I had never been to New York before. This was only my second time in the USA. The first was to spend two weeks with un-unionised Mexicans dressed as mice down South (not as uncommon as you might think) and a week in South Carolina. But in my mind, America is New York and New York is America - so when I had the chance to go over and photograph a wedding in North Carolina without the wife and kids (something I am paying for pretty much for the rest of my life) the pull of New York was too hard to resist.

Everything that has ever been said of the place by everyone else that has been there is true. It’s massive, cinematic and magical - so I won’t labour the point here.

I had 48 hours to do New York. I had planned meticulously before I got there exactly what I wanted to shoot. I knew it was going to be a tough couple of days and wanted to capture the real New York - immerse myself in its world, get stuff that not everyone gets.

But you know what? After ten minutes there, I didn’t give a stuff. There’s a whole lot of pretension around photography that is hard to separate yourself from sometimes. I found myself taking photos I wanted to take and that of course consisted of the iconic views that millions had experienced and caught on film millions of times before I had. But I had never experienced those views, I hadn’t captured them and I was entranced for the first time just like all those others had before me. Why should I deny myself the joy of that? The answer, of course, is that I shouldn’t. So what if what I got is similar to a slew of other photographs out there? What I ended up with was a whole lot of memories which are personal to me. It’s something I had forgotten somewhere along the way through this sort of minor career.

I think it’s the difference between wedding photography, where you are second guessing what your couple will want to remember. You are creating memories for other people, not for yourself which is lovely. It is what I am paid for and what I enjoy immensely, but rarely do you experience an emotional tie to a wedding photograph where you have no connection to anyone there.

My New York trip was purely for me. I lost myself (literally and figuratively) in the city and what I was shooting. It was joyful, exciting, sad, poignant and tiring but as fulfilling as I could have hoped and that is why I love the photos that I took.

So, here is New York. Presented through the eyes of someone falling in love with it for the first time. Not groundbreaking or particularly edgy but mine.

full set at http://www.stuarthogben.com/new_york
Stu

Blog - Through the Lens

Posts tagged with chinatown

New York