John F. Conn has photographed everything from the ravages of racism in apartheid-era South Africa to his ex-wife's second wedding, but one of his most haunting collections is from when he shot the New York City subway system in the early 1980s.
“It smelled a lot,” he recalls. “14th Street, Union Square, was basically a urine stop. The air conditioning never worked. People rode between cars because it was the only way to stay cool. And there was a way higher crime rate in the subway back then than on the streets. Everyone knew it. You avoided falling asleep at all costs.”