September 14 // 6:47PM⠀
58th & 7th // Manhattan, New York City
I was in New York for a bit – and the city took me. Every corner, every neighborhood, every street had a different feel. Old world American architecture mingles with the modern metropolis in ways that boggled my mind. Over the course of a few days I wandered, trying to make sense of what the city was about. I left only with photos, no answers.
I didn’t expect to enjoy my time in NYC. I explored Manhattan Island for about a week and was surprised at the diversity. The nooks and crannies of the city created surprising compositions for me. I’m used to making images in wide open expanses. No people, just natural beauty. The forests and natural ‘scapes I’m used to are all about the incredible details that have been carved over time. The erosion, the geological movements, the physical features that have been worn over millions of years are usually the focus of my images.
Two of the main influences for landscapes that will contribute to the look of my images are time and it’s overwhelming environmental properties. The desert, for example, is quite noticeable because of it’s buttes, mesas, and lack of vegetation. These are the things that define the area visually for me. I found that the city was quite similar in that respect.
Apartments are the backbone of New York.
Like other locations I’ve photographed, New York also benefitted from time. It’s century old buildings were beautiful and worn, time had only created layers of details in the metropolis. The city’s defining characteristic isn’t that it has too much or too little water, sun, trees, or rocks. You won’t find any mountains or waterfalls to make it stand out among the rest. It’s the people that made the difference.
The people have worn and carved the city over it’s lifetime into a place of incredible diversity. It was unlike any other city I’ve visited. Every time I emerged from the subway I was in a different neighborhood, with different restaurants and different people. It was wonderful, and somehow I felt at home in the most unlikely of places.