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Photographer Spends 9 Years Shooting Same People On Their Way To Work, Shows How They Change Over Time
Ah, the daily grind. Love it or hate it, it's an unavoidable part of life for most of us - especially New Yorkers. Danish photographer Peter Funch spent nearly 10 years stationed outside of Grand Central Station shooting the morning commuters rushing by, and ended up capturing more than just yawns and iced coffees when it was said and done.
The impressive catalog of photos that now make up Funch's latest book, 42nd and Vanderbilt, span from 2007 to 2016, and were each taken between the tender hours of 8:30 to 9:30 AM. During the editing process, Funch realized that sticking to the same spot and same times every day had produced an amazing effect; he ended up catching the same people 2 or 3 times, sometimes years apart. "You could hardly believe it, that you’d find the same people having the same ritual over 10 years," Funch told Fast Co Design. "It’s such a New York thing, the idea that people just do the same thing over and over again."
Scroll down to see how Funch's recurring subjects changed - or didn't - over time, and tell us some of your morning rituals in the comments at the end.
More info: Official Site, Instagram, Twitter
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Elaine Van Zon 8 years ago
This is my favourite- a ray of sunshine among all the glum and anxious faces
just a thought ! 8 years ago
Still smiling ! Spreads so much positivity through just one expression !
Sara Parra 7 years ago
guys, some of the pictures are years appart but most of them are just days appart one from another, check it in the web of the photographer. http://peterfunch.com/works/42ndandvanderbilt/
Lucie Palumbo 7 years ago
My favorite also .............. like the Mary Tyler Moore theme song .... "You can turn the world on with your smile ..........
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#2
spirit wolf 8 years ago
Unfortunately, the people in the back haven't quite been themselves lately.
Kara Witham 8 years ago
He's looking right at the camera like, "This is deja vu, I saw this photographer before!"
Dominika Kasielska 8 years ago
It can't be 9 years apart.. the guy on the left has the same trousers, belt and a backpack on two pictures :)
Patrick Lopez 8 years ago
Read the description. Not all were photographed nine years apart. "The impressive catalog of photos that now make up Funch's latest book, 42nd and Vanderbilt, span from 2007 to 2016, and were each taken between the tender hours of 8:30 to 9:30 AM. During the editing process, Funch realized that sticking to the same spot and same times every day had produced an amazing effect; he ended up catching the same people 2 or 3 times, sometimes years apart."
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#3
Lena Palsdorf 8 years ago
It says two weeks later. You need to keep the mouse over the picture to know how far apart they are. Nowhere does it say that all are 9 years apart.
Silent Skeleton 8 years ago
Same sweater and bag! That's pretty cool (and I don't think its a uniform because of a different shirt)
Annemieke Huisman 8 years ago
Wierd that nobody noticed decay of sharp lines in face and totally different posture. First ready to take on the world. Second tied drooping shoulders from the experiences
Kristin Haskins 8 years ago
I have things that are keepers, and very sturdy.
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Georgi Scholz 8 years ago
It says on the photo description "And two weeks later".. (Hover over the top photo) so not ALL of the photos are 10yrs apart. Still we ARE creatures of habit & it's a pretty cool concept.
#4
Keith Westerman 8 years ago
Still looking great after 9 years. She's obviously reciting the "right" mantra.
Daniel Popescu 8 years ago
A cigarette shortens your life by 7 minutes, but the most dangerous is a day of work which shortens your life by 8 hours.
Kristin Haskins 8 years ago
As if you can get out of it, if you need to do it to live.....You DO get to go home, too!
Load More Replies... Kristin Haskins 8 years ago
Maybe she went past a certain place every day that held a bad memory, so she chose to not look at it. Simple enough thought.
#5
Ashley Crosson 8 years ago
Good pics but same electronic device that she is listening to? FAIL! She DOES look fab in the blk/wht polka-dots though!!
#6
Lucky Lambdin 8 years ago
Oy! So much more grey in that nasty, s****y-looking, unkempt beard after 9 years. But that's not the point. The beard could possibly be quite handsome-looking with a little trimming, but for some reason this poor ol' man would rather look like a flea-bitten idiot. Apparently ancient religious ideology has nothing to do with current trends of beard-maintenance.
Lyone Fein 8 years ago
Maybe he cares more about what is going on within himself, than he does about the minutia of other peoples' fashion judgements. . . . . BTW, he looks like a sage. But those who judge others based on appearance, what do *they* look like?
Load More Replies... #7
Maya Ayeis 8 years ago
exactly, in the first they look really great, in the second they look sweaty and tired...
