Just learning of this now. Beautiful.
Delightful article beautifully illustrated. I would love to see a photo essay of a remembrance of things past (from this city). So many sources of my own memories of NYC have vanished; some because they were ephemeral to begin with, some because so much of what made NYC more than just a city have been forced to close. Where one now sees financial institutions and tourist traps were once elegant department stores, bookshops that also published, family owned enterprises that existed for generations, whole neighborhoods full of the colorful culture of the immigrant heritage of specific countries. Where now is the little Italy, the Germantown, the Irish enclaves. Every now and then you can still spot a fig tree or grapevine in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn whilst older residents play boules on Bastille Day - or a hidden alley way with a relic of times past. It is still a great city, but so much of its charm is fading away.
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@Regina McIlvain
It is why I never go back to NYC. The destruction of the ethnic neighborhoods and family run stores still break my heart.
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I feel a deep yearning. What a tribute. And the photos are pretty good too. Which goes to show that even 6,500 miles away, one can never quite leave New York.
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Great article and I absolutely love the photos!
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Beautiful writing, John Leland, as usual. You know how to turn a phrase, capture the why, nail it.
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can't beat it!
That pigeon photo! I love seeing my fellow native New York pigeons in print!
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That photo made me laugh so much. People and pigeons out, going about their day.
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the best city in the world! I love you New York!
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These images show the soul and heart of NYC, my birthplace and my heart as well. All of these special moments (just imagining trying to get all of those balloons into a subway car) are what makes our city the great and unique place it is.
Thank you for the wonderful writing and the careful selection of images. I didn't even mind the plug for the book. I will look for it.
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I just love the pigeon picture.
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During this COVID 19 nightmare it's so lovely to see these pics of our perfectly imperfect NYC and it's residents living their lives pre-virus. Such big personality. My favorite is Breezy Point Surf Club pic from 2000. Classic.
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God, those photos are wonderful! Especially the last one of the couple on the bridge.
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Absolutely beautiful photos of an amazing city. NYC, even for those of us who have not visited, remains an American treasure. On a slightly less positive note, I did notice there isn't even a whiff of integration in any of those pictures. I assume that was an artifact of chance in the selection of the photos?
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Yikes! MOMA, The Met, The National Gallery, The Peabody should all feature this work for the next five years!
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I love these pics. The more time I spend away from Manhattan and the Boros, the more I enjoy sentimentally gazing at brilliant evocative pics such as these. A true treasure and one of the reasons one can always count on The Times to do a great job at almost everything it does.
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Lovely photography in this piece. I often disagree with the politics of the NYT, it is high value articles like this that keep me coming back. Keep it up!
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Lick outside of flu season if at all.
But wait, would licking improve the collective gut biome?
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nice article!
Would love to see an article on the few photographers covering the impeachment, that are still shooting film (like Burnett) and another one yesterday I spotted with a Mamiya the rangefinder camera. using film in this age for breaking stories is a story in itself
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thanks for sharing, like a mini gallery exhibit. perked up my morning.!
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Just for a moment I felt like I was back in NYC. I loved all of the pictures but my favorite was probably the elderly lady crocheting on the tram while face to face with a deer and the walking humans/pigeons. The thing that is so unique about NYC is that New Yorkers are unfazed by the strangest sights. They arent ignoring the weirdness like they do in LA. They are just happily cohabiting with it.
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Thank you: wonderful selection. Makes me want to see more!
Especially enjoy the pigeon / person walk by Ruth Fremson.
I first noticed her photography during the 2016 presidential campaign, and the more I see, the more grateful I am for her vision / skill.
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not even a pfft of graffiti!?
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@ohstop0
The last photo....
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I can't help but wonder what happened to that couple in the car.
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What interested you most in The Times this week and why?
- This week a selection of photos caught my attention. The photos are all taken in New York are have a deeper meaning behind all of them. For example, the picture of the man and women in a car, sharing a moment together really stands out to me. This photo shows that despite all the bright lights, noisy people, and chaos of the city, it is possible to have a love so incredibly special with someone. Furthermore, the picture of the boy doing a belly flop into the pool is interesting to me. This pictures makes me feel like no matter the place, or situation anyone can make a good time out of anything. No matter how crazy or loud an area might be, fun can come out of it and everyone will have a good time. These pictures all mean something different to me.
