The worst thing about the Met — and I know this from having worked down the street for 7 years — is that there aren’t any nearby places to grab a quick drink afterwards. Located in the Museum Mile section of the Upper East Side, I’m certain that this is by design. “See the art and please leave before dark,” is what I imagine the residents would say if they could. 

ICP, the International Center for Photography, doesn’t have this problem. If there’s any issue at all, it’s the opposite one. Just around the corner from Delancey Street, which is the main drag of the Lower East Side, there are almost too many places to go afterward to discuss, to debrief, or in Kevin Berlanga’s case: to celebrate. 

I hadn’t been to a Photo Slam before this one and I wasn’t the only one who showed up aware of both the ‘known knowns’ and the ‘known unknowns’. In other words, we knew there would be photos, but anything that happened after that would be a surprise. Due to a subway snafu, Eunice and I arrived late and crept quietly into the back entirely missing the introduction, but it was easy enough to catch up and lean in. 

One by one photographers came to the podium to present a slideshow of their photos and read an accompanying narrative. The narratives ranged in severity and style, some were off-the-cuff and others would be right at home in a printed publication. Some photos had names, some were woven into a larger story. The theme for this slam was spectacle, a complement to ICP’s current exhibition on Weegee, a white street journalist and photographer from the time before tabloid journalism. Weegee took just as many photos of outlandish scenes as he did of the people nearby bearing witness. There are shots of juvenile movie goers, eyes dilated in the dark of the theater and popcorn in hand.

PhotoSLAM participants sign up about an hour before the presentations begin, and if there are too many volunteers names are drawn from a hat. This evening, a man shared photos from the Lunar New Year parade in Chinatown pointing out small details that were nearly invisible in frames dominated by brightly colored dragons: a woman’s reflection in a phone screen, an expensive handheld camera, the gingery color of the sky as the sun sets between streets. A charming recent transplant from Springfield, Ohio brought iPhone photos taken when he worked as a firefighter, each one could’ve been on the front page of the news. A woman who transitioned from night life to fashion photography shared her experiment of placing models wearing fashion magazine wardrobe ensembles into devastated landscapes following a hurricane in Florida. After each short presentation (there’s a buzzer to keep time) audience members collaborate in small groups to assign a score from 1-10, which they hold up on a piece of paper Olympics style when called. After all six presentations, the numbers were tallied and the winner was announced. Kevin Berlanga had shared black and white photos of street scenes across the city: a fur-clad woman stood in a spot of sunlight preparing to cross the street, a resident of Chinatown watched a fight down the block through the bars of her building’s entrance, people pass a giant branded heart in SoHo to advertise lingerie in time for Valentine’s Day. His narrative presented thoughtful questions like, “What is the price capitalism is willing to pay for our attention?” I suggested a ten, our group gave him a nine.

The PhotoSLAM is emceed by Idris Talib Solomon, a Brooklyn-based creative director, photographer, and the host of the Black Shutter Podcast. He told me that coming up in hip-hop and poetry, it made sense to him to maintain spaces where people could talk about their work. Though I came to the event without a strong opinion, I’m inclined to agree. The next slam in April will center the theme archive. I hope to be there during the slam, listening in the audience, and afterward, having a drink around the corner to tell of all I saw.     

The International Center of Photography is on 79 Essex Street on the Lower East Side, but make plans to enter on Ludlow. Entry to the museum is free on Third Thursdays from 5 to 8pm and < $18 otherwise. The next PhotoSLAM hosted by Mr. Solomon will take place in April.