There are many vantage points from which to view the city of New York, but one speaks to me more than the others. Don’t get me wrong, watching Manhattan Island from the Staten Island Ferry is quite special, as is taking in the skyline from the Rockefeller Centre. But it’s rare that a view simultaneously offers both scale and a sense of being right in the thick of it, yet a quarter of a way onto Manhattan Bridge from the Bowery offers this generously.
This is not a secret place, of course. It’s a staple for any photographer when they visit New York. A cliche, it could be called. But I believe for good reason. Within 30 minutes of checking into my hotel during my recent visit to New York, I was heading directly for this spot. The light was fading, much to my excitement. There is something spellbinding about watching a city light up as the sun goes down. It feels like a kind of magic, lights illuminating in unison, following one another's lead, like a dance routine.
As dusk arrives, cities are often held in purgatory. A unique middle ground, a time of its own. Not business-busy like the day, nor socially like the night. Observing a city at this time often captures it in its purest form.
Viewing New York’s Chinatown from halfway between ground and sky allows an intimate glimpse into the lives of its residents and workers, like a bird may observe from a rooftop or a cat from atop a wall. There’s something special about watching the transfer between a day and night from afar, as shops shutter and commuters disperse. It’s a transfer most of us go through most days and on ground level as we pass by others on the street or in cars or through sliding trains doors, rarely do we stop to question where others might be going or coming from. It takes not being caught up in the rush to allow our mind to wonder.
This aim of this collection of photos was to capture this time transfer, this place in between, this state of limbo on a street so vibrant and busy up until the point that it no longer is. A bustling street becomes a road with a single taxi and a single man. And like the lights in an office building flicking on one after another, we do this dance day after day without ever really realising, without ever really appreciating this space in-between day and night, where the places we leave get to breathe if just for a moment.
