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(chalk writing)
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Hello, my name is Kira. I'm 12 years old and I live in Brooklyn.
Hi, I'm Jeff. I am the curator of photographs at the Metropolitan Museum.
And I live in Manhattan.
So, what are we looking at? What's this photograph of?
It's a picture of the Brooklyn bridge.
(Jeff) Where do you think it was made from?
Was it made from Manhattan, from Brooklyn? What do you think?
Well, based off of the angle of the photo, I think it was taken maybe on the dock.
I think it's in Manhattan, though.
I find it interesting how there's still some boats there,
even though the bridge was built, so that wouldn't be
the main transportation to get across from Manhattan to Brooklyn.
- Yeah. - Or vice versa.
(Jeff) You know, what I like is that the piers that hold the cables
and the cables which hold the bridge are like framing with the river itself
the boats, the sail boats.
And it's almost like it's saying, "This bridge is doing all of that."
It's holding on to all of that, but it's carrying people across it
in the air from one place to another.
Anyway, I love Brooklyn bridge,
and I'm so glad to talk about it with you.
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So, here's another photograph of the Brooklyn bridge in the collection,
made by an artist named Berenice Abbott.
And we know when it was made, it was 1937.
So, it was about exactly 50 years after the other picture.
(Kira) When you told me all about it was exactly 50 years afterwards,
did she time it to be exactly during that period?
That's interesting.
So, the photographer, Berenice Abbott,
was working on a project of photographing old and new New York,
and she certainly knew that the Brooklyn bridge was 50 years old
when she made this picture.
But she was just trying to use the camera
to record things as they are.
(Kira) Which is why I felt like it was kind of simple at first,
but that's what she was trying to show.
- It was supposed to be like that. - Uh-hmm.
And I kind of feel like I could walk up and participate in this scene.
I feel like I'm walking around New York city in the 1930s.
And photography-- it brings people back in time in a very nice way.
Is that why she would like to take photos of something as it is,
as if she was like building her own city in a way?
Adding pictures of buildings and not putting extra details
or more props in the area.
Yes, I think that's exactly right.
And I think that in this photograph, I think she's basically saying
that the stuff in the foreground is changing,
and what's nice is that in the background, the bridge isn't.
(Kira) So, the bridge would kind of be still a reminder
of, "Look, this is still here. We're in New York", right?
But everything around it is changing.
- And will change. - Yes.
So, if someone were to take a photo like this,
it could say, "Oh, look, it's a different time."
But it's still in the same place.
♪ (music) ♪
I'm Kira, and I'm reporting from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
May we please look at another photo? (laughter)
No, no, no, no. That is...
Okay, your mother is going to be very happy,
but we got to strike that.