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#8
Venomous Sloth 8 years ago
doesn't look like he's happy at the "improvement" tho...
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Kyle Hendricks 8 years ago
this guy should have that mole on his forehead checked out by a specialist
Kelly Skinner 8 years ago
What's with his mouthIt looks like vagina,I mean no disrespect, love em myself.!!!¡
Cliff Isaacs 8 years ago
Our jobs f**k us up. Use us up, and f**k us up. It's as simple as that. shitburger...175de4.jpg 
#10
Hans 8 years ago
Sad fate, that "going to work" did not change in this times. The park automaton looks surprisingly unaltered, though.
Marty BlackEagle-Carl 8 years ago
just buy the damn paper. hahahahahaha - must be a daily routine.
Lucky Lambdin 8 years ago
Wow. He actually looks semi-affluent - glasses, wig, shoulder-pack, some sort of electronic device tucked under the beltline - but, of course, I was a dumpster-diver while enrolled in college & sold my plasma every few weeks.....& I still clip coupons.
Ashley Crosson 8 years ago
Look at the "P" and the rest of that machine, along with the newspaper stand right next to it. The bus shades some areas, but I'd bet this is probably the SAME DAY...or week perhaps....
#11
Evgeniya Khon 8 years ago
So nine years late he is still trying to finish that Starbucks americano lol
Maggie Dougherty 8 years ago
Anybody notice, how much the shirt was pulling in the first one, and not in the second one? Same brand, different size, So maybe, he should lay off the Starbucks, no matter what size!
Lucky Lambdin 8 years ago
Ha! What a hoot! Creature of habit, same shirt (don't know the logo) but different color.....priceless! Poor schmuck.
Friedlander Rosenzweig 8 years ago
Loyal to Ralph Lauren’s Polo line AND Starbucks! We are all creatures of habit, I guess 🤷🏻♀️.
Lena Palsdorf 8 years ago
No, some are two weeks, or 1 year. This is one month.
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Maya Ayeis 8 years ago
hahahahahaa, the world we live in now, everything is possible... hahahahaa
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Lucky Lambdin 8 years ago
In the second photo, she's just pretending to be talking on the cell phone - her salary was cut in the last year, so now all she thinks she can afford is a "pretend" cell-phone. But she's still budgeting four hundred bucks a week on nails, hair, & clothes.
#13
Lucky Lambdin 8 years ago
Oh dear! Isn't he just so pretty.....and such a slave to cigarettes ta boot.
#14
timhood 8 years ago
You guys realize that these photos aren't nine years apart, right? Only the ones marked by years are very far apart. The others are only days or weeks.
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Eva Tóthová 8 years ago
same place, same time- if the schedule works, they don't change the time-table of a bus
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Lena Palsdorf 8 years ago
There's two weeks between them - people don't change their glasses that often. ;-)
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Melissa Brooks 8 years ago
Rob, Rob, Rob..... OH yea of little faith. Believe.
Load More Replies... #15
Shauna Simpson 8 years ago
Maybe a younger woman is in his life now or healthier life style who nows!!! Lol
Nguyen Kien 8 years ago
First: "IDK what Jess think about this bracelet" Second : "That earring look fabulous, maybe i should try one"
#16
Gabriela- Andreea Manolache 8 years ago
you just can't wear the same undershirt and same bag, same haircut, as a woman for 9 years...from principle- and even if you do, those pieces wouldn't look the same- I call bull on this entire article
Melissa Brooks 8 years ago
Oh, yeah you can.... She is in a routine.. She works nights.. All she can think about is when she gets home weather it will be safe and if she can get thru another day... The undershirt is something she wears for comfort and love.
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#17
Tomatoe 8 years ago
yeah, it seems that at least for some of these, time difference between photos would be measured in seconds, and not years exactly....
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Lucky Lambdin 8 years ago
Looks slightly less worried in the second photo. Yes, we've all been known to wear the same clothes to work more than once.
Tonya Banchetto 8 years ago
I'm trying to figure out the dude in the background wearing plaid on plaid.
Jade Lynn 8 years ago
A lot of people used to do that back about 10 years ago it seemed
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Simon Evison 8 years ago
Lena is right, most of the photos are about 2-3 weeks apart. This one is July 2012 and she looks Hot
#18
Lucky Lambdin 8 years ago
Even when I was a smoker many years back, I never could get the "feel" for smoking while walking. The two were diametrically opposed - one so healthful & the other so deleterious to health. Now it pains me to see a young gal smoking. Ugh.
