New York
It is obvious that New York is a real temple of photography for many enthusiast photographers, and especially for street or urban photography.
I have been lucky enough to visit New York twice so far. But I was not yet a photographer during the first trip. A few years later, things changed a lot and I was able to live in the posture of a New York street photographer for 10 days. Quite enough to take many stories with me, and far too little with so much to say, to show and to do in the Big Apple.
For a photographer like me, New York is a bit like an open-air theater, in which there is always something going on. Everything goes very quickly, of course, but having the camera in the hand can considerably slow down the pace of New York’s life.
Each district is of course very different. First of all in terms of architecture, but also regarding the atmosphere that emerges and the type of people who live there. These districts offer so many different perspectives of shots while being so close. They also offers a wealth of urban life that is unmatched, at least in the cities and countries that I have been able to visit so far. Of course, there are many places, really iconic, that are pretexts to take photographs. Everyone has their own photo of these places, as if to say “I was there”. Personally, even for the most famous places, I have always made sure to bring a personal artistic touch to my photos and my compositions. I tried to be original in my approach. It is with this idea in mind that I was able to photograph Dumbo and the Brooklyn Bridge, The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, the many skyscrapers that you will see in the gallery below, Central Park, Bushwick, New York taxis, the Skyline ans so on.
But beyond these mythical places, I really wanted to be able to capture the streets of New York and the urban life that we find there in 2019. I am very likely to visit New York again in the future. Maybe the city will be the same, but chances are that it will have changed. I hope that this travel diary and the photos it contains will cross the ages and that it will evolve just like my photography. I love looking at old photos of New York, like those of Robert Franck, Saul Leiter or Joël Meyerowitz which inspire me a lot. So I just wish that perhaps, I will take the same look at my own photos someday.
“I would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York’s skyline.”
Ayn Rand