John Albok saw much loss early in his life. Born in Hungary in 1894, he was drafted into war, then returned home to learn that two of his sisters died of starvation and his father had committed suicide.
He may have been able to get through these tragedies by focusing on his passion: photography.
As a 12-year-old, he acquired his first camera, a Kodak Brownie. He took photos during his army years, documenting scenes from prisons and hospitals, according to New York University’s digital library. But his family had no funds to spend on art school. Instead he was apprenticed to a tailor.
In 1921 he immigrated to New York City, opening a tailor shop at 1392 Madison Avenue, between 96th and 97th Streets. Now married, Albok, his wife, and his daughter lived in an upstairs tenement apartment for the next six decades, witnessing waves of demographic change on the border of the Upper East Side and East Harlem.
From his shop, he began taking pictures—turning a compassionate, sensitive eye toward the sidewalks and streets in all seasons outside his front window.
Source: The Upper East Side tailor who took poetic street scene photos over six decades from his shop window
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