New York City Street Photography. Every Day. A Photo Project.
After about two months in New York City last year, my departure to Montréal (see the video here) was just around the corner—18 days away to be exact. It would be my second time in Québec and another 10-hour ride on the Amtrak from Penn Station.
It’s a trip, or mode of transportation, rather, that I recommend to everyone who asks about Montréal. 10-12 hours on a train may not be for everyone, but to me, it means a full day of reading, editing, and watching the Adirondacks slide by.
The problem was that I hadn’t been out photographing New York City as much as I would have liked during this particular stay. Between international trips and short journeys to and from Boston to visit my partner, I didn’t have many days off to devote to street photography in NYC itself.
To remedy this before I left, I set myself a mission: New York City street photography every single day until I left.
Rain or shine, early or late, golden hour or clouds—just not on Mondays (grocery day).
It certainly got me outside with my camera a whole lot, but I also had to push through burnout that had been building all year and moments where I’d have rather done anything but get on the train downtown.
I came away with a whole new library of NYC photos that, to me at least, made the entire thing worth it. But even photographing somewhere as incredible as New York comes with its challenges if you push it as hard as I did.
Here’s how it went:
Prefer to watch?
Day 1: 125th St./Harlem Piers
A hectic workday meant starting late, with little light left.
One thing about New York street photography though? The city rarely disappoints.
Shooting under the trestle around 125th Street and experimenting with slow shutter speeds made for a productive session.
My only big takeaway from today was that it always seems as though I’ll get something I love when I least expect it rather than have that perfect shot pay off when I plan out every detail.
I can track the exact angle of the sun on Photopils and roll up to an amazing spot at the perfect time only to get nothing I love, or I can walk down to the Harlem Pier on a random Tuesday and get photos I’m really into.
Day 2: Downtown Piers
I remember feeling on day 2, that this was about to be a tiring experiment. Our brains just are not wired to be creative every day.
I did get a couple of shots in really happy with, but that was mostly thanks to the light and the subjects being perfect. I focused primarily on video, and I think knowing my goal was mainly B-Roll felt good.
Day 3: Chelsea/Hudson Piers
The plan was…
Go to Chelsea
Spend the last few minutes of sunset around the Hudson Piers
Hit the galleries (a ton of them have openings on Thursday nights)
However, I didn’t even get to the galleries because I ran out of energy. I’d already started to wonder if I could do this project the right way and romanticize the whole ‘shoot every day’ thing, but things quickly started looking up from here.
Day 4: Two Bridges
It turns out all you need is golden hour and the Brooklyn Bridge to get inspired.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m too spoiled. Like what will I do one day if I’m somewhere that’s not insanely photogenic??
But all we can do is just be grateful in the moment and hope for continued good luck.
Quick note: Despite the fact I said rain or shine at the top, I had freakishly idyllic weather the whole time. Almost unbelievable for October in New York.
Day 5: Central Park, 5th Ave., Gowanus
So Day 5 was a Saturday, and I got up early to try and get some of the soft morning light. Long story short, I didn’t end up doing much with it.
I have a confession to make: I don’t really like Central Park. It’s messy and feels more like a tourist attraction than a park.
New York has so many green spaces, and really any of them seem to be more enjoyable to me. I would read my book every day around lunchtime at Highbridge Park, for example, and enjoyed sitting in that area.
After the light got harsh, I went into the Guggenheim for a bit and then headed pretty deep into Brooklyn.
There is a little cluster of breweries that I’d been reliably informed are some of the best in New York. It’s true.
I snapped a couple of quick shots around a subway entrance, but mostly just enjoyed the food and drinks, and then hopped on a Manhattan-bound train back home.
All in all, a very packed day, but most definitely a good one.
Day 6: Staten Island Ferry/South Ferry
Day 6 was too easy. It was like I was still super warmed up and ready to go from the day before. The weather and the light were too good to be true. The general public was surprisingly chill about how in their face I was with the camera.
It was my first time taking the Staten Island Ferry, and actually, my first attempt to really see the Statue of Liberty, so it was fresh and new and easy to get inspired.
If you come to New York, don’t bother taking the Statue of Liberty boat tours, just go to Whitehall and take the free ferry to and from. You get to see it twice, and again, it’s free!
Anyway, thank you to France for the statue; it’s very photogenic.
Have we ever given them anything back? I feel like we should have.
Day 7: Domino Park
Day 7 I went across the river again, this time to Williamsburg, specifically Domino Park.
I had every intention of shooting under the tracks around the Williamsburg bridge, but I was uninspired there and quickly walked down to the river instead.
I started much further up the park than I’d been before which turned out to be a great time. I got a bunch of shots using the trees and bushes to frame up subjects.
And then this sunset and the little bit of haze made for just the easiest 45 minutes of photography I’ve ever experienced. At least since the day prior on the street photographer express to and from Staten Island.