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these photos, especially the one of the man and woman in a car sharing a moment amidst the chaos of a city really speaks volumes to me. it shows that despite the noise, the lights, the sirens, and the people, a quiet moment of pure love can still be had. it captures the intimacy between the two. as if absolutely nothing matters in the moment except THAT moment. that kiss. that feeling. it’s beautiful to me, and fascinating, that two people could be so utterly infatuated with one another to not even be bothered by their surroundings. as far as the birds walking with the humans go, that one to me speaks on the subject of sharing this world with the animals, and treating it the way it was meant to be treated. animals inhabited this planet before humans ever came around, so i feel it shows the ways in which animals are such a huge part of our home. they live here just like you and i. we should learn to think about them more often the next time we go to litter, or when we choose to leave trash on the beach instead of disposing of it.
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When I look at a photograph I want to understand life beyond self while in relationship to self.
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I love these photos. Photography is my hobby/avocation. Although most of my photos involve landscapes and the small, simple things in the natural world, these photos make me want to get out and photograph city streets, small town streets and the people who inhabit them. Thanks for this feature. Really enjoyed it.
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Love these pictures! Definitely a grittiness to the city in the earlier pictures that I remember as a child in the 70’s. And that poor soul waiting for the subway with all of those balloons. I can’t imagine that ride was possible!
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Love the photos that captured NY. The “don’t lick it” comment not so much. Please maintain a little class and rise above your average, desperate to sound clever Facebook poster.
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@Mary Wilson Laugh a little. It may just brighten your day!
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Awww, I thought it was cute.
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There was in the City section on Sundays, The Photographers Journal. It was a celebration of street photography.
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I licked them
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This reminded me of the late, lamented “Streetscapes” column, by the late Christopher Gray
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While this article highlights some wonderful photographers, I do hope the work of Sam Falk is well represented in this book. He gets my vote for greatest New York City street photographer ever-with thanks to his longtime employer The New York Times for letting the eye of this visual genius roam the greatest city in the world.
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What a joyous treat!
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That building at 134th street in the South Bronx is stunning.
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@DMS But it doesn't appear to exist anymore. I checked Google maps and could not find it.
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Very nice collection of photos, but the "lick" New York claim, not so much. Yes, New York is the general feeling, but it does not rise to the level indicated in the title. Just say'n
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"A lost shoe that tells you everything you need to know about Bloomberg-era New York." It does? What does it tell me? The typical New Yorker lost 4.3 shoes a year during Bloomberg's time as mayor? Most of the shoes (87.4%) were for left feet? This may have been related to global warming? Each lost shoe correlated to a 0.00037% decline in the city's GDP and upticks in requests for food stamps and housing assistance? It was actually an installation by Christo and Jeanne-Claude? It was fake news and not a single shoe was lost during Mayor Mike's time in office? If anyone sees John Leland, perhaps he has a better answer. Please?
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More, please.
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Can't help but bring a smile to your face, thanks for the great photos!
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These are the epitome of street photography and they only get better with age.
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I spent my entire life in the city. Now out here. You brought back the wonder of the city for me. Even the everyday is special. Thank you
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"A lost shoe that tells you everything you need to know about Bloomberg-era New York." It does? What does it tell me? The typical New Yorker lost 4.3 shoes a year during Bloomberg's time as mayor? Most of the shoes (87.4%) were for left feet? This may have been related to global warming? Each lost shoe correlated to a 0.00037% decline in the city's GDP and upticks in requests for food stamps and housing assistance? It was actually an installation by Christo and Jeanne-Claude? It was fake news and not a single shoe was lost during Mayor Mike's time in office? If anyone sees John Leland, perhaps he has a better answer. Please?
As impressive as these photos are, I am even more impressed by the writing in this article. Thank you, John Leland, for taking us into the minds of the photographers who see the unusual that is so usual in this city and are both inspired and compelled to record it.
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It's not surprising Maya Angelou could dance, she was a professional entertainer for years before she became a writer.
