New York
Travel and street photography from Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the outer boroughs.
Radio City Music Hall at dusk — the neon already burning, a Rockefeller Christmas tree filling the doorway, an NYPD cruiser pulled up out front. Sixth Avenue at its most painted.
Shot through a rain-beaded hotel window on the 34th. The Empire State turned soft and teal, nothing sharp in the frame except the water on the glass. You can't escape this building in midtown — the weather just decides which version you get.
An NYPD chopper crossing in front of One World Trade, the orange-red beam of the ferry framing the right edge of the frame. Took it on the Staten Island Ferry; the sky was already going grey, the helicopter wasn't planned but the timing was.
The Empire State through a window someone had given up on cleaning, the whole frame coming out blue. Sometimes you don't need a clear pane to make a picture.
A coin-operated viewfinder on the Brooklyn Heights promenade, the Manhattan Bridge and the Lower Manhattan skyline stacked behind it. Black-and-white because the city was already monochrome that morning.
Walked up to the Manhattan ferry terminal, looked up, and there she was — the Statue of Liberty threaded through the lattice of a working crane, the Jersey docks steaming behind her. New York doesn't pose for you; you catch it at its job.
Forty-something floors up, the kind of light you can't fake. The Empire State does most of the heavy lifting; the rest of midtown just glows terracotta and lets her stand tallest in the frame.
Top of the Rock, fog pressed against the glass. A stranger in a white puffer paused at the window for ten seconds, umbrella still closed. We both saw the same thing, and then she moved on.
Shot from the DUMBO side after dinner, then pulled the colour out in post until the whole thing looked like it had been painted, not photographed. Some bridges earn the cliché.
Grey morning, high floor, nothing to play with but shapes. Two towers, one frame, weather doing the work. Manhattan can be surprisingly generous when it's being boring about the sky.
Looking straight up inside Calatrava's Oculus, the white ribs converging into the skylight, a stranger's silhouette caught against them. The whole building shoots itself.
Bundled in a quilt off Broadway, cigarette clenched between his teeth, a line of American flags going blurry somewhere above his head. He looked straight back at me. One frame, then we both moved on.
The Chrysler's crown against a sky that couldn't be bothered that day. MetLife down the bottom to hold the whole thing together. Midtown on a slow, grey Tuesday.
The twin caps of the San Remo rising out of a copper-coloured Central Park. I took the loop around the reservoir the wrong way round just to catch the angle with no one else in it.
@arleyhoops mid-routine in Washington Square Park, the red hoop suspended overhead, a small dog walking past completely unbothered. They've been a regular here for three or four years now — autumn brings them out in their best.
Stars and Stripes snapping in the wind, the Empire State climbing hard into a cloudless blue. Stood on the corner for a couple of minutes waiting for the flag to straighten out properly.
Red beanie, blue puffer, a bike clamped between his knees. Stopped on a bench somewhere up near the reservoir, eyes a long way off. The thin November sun did all the lighting work.
Cropped in tight — the Chrysler's art-deco eagles pressed up against the mirrored glass of whatever went up next door. Two centuries of New York sharing a wall.
Two friends on the steps above the fountain, wrapped up for January, a puddle throwing the whole conversation back at them upside down. Greenwich Village is at its best in the cold.
A skyscraper-sized LED flag pouring red, white and blue over Times Square. Somebody in silhouette raised a phone to it. You don't really photograph this place; you just try to keep up with it.
The NYPD motto — Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect — stencilled in careful lettering along the side of a patrol car. Neon spilling across the bonnet. The city writes its own captions, you just have to notice.
One World Trade threaded between the red iron and chain-link of the Staten Island Ferry's upper deck. They charged a nickel for this trip fifty years ago; these days the view comes free.
On the Brooklyn Bridge walkway just after sunrise — the gothic arch looming, cable drums catching first light, one lamp hanging in the middle of the frame. Probably a hundred other photographers went for this exact shot that same morning.
Rain has turned Times Square into a mirror — orange sports cars, Disney, 'BRIDGET', all doubled in the puddle. A photograph that's half sidewalk.
Nintendo's plumber strapped into a Slingshot at the NYC Super Mario pop-up, theatre-red all the way down. Times Square as toy box.
Celsius, Sparkling, Zero Sugar — the corner-store fridge shot through rain-streaked glass. A New York still life in chemical colour.
A chef at work behind a case of roast ducks, the old guy in the orange cap visible through the glass. Cantonese-Wong, serving off Mott.
A single yellow cab paused at a crosswalk, the rest of the frame shadow and gloss. Shot from a window looking down on East 46th.
Wooden houses, autumn trees, a red 'Live Poultry' storefront, a single pedestrian on the crossing. The New York that isn't on the postcards.
