New York City According to John…

New York is the city that I love, mainly because it holds all my childhood memories.

I grew up in NYC from the mid-1980s through late 1990, skating all over the city. I left NYC in 1998 and would always go back to see my parents as often as possible. On each trip, I would notice the city I loved so much change ever so slightly. You only see differences when you are away from something because when you’re around it all the time, you don’t notice the change. That’s how NYC was for me over the past 23 years; the more time I spent away, the more I saw the subtle differences.

May of 2022 would be the first time I would return to NY with a vast knowledge of my camera and a new photographic eye for a more extended period. NYC would again appear different to me, this time not because it had changed but because I had changed. Dropping in for a visit from time to time, I was more of a tourist in my city, needing more time to settle in and get back to my grassroots. This trip was to see my dad, who was not doing well and was hospitalized. While in the hospital, he tested positive for covid and I was told I could not see him. So now I was in NYC with nothing but time on my hands and time to think to myself.

This trip proved that quote more accurate than I could have ever imagined. I was trying to make images that showcased NYC the way I remembered it growing up, retracing my childhood footsteps. The photos reflect loneliness, parenthood, and independence—all my emotions.

The craziest part of this story is that I did not convert these images to black and white to heighten or add a dramatic effect. On this trip, it just so happened that I took my Leica monochrome (the only digital camera that shoots in black and white). The Leica Monochrome did not even provide the option to make color images, which is fortunate for me, as I feel this series of work is best seen in black and white.

—John