Matthew Pillsbury photographed this carousel in 2011, shortly after it was unveiled in Brooklyn Bridge Park following a nearly thirty-year long restoration. Built in 1922, and now enclosed in a 21st-century protective housing, it is a spectacular artifact of the golden age of American carousels. To make this photograph and others in the City Stages series, Pillsbury left the shutter on his large-format camera open anywhere from a few minutes to an hour. Movements that occurred during that time—in this case the rotation of the carousel and the people getting on and off—appear as a blur in the resulting picture. Due to the long exposure time, the carousel’s 1,200 electric light bulbs morph into dazzling white lines that echo the newly built pavilion’s grooved ceiling, blending the structure’s past and present within the composition. While individual rides and riders seem fleeting, the luminous carousel itself comes into focus as a public entertainment that has connected people for almost a century.