Melissa Brooks 8 years ago
I was the same way. If I wanted a smoke, I would make myself wait for the perfect time and place. When the time and place was right, I would smoke in peace and quiet.
Load More Replies... #19
Marty BlackEagle-Carl 8 years ago
"Eleven hundred and 6, eleven hundred and 7, eleven hundred and 8...."
Lucky Lambdin 8 years ago
The face of defeat. The taxicabs in the background add immensely to the depressing scenario. Oh my goodness, this poor man.
Vanja Villasin 8 years ago
is this a joke ????? how come most of these people do wear exactly the same clothes , and have been captured in very same angles , just under different lights ??????? in addition most of them have earphones ?????
Stephanie Ard 8 years ago
Except the bottom one he has a bag, a crease in the shirt and a flatter collar....
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#20
Hayley Lightcap 8 years ago
Looks like resting b***h face to me, I can honestly relate.
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Mike Elmore 7 years ago
WOW when I look at these two photos I see 'Over the years, she has lost everyone she ever cared about... and even some she didn't!
Melissa Brooks 8 years ago
The woman is wearing the same outfit as first photo only an added orange scarf and brighter lighting is the difference. The ugly green windbreaker is a clue to her sadness.....
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Bridgette Blumenthal 8 years ago
As we get older, we need to 'smile' as much as possible... never know who is looking or clicking pics!
#21
Bridgette Blumenthal 8 years ago
No, most of them don't change over time... lots of sad looking people..
#22
Denise Knight 8 years ago
Some of these are never, ever 9 years apart. Maybe 1 week apart. Some look like they are photographed on the very next day.
Lena Palsdorf 8 years ago
"During the editing process, Funch realized that sticking to the same spot and same times every day had produced an amazing effect; he ended up catching the same people 2 or 3 times, sometimes years apart". Read the last part. He took the pictures for nine years, he does not claim that there's nine years between the pictures. Most are weeks or months.
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Barbara Ilma Eva Westwood 8 years ago
Especially when the clothes don't appear to have changed.
#23
Good Day 8 years ago
like all of them: same headphones, same bags, same glasses, sam shirts
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#24
riley.girl 8 years ago
Same day; same outfit, the car in the bottom photo in the bottom left looks like they can (for sure) be the same car as bottom right in top photo.
#25
Kara Witham 8 years ago
"It's a bird, it's a plane..." 9 yrs later: Superman vs Batman sucked.
#26
Jasmina Wetherley 8 years ago
i wonder if he is listening to the same song. same facial expression
#27
Migdalia Berrocal 7 years ago
Seems to be a scam, some of these pics do not register any change or age, and that is impossible!
KT Trondsen 8 years ago
I think there has been a mix up. This looks like the same day shot, several of the photos do
#28
Marty BlackEagle-Carl 8 years ago
nope different tie, top is orange with squares, other is red with circles and squares.
Cosmin Ionascu 8 years ago
Plus he has a different shirt :) I think it's more obvious than the tie.
#29
Jamie Sims 8 years ago
she looks to me like she is in some kind of physical pain.... uncomfortable shoes, maybe?
#30
Gina Bean 8 years ago
Why? Lots of people have a cartoon character wardrobe :)
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#31
Jessica Stohr 8 years ago
Nah, his hair changed! So must be at least a day apart! Lol
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Sue Rogers 8 years ago
First one, bag strap is across his chest. Second one, it's on his shoulder.
Cosmin Ionascu 8 years ago
He really likes to take pictures near that parking machine. Also in all the pictures that the parking machine appear (or whatever it is) the top part of the P sign has a green smudge or something on it :)
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Neeraj Jha 8 years ago
Most of them seem to be days or hours or minutes apart each other. Surely not a year.
Hans 8 years ago
If I understand correctly, not all fotos are necessarily nine years apart...but it surely is described confusingly. I think what the protographer wants to stress is that many people keep attitudes, habits, and ritualised behaviour.
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TMSullivan 8 years ago
Topic headline is definitely inaccurate and misleading. Many of these are clearly taken on the same day, probably even within minutes of each other. Thumbs down. No inspiration.
TMSullivan 8 years ago
Also, not spontaneous. Subjects have been coached to pose similarly to make it seem like they have the same behaviors "years" apart.
