48 HOURS OF NEW YORK STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
13th/14th September 2024
Prior to this particular trip to New York, I had visited four or five times. However, those visits were holidays with friends, not with the sole intention of photographing the streets. It would be pretty much impossible and a touch frustrating to try and do street photography in-between being sociable. Street photography (for me at least) is a very focused activity. So focused indeed that I can’t even do any POV filming for things like YouTube or Instagram. My mind would be elsewhere to the detriment of what I’m there for - photographs.
Day 1.
So, with 48 hours and 27 rolls of film (a record apparently when I asked for a hand check of my bag of film at the airport) where do I go?
My hotel was on East 53rd Street and a 15 minute walk to Rockefeller Plaza. Always a good place to get metaphorically warmed up.
The first pictures I take when starting a street photography session are always a bit rubbish. It takes time to get into the swing of getting close…really close to people as that’s when the street photography magic happens.
Oddly, when I arrived at St Patrick’s Cathedral (just over the street from Rockefeller), it looked other worldly. All the skyscrapers around it were in shadow and yet the sun was hitting the white marble of the building making it shine apparently brighter than ever. One of the first pictures I took was of this. It’s the last picture in this gallery and is quite striking.
I digress…
I was there for the people. The locals. Not skyscrapers or tourists looking into their iPhones pointed skyward.
There are certain hotspots in the city where people congregate. Or more correctly cross paths on their daily journeys. Herald Square and Bryant Park are two of these and they’re pretty close together. As they are squares at intersections of major roads, they have massive crossroads at each corner. When the lights are on green, dozens and dozens of people gather waiting to cross. Walking against the flow of these people when the lights turn to red is a great way of getting face to face with the humans of New York.
I tried visiting Washington Square Park but it was pretty empty even though it was 29 degrees. There’s one picture from there of perhaps the leatheriest man I have ever seen! He was folding out a silver reflector to keep his tan at its best. Serious indeed.
My first 24 hours were pretty uneventful. It was difficult getting into the swing of street photography in a new city. I also went to the financial district in the hopes to see some very well dressed workers but it just wasn’t happening. Time to call it a day and think about the next 24 hours.
Day 2.
Shooting on film has a great effect on how I feel when I shoot. I can’t check to see if I have any good photographs so the pressure is always on to keep taking pictures. If I knew I had a banger or two in the bag, I might relax and by that, I mean I would start to take less care.
Full steam ahead. I knew where I was heading today. I was going to walk in the footsteps of some of the great American photographers like Harold Feinstein and Garry Winogrand down at Coney Island where more iconic photographs have been taken than anywhere. And it was a Sunday and HOT.
The day began with some time around Herald Square as I wanted to revisit as I now felt I was up to speed. It was fruitful although there were obviously a lot of tourists. It was a flying visit though as I wanted to hit the subway to Coney Island.
The hour or so journey there was wonderful as most of the time is spent above ground on the ‘subway’. I suppose it’s just like travelling out of London on the Underground. Much nicer though as the subway is air conditioned.
Arriving was like taking a step back in time. The boardwalk…the people…the noise. It wasn’t as busy as I had hoped so I decided the best course of action was to grab a beer and some lunch at Ruby’s. Once refreshed and lubricated, I was quickly photographing what was going on. It was fabulous. Right down to the famous MAGA crazies who were touting Trump only to be shouted down by passers-by singing about immigrants allegedly eating cats and dogs. I spent the rest of the day there until the sun started to set and it was too dark for the film I had with me.
And that really was it. I was hot, happy and (hopefully) had lots of photographs. I was heading back home to get in the darkroom and start developing the film.
As anyone who has ever tried street photography knows, it is a constant battle with disappointment. There was something about this 48 hours photographing the streets of New York that proved different.
Maybe I should hit NYC with my camera on 4th July sometime in the future. A crazy town, crazy busy seems like a street photography dream.
I hope you like the pictures.
Thanks to Leica Store Manchester for the second hand M6 that I purchased for this trip and particularly for sponsoring my last exhibition.