Day 8: Washington Heights
Day 8 was a little different. I got up first thing in the morning and grabbed a coffee at a little spot I found a couple of weeks ago and have been obsessed with ever since.
It’s a little Dominican-owned hole-in-the-wall with 3 tables where you can still get a cortado for $5.50. Just a fantastic place to start the day.
From there I wandered about 20 blocks up from around where Harlem turns into Washington Heights, to 181st where you can get a view of the GW Bridge. Underrated bridge.
This was a pretty laidback photowalk with an emphasis on cityscapes and just capturing the fall light in all these amazing little streets. The leaves had begun to change, but it wasn’t too cold out yet, even in the morning, so this really couldn’t have been any more perfect.
Day 9: Times Square
Day 9 was rough. I think Thursdays might have been cursed or something (last Thursday was Chelsea).
Really, it’s probably just the end-of-week sprint to get everything done at the day job that makes me want to just sit around and do nothing afterward.
But. I got my camera out anyway and spent about an hour wandering around 7th and 8th Avenue just a little ways up from 42nd Street.
Even though it was a quick session with just a handful of decent photos, it’s always fun to walk around at night with the camera set to monochrome and just see what there is to see
I love backlit shots as is probably extremely evident throughout my work, so Times Square at night is a lot of fun for me.
I spent most of the time focused on the theaters actually. I love the tall signs that extend up into the sky, all those pillars of light help give the city this futuristic look
All in all, I’d call it a low-effort success.
As a bonus, here’s a link to a short film I made in Times Square during a rainstorm the previous year:
Day 10: Times Square Part II
Things once again got out of hand during the day and I got a much later start than I’d anticipated.
I would have absolutely stayed home and probably would have had a better, more relaxed night to prep for the weekend, but I had this challenge to confront, and I’d already knocked out 9 days, so I headed out anyway.
It was tough to stay motivated, and I think heading back to Times Square two days in a row was a bad choice. I thought the crowds and chaos would have made things easier on me photography-wise, but it was so packed that I just snapped a couple of quick shots and then walked off toward the Rockefeller.
I didn’t stay out long, and I wasn’t feeling this one from start to finish if I’m being honest, but I do think there are one or two shots worth a second look.
Day 11: The ICP, Houston Street
Day 11 made me painfully aware of how burnt out I was at this point in the project. I don’t mean to complain. It would be insane not to be grateful for how many shoots I managed to squeeze into my last couple of weeks in New York, but on Day 11, it was tough to find the motivation to lift the camera up and snap a photo.
I visited the ICP in the morning which was a lot of fun, and I was hoping it would give me the inspirational push I needed, but as much as I enjoyed the galleries, I didn’t have a lot of luck finding more of a spark there.
I was out the full day, basically from 9 a.m. to 6 or so, and only intentionally shot at 4 or 5 spots. I even headed home during the middle of golden hour because I was mentally and creatively exhausted, something that I don’t think has ever happened to me before.
There were shots here and there that I think are worth keeping, but days 10 and 11, were a bit of a struggle.
Day 12: The MoMA, Manhattan Bridge
Day 12 brought a welcome close to this project.
I checked out the MoMA where there was a pretty huge Robert Frank exhibition to celebrate what would have been his 100th birthday. That gave me a last burst of energy to finish this thing strong.
The project overall was not easy, but I did get to cover a lot of ground in these two weeks, and I’m grateful for how much time I got to spend out in New York. I also recognized, standing on top of the Manhattan Bridge, shooting down into Chinatown, that as tired as I was, and as much as I was fighting burnout at this point, I was still living a reality that I have been extremely lucky to experience.
It’s really important to me to be grateful for every single opportunity I have and enjoy it all as much as humanly possible along the way.
You always hear those expressions: these are the good old days you’ll look back on, enjoy the moment, smell the roses… but we often forget how much truth lies in those old cliches.
So I didn’t put too much pressure on it. I took some photos, I enjoyed the last of the light on a Sunday afternoon.
Then, I went home and slept.
Wrapping Up
This project was… something.
There were days I honestly didn’t want to look at my cameras, and there were days that I got many great photos.
To be completely transparent, I think I STARTED this whole journey burnt out, and one of the biggest downsides is that this did absolutely nothing to remedy where I was at mentally with photography and life in general.
I have a long history of overestimating how much at once, and this was certainly more evidence of that.
I think that forcing myself to create when I wasn’t in the right headspace did some real damage. I arrived in Montréal with a pretty bad cold, and a lack of desire to do much of anything. That said, I don’t want to spend too much time on the negatives.
For every perceived ‘low’ I experienced during this project, I have 10 things to be grateful for, and a whole lot of photos to prove that I pushed myself hard.
Of that, I’m extremely proud.