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Mr. Bojangles 8 years ago
BOOOO!! This post is bogus! Some of the images appear to be photo shopped, some images the subject is wearing the same clothing/accessories/etc, hell even the people in the background are even the same for some of the pictures
James Brigham (Bigg) Bunyon 8 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Load More Replies... Full Name 8 years ago
"spent nearly 10 years stationed outside of Grand Central Station shooting the morning commuters rushing by, " That implies this guy was stationed there most mornings. Very doubtful, and there's no way that you'd recognize someone or be able to find their pic after years and thousands of photos of different people in between. "It’s such a New York thing, the idea that people just do the same thing over and over again." Regular patterns of behaviour is a NY exclusive? This post was written in a very unclear manner.
Vaida Kuodytė 8 years ago
Should've dated ALL the pictures. Those with no timeframe specified are clearly not 9 years apart - maybe as little as DAYS...
AJ Reader 8 years ago
Title is misleading - if you take two minutes to actually go on the linked website of the photographer and browse the gallery, he puts the dates and times of the photos underneath. Most are a week or two apart, some only a few days. The odd few will be over a few year period, but most not. So really.
Patrick Lopez 8 years ago
Good grief, folks. Reading is important. Yes, some people he photographed several years apart, but not all. If anyone had actually read past the headline, they would know this. "The impressive catalog of photos that now make up Funch's latest book, 42nd and Vanderbilt, span from 2007 to 2016, and were each taken between the tender hours of 8:30 to 9:30 AM. During the editing process, Funch realized that sticking to the same spot and same times every day had produced an amazing effect; he ended up catching the same people 2 or 3 times, sometimes years apart."
Dydy Dyah 8 years ago
People wearing the same clothes on different photos or 'same bus' etc doesn't necessarily mean it's on the same day. The photographer spot was near Grand Central station, where the CoachUSA bus often stop and park, people wearing the same clothes on different days sometimes months or years apart. What's interesting for me is how the photographer remember those people...from the thousands passing him on that spot. If you know Grand Central, you know what I mean...
Neeraj Jha 8 years ago
Most of them seem to be days or hours or minutes apart each other. Surely not a year.
Hans 8 years ago
If I understand correctly, not all fotos are necessarily nine years apart...but it surely is described confusingly. I think what the protographer wants to stress is that many people keep attitudes, habits, and ritualised behaviour.
Load More Replies... TMSullivan 8 years ago
Topic headline is definitely inaccurate and misleading. Many of these are clearly taken on the same day, probably even within minutes of each other. Thumbs down. No inspiration.
TMSullivan 8 years ago
Also, not spontaneous. Subjects have been coached to pose similarly to make it seem like they have the same behaviors "years" apart.
Load More Replies... Mr. Bojangles 8 years ago
BOOOO!! This post is bogus! Some of the images appear to be photo shopped, some images the subject is wearing the same clothing/accessories/etc, hell even the people in the background are even the same for some of the pictures
James Brigham (Bigg) Bunyon 8 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Load More Replies... Full Name 8 years ago
"spent nearly 10 years stationed outside of Grand Central Station shooting the morning commuters rushing by, " That implies this guy was stationed there most mornings. Very doubtful, and there's no way that you'd recognize someone or be able to find their pic after years and thousands of photos of different people in between. "It’s such a New York thing, the idea that people just do the same thing over and over again." Regular patterns of behaviour is a NY exclusive? This post was written in a very unclear manner.
Vaida Kuodytė 8 years ago
Should've dated ALL the pictures. Those with no timeframe specified are clearly not 9 years apart - maybe as little as DAYS...
AJ Reader 8 years ago
Title is misleading - if you take two minutes to actually go on the linked website of the photographer and browse the gallery, he puts the dates and times of the photos underneath. Most are a week or two apart, some only a few days. The odd few will be over a few year period, but most not. So really.
Patrick Lopez 8 years ago
Good grief, folks. Reading is important. Yes, some people he photographed several years apart, but not all. If anyone had actually read past the headline, they would know this. "The impressive catalog of photos that now make up Funch's latest book, 42nd and Vanderbilt, span from 2007 to 2016, and were each taken between the tender hours of 8:30 to 9:30 AM. During the editing process, Funch realized that sticking to the same spot and same times every day had produced an amazing effect; he ended up catching the same people 2 or 3 times, sometimes years apart."
Dydy Dyah 8 years ago
People wearing the same clothes on different photos or 'same bus' etc doesn't necessarily mean it's on the same day. The photographer spot was near Grand Central station, where the CoachUSA bus often stop and park, people wearing the same clothes on different days sometimes months or years apart. What's interesting for me is how the photographer remember those people...from the thousands passing him on that spot. If you know Grand Central, you know what I mean...
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