Editor's Letter: New Year's treats for City Paper readers
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
We thought we’d begin the New Year by giving you, our City Paper readers, a small present, a token of thanks for your loyalty to this alt weekly, which is always looking for new ways to change the conversation in Philly.
That’s why you’ll find at the center of the print issue, spread over two pages, a stunning aerial photograph of Philadelphia, with a 2014 calendar running along the bottom border. We’re hoping you’ll pull out this calendar and post it on your wall.
The black-and-white image is the centerpiece of a photo essay that staff photographer Neal Santos created. A weekend after Philly was blanketed in snow, Neal went up in a small helicopter and flew over the city for about an hour. He took photos with two professional cameras and an iPhone. Only a harness kept him from falling out the open door as he clicked away.
For space reasons, we had to limit the essay in print to six photos. But space isn’t an issue online, so we are able to offer online readers a special treat — a slideshow of 25 photos. Some of the images are on CP’s account on Instagram, too — at phillycitypaper.
It is part of journalism’s mission to take readers to places they haven’t gone before. We can’t claim that our readers haven’t seen Philly from the sky, because we know many of them have hung between the earth and moon when taking off, circling or landing at Philadelphia International Airport.
But what you get to experience here is a bit different. Instead of getting a glimpse out a window, this gives you a chance to pore over the images at your leisure and see what they reveal.
My favorite photo — which captures the Italian Market — appears online. The image shows much of the market outlined in black and white, with the red and green awnings forming a pattern that is reminiscent of keys on a piano.
I’ve only viewed the Italian Market from Rocky-level — a narrow street interrupted by burn barrels. Neal’s image from above, with the colors of the Italian flag, made me stop and think anew of how the market is a remnant from another time.
See which photographs speak to you, and make you stop and wonder once again about this place we call home.
