As part of the Standard Oil project, Parks produced an extensive series of photographs of workers in New York. The pictures showcase his mastery of direct and honest portraiture, and convey the unique industrial geometry of the period. They frame images of men and women building the city within the dark sweep of its most fundamental elements, elegantly contrasting people with the angles of bridges, beams, and buildings, and emphasizing the rhythmic repetition of concrete pipes and steel girders.
Railroad Gang Moving a Portion of Track, New York, New York, 1946.
Rockefeller Center, New York, New York, 1945
South Street El Train, New York, New York, 1946.
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Freight Car Standing at the Yards, Harlem River, New York, 1946.
Sewer Pipes, Harlem, New York, 1946.
Coal Sketcher, Harlem River, New York, 1946
Workman Through the Pipes, Harlem, New York, 1946
Emptying Coal, Harlem River, New York, 1946.
Ship Canal Bridge at 207th Street, New York, 1946.
Blackboot Aboard the Staten Island Ferry, New York Harbor, New York, 1948