A K-pop fan-event in Times Square — the subject's eyes above a Ulanzi stabiliser, hands framing a heart above. The internet made physical.
Midtown after the rain: an American flag, people under umbrellas, the pavement doing most of the work. Reflection as composition.
A modern façade catches a reflection of a skyscraper next door — the building photographing itself. A grid of blues and silvers.
One World Trade Center rising through the white ribs of the Oculus — Calatrava's bones and Manhattan's spire, stacked and mirrored.
A lone figure in a white coat crossing the Oculus's dim interior, the roof ribs cathedraling above. Architecture made into a frame.
The Brooklyn Bridge from the deck — cables like harp-strings, downtown Manhattan laid out beyond. Shot into the sun on a clear morning.
Sonic 3, 'Times Square', a W hotel tower. The Crossroads of the World with the billboards turned down and the buildings showing.
Downtown Manhattan seen through the diamond safety cage of the Empire State's observation deck. Freedom Tower in the middle distance, a crane in between.
Lower Manhattan from One World's observation deck — the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges threaded across the East River. The city as circuit board.
Manhattan's tip, the East River, Roosevelt Island, and the bridges all laid out from the plane window. A map made of streets.
The Statue of Liberty framed between the bright-orange posts of the Staten Island Ferry's open deck. The cheapest way to see her.
A parked NYPD cruiser behind a 'Police Line — Do Not Cross' barrier, neon burning red overhead. Night-shift colour.
A member of the NYPD mounted unit, helmet on, reins in hand. Name tape 'BOND'. A portrait made in seconds.
The 'Rainbow Room / Observation Deck / NBC Studios' neon under the Rockefeller canopy, a kid leaning on the wall. The best sign in midtown.
A bearded man in sunglasses and a black cap strides past Washington Square, a jacket slung over his shoulder, a wooden stick in his other hand. A two-second portrait.
Lower Manhattan across the harbour, a passenger in a brown beanie in the right third. Shot through the Staten Island Ferry's window.
The Manhattan Bridge's centre tower caught in pink dusk, the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge framing it in foreground. A great evening to be on that walkway.
A Staten Island Ferry-boat and the Statue of Liberty seen through the double window of another boat. Black-and-white, grain on the glass.
A stranger on a park bench — red curly hair, white sunglasses, a green parachute-pant leg visible below. Street style in two seconds.
A line of orange cabs pulled up under the 'Dave & Buster's' and 'Eat, Drink, Play, Watch' signs. The glamour of traffic.
The R train pulled up at 8th Street, warm lamps through the grime, a single passenger visible through a window. The subway in its old-movie key.
The ferry, its orange heavy in the frame, crossing in front of the Manhattan skyline — seen through a chain-link diamond. A photograph about framing.
The Empire State Building framed through a pre-war stone arch — a tenement fire escape off to the side. Midtown seen from the West Village.
The gothic stone arches of the Brooklyn Bridge framed by copper leaves. Victorian engineering in October.
One World Trade Center climbing out of the frame, a red traffic light small at its foot. Architecture photographed like architecture.
Radio City Music Hall's neon in falling snow, the giant white Christmas tree cone out front. The most theatrical building in midtown, at its most theatrical time.
A woman with curly hair, back to the camera, standing at the 9/11 Memorial — the bronze edge of the pool with the engraved names visible below. A quiet frame.
General Ulysses S. Grant National Memorial, autumn trees bare around it, a small tour group visible on the path. The Upper West Side's cathedral.
An NYPD officer mid-conversation, a Bank United van rushing past behind — shot stopped to freeze him, van left blurred. Street portraiture done right.
An American flag hanging between two stone buildings, sunlit, blue sky above. Just the flag and the masonry — no other subject needed.
An FDNY engine holding at a corner, One World Trade Center lit behind in green-lit night. The city's other first responders, on watch.
The Chrysler Building's lit crown at dusk, the Golden Arches of a McDonald's shoved into the bottom-right corner. Classic, kitsch, New York.
A passenger in a brown beanie looks across the water to the Statue of Liberty, an orange post dividing the frame. A photograph about attention.
Robert John Burck in boots, hat and guitar in the middle of Times Square, black-and-white pushing the theatre of it. A New York institution.
The Oculus interior from the balcony — white ribs sloping up, a pink Barbie-style pop-up installation small on the floor. Calatrava's bird-in-flight, housing a marketing moment.
The Brooklyn Bridge at dusk, its lamp globes lit, cables radiating, cotton-candy sky behind. The evening everyone tries to photograph.
A man in a white suit and bow-tie leans on a 'The best of New York' newspaper dispenser, a brown leather bag perched on top. Film-grain overlay, Liberty in the corner.
Commuters silhouetted inside the Oculus, white ribs overhead like a whale's skeleton. Black-and-white — the building earns it.
