's a Dalek!" Then there was the guy who walked past me while I was in front of the Flat Iron building: "Hey that's from Doctor No! . . . Wait, I mean Doctor Who!" That one brought a smile to my face. He actually came back to correct his mistake. There was also a girl and her father who saw us (my girlfriend, Jen, the Dalek, and me) in front of Macey’s. She was so excited to see the Dalek out and about the streets. She even lamented that she didn't have her sonic screwdriver with her. Maybe next time.
So that's really it. Daleks in Manhattan. (Oh yeah, the site name was inspired by the episode Daleks in Manhattan). It's been really fun and a great way to see the city. Oh, in case anyone asks, there is no "R" in Dalek.