A gallery en route: Photographs of commuters

A Danish photographer captures the poetry and elegance of commuters' daily rituals. Michelle Miller reports:

Day after day, when the light was just right, Peter Funch took to his corner and started taking his pictures.

"I had no idea how long it was gonna take, how many years," said Funch.

In all, the Danish photographer spent nine years outside New York's Grand Central Terminal, at the corner of 42nd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue. If you were in the neighborhood, you may have noticed him noticing you!

"I start recognizing some of the people, like, 'Okay, she comes again. He comes again,'" he told Miller.

This woman was photographed at 9:09 a.m. Here she is, again, two weeks later … same time, same shirt.

This man's photos were taken almost a year apart! Hers, too.

Get the picture?

Miller asked, "Wht does that repetitiveness tell you?"

"We are creatures of habit," Funch said, repeating ourselves again and again. "It's a daily ritual."

"Did you ever feel like you were invading their privacy?"

"I think it's borderline," Funch said. "But there's also something, you know, very innocent about it."

Not so long ago, Funch put his photos into a book, named for the corner that consumed so much of his life, and theirs.

"I love the story about the everyday, regular people," he said. "It's me in the street. It's them in the street. That's the people and the stories I'm looking for -- the unstaged, real moments. I think that's the most fascinating part."

Something to keep in mind tomorrow as you head off to work: someone may be watching.

      
For more info:

• peterfunch.com
  
• "42nd and Vanderbilt" by Peter Funch (TBW Books)
  

      
Story produced by Robbyn McFadden.