Ricky in Eva’s Restaurant under a collection of his images in 2018. Photo: Steven John Irby In Everybody Street, Cheryl Dunn’s 2013 documentary about New York street photographers, Ricky Powell, the downtown fixture who recorded the supernova of hip-hop in the mid-1980s, lays out the philosophical parameters of his process: “Man, waking up, making sure you wake up in the daytime, putting your pants on, making the calls, getting out of the house, maneuvering.
The Beasties Boy on Charles St. in 1986. Photo: Ricky Powell Laurence Fishbune in Tompkins Square Park in 1987. Photo: Ricky Powell Debi Mazar, Sandra Bernhard, and Madonna in NYC, 1988. Photo: Ricky Powell He got his start in photography, as goes the story he often retold, out of spite. After getting dumped and finding a Minolta his ex left behind, he simply resolved to take pictures and become someone doing it.
Run-D.M.C. photographed by Ricky Powell in front of the Eiffel Tower. Photo: Ricky Powell LL Cool J in 1988. Photo: Ricky Powell “There are a variety of qualities that make a good street photographer,” Dunn tells Vulture. “Maybe you’re technically proficient, maybe you’re the fly on the wall, maybe, like Mary Ellen Mark would say, you have the advantage of being let in the door. Ricky would say anything to anyone — famous, non-famous.
maxlakin Please acknowledge his abuse and misogyny