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@Sidewalk Sam
You can tell that her dance partner has some moves too!
Where has street photography gone? These are wonderful.
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I spent my summers in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, from age 5 to 14. Back in the 60s and 70s. I loved it!
The unique and impressive subway sounds, smells, sights; the penny candy store on the corner of 15th St. near my grandmother’s Brownstone in Park Slope; sporadically interrupting our game of stickball out in the street to ride the rear bumper of the bus passing by, until the driver stopped and yelled at us to get off; Radio City and all the stores selling transistor radios nearby; the heavenly smell of peaches, plums and other produce in the early mornings in the City; jumping off the high dive (bellyflop!) at the El Carib Club in Mill Basin; getting hit by a snowball for the first time at age 12, near Flatbush Avenue, getting off the bus. I LOVED it there.
The wonderful photographs captured the essence. A beautifully edited article.
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Enjoyable photos, but I don' think I'd call that a "swan dive"... Looks like an imminent belly flop!
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Very interesting and memorable.
These are much better than the modern recreations of the old photos that ran a few weeks back.
They remind me of the great photojournalist WeeGee, who when asked about his photographic technique, replied, "F8 and be there".
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@Steve Kennedy
Another good technique is "bracket, bracket, bracket!".
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"Visually cacophonous." Love it! Best phrase I have ever heard for describing the photographic potential of NYC. There is no better city for street photography.
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I wonder what all the people are doing at the Fresh Kills Landfill
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A question for the Times' photo editors. Has anyone considered making the Times photo library accessible to the public and making the photos available for purchase - in the same way the New Yorker has done with, or in conjunction with, the Cartoon Bank? (Maybe people have and found the idea unpromising from a business perspective.).
The archive would have to be viewable, but would prevent viewers from copying or downloading without paying a fee or could just restrict sales to printed copies. Revenues could be split in some fashion with the original photographers (though the Times may already own in entirety all rights to the photos).
Given the treasure trove of images, I imagine many people would enjoy making presents of the photos - from major historical figures to slice of life - to those who share a love of New York and good photography and could generate more income than a single coffee table book.
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@A Some of their more famous photos are available on this site as prints (framed or not).
I would like to see a lot more though.
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Many NYT photographers past/present are featured in talks, tours, and exhibits every year at Photoville, a festival that takes place in Brooklyn Bridge Park for two weeks in September. The NYT also curates special works and exhibitions each year.
Work is presented inside galleries made out of repurposed shipping containers specially designed to feature each artist or presenting organization’s theme.
There’s also food, related kid’s activities, workshops, and evening programming and more.
If you’re not in NYC, check out an exhibit called The FENCE featuring more NYT and other renowned artists, which visits several cities in the US (Atlanta, Houston, Denver, Boston, Sarasota, Seattle, Brooklyn) and Canada (Calgary) produces by the same nonprofit team that produces Photoville.
The article says something about “when you arrived here” but some of us always were here! I’m beginning to realize that it’s a dwindling number of us though, by the stunned reactions I receive lately when I people ask where I’m from and I say I grew up in Queens, then moved to Brooklyn. Now I live in what to me is like a 6th borough (an easier commute!) only because the alt side four days a week (yes four!) was becoming intolerable and it was just time. But I’m glad I always lived here, even in the tough times, it’s part of my soul and made me who I am. I’ve been a lot of amazing places but this is the greatest city in the world.
Lick it. Live a little. And reindeer need to get around too.
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I wouldn’t want every city in America to be like New York, but America would be a better and more special country if more of it embraced the spirit of New York.
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Incredible photos. Love to see more photos in the Times like this.
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Beautiful photos. They capture our shared humanity.
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ciao! love to buy the book..any chance to find it in Italy?!?!
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@silvia https://www.amazon.it/Only-New-York-Photography-Times/dp/0789336553/ref=sr_1_8?__mk_it_IT=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&keywords=%22only+in+new+york%22&qid=1559500940&s=gateway&sr=8-8
I like the picture of ballon seller, I am so moving
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Magnifico trabajo felicitaciones.
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Very nice pictures. Well done by a photo editor. I think there're some kind of universal sense of humanity and good in the selection (not necessary taste of New York)
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