NYC Zine + Trip!

I was so excited when these came in the mail!

I went to NYC last October in 2024. It was my first time going and I was excited. NYC to street photographers is hailed as a "playground"—every trick up your sleeve, every technique that you've practiced, every tool that you've used, whatever photographic skills that you already have can be utilized in NYC. The city has something for everybody and not just photographers looking to take a certain direction with their work, but real people too with all their own ambitions.

So many legendary street photographers shot a lot there and many of our great contemporaries work there today too.

I knew before going there that not all that glitters is gold. Life for New Yorkers is hard—they have to work constantly just to get by—and the chaos isn't for everyone, whether local or visitor. I also knew visiting would be more expensive than other U.S. cities, but despite all that, I made the pilgrimage.

All the techniques that I have practiced, the principles that I’ve adopted, all the great work of other photographers who have shot the city that I’ve studied. It was all leading up to that moment.

When I first got off the bus and set foot in Jamaica I hit the ground running. I began my usual dance: scour the street for snapshots soak in the scenery and more. I got lost, the good kind of lost.

For the following days, I planned to tour and photograph each borough, spending the entire day exploring. I brought only two bags: a 28L backpack that stayed at the Airbnb and a small 3L camera bag. I would only take with me the camera bag, and I intended to NOT come back to the airbnb just so that I could be as immersed in the city for as long as possible, savoring every minute…

Thankfully I am pleased with the images that I was able to capture while I was there, and I was able to create a zine!