One Year in Worcester; Photographer turns lens on city
By Noah R. Bombard
Say what you want about Worcester, Mike Nyman (pictured above) likes the place. And he should know. He’s seen more of it in one year than most of us see – or at least notice – in a lifetime.
For 365 days in 2006, Nyman, a youth pastor at the Salem Covenant Church on East Mountain Street who moonlights as a photographer – strode out into the city’s far-flung corners, camera in hand, and opened his eyes and his camera’s shutter. What he saw was a city of life, a city of not only possibility, but of real present day vitality. What he saw became part of a project called “One Year in Worcester County,” which Nyman began documenting on his blog.
Each day Nyman posted a new picture on his blog with a brief commentary. He started with First Night in 2006 and continued through Dec. 31, 2006.
But Nyman’s love of Worcester doesn’t spring from childhood memories. He’s a transplant, having moved here from Chicago in 1998. Worcester, however, made an impression.
“One of the things that struck me about Worcester is how so many of the people I met didn’t seem to have that many good things to say about their town — as if they were living in some past glory days and things had been going downhill for years,” Nyman says. “My initial feeling about the city was positive right from the start. I just liked the looks of it. It just looked interesting.”
So, he decided to capture it through his lens.
His project took him from hidden places in Worcester to well-known icons. Places like the Coney Island Hot Dogs sign or Union Station have been photographed repetitively, but Nyman included them as part of the totality that is Worcester. And besides, he says, he had to get his own take on those iconic places.
But far more than just an album of Worcester places, Nyman managed to catch many of the small glimpses of life in the city – average Worcester people doing average Worcester things. By year’s end, he says, he developed a much larger sense of community.
“So often we just go around doing the same old things without our eyes open,” he says. “Being able to see things other people don’t see is always a valuable experience.”
A young couple talking while waiting in a Laundromat, an older couple eating at The Wonder Bar, parts of Worcester both urban and country all became part of the collection of photos.
Of course, out of 365 days of the year, there were a few days Nyman found himself away from Worcester. His collection includes some photos from his travels outside the city as well, but Worcester is the heart of the body of work. In fact, his occasional jaunts outside the city only serve to draw viewers into Nyman’s own life and his view of the world around him — from the photo of his IV-fed hand while in the hospital or trips with family that occasionally took some of his photo segments to other parts of the country.
“Thinking back on it, I have no idea how I did it,” Nyman says. “Certainly having the feedback from people kept me going. I was glad when it was over, but I was certainly glad that I did it.”
