I took this from on top of the fire escape of the Impossible USA building shortly after arriving. It's not really an Esther kind of picture at all, but I was feeling so excited to be there and see New York and all our pictures blown up on the walls: proof that instant film had really been saved. Everything was making me feel a bit giddy and I felt like I had to take a picture, not out of any creative urge but more to sort of mark the moment. It was my first Polaroid in New York - and it was very nearly my last in this life because I then proceeded to nearly kill myself by walking around looking at everything around me through the viewfinder, not looking where I was putting my feet and not noticing the dangerous, unsecured flight of steps going down down down right in front of me . My foot stepped out onto air, I wobbled, I bent my other knee to compensate, felt confused. I kept hold of the Polaroid and the camera, not really registering what was happening, and somehow, I kept my balance. And then I saw what I'd almost done. My guardian angel must have been watching. Normally, I should have plummeted off the building, still clutching my camera and my last, still-wet piece of Time Zero, and then I should have been run over by the very car in the picture.

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street scene, fire escape, guardian angel, new york city, impossible usa office, bus lane, near-death

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