My artwork is a deceptive view of urban areas, such as New York City. I rely on the viewer’s adult experiences and childhood memories to carry them through my photo. As a child, The City always seemed like such a large, beautiful place where marvelous things happened to everyone that lived there. As I grew up and gained knowledge, I learned that is obviously not the case. My artwork does not strip this fantastical idea of beauty, but rather, it builds it up.

Living only three blocks away from the Brooklyn Promenade, I often go there after my Starbucks run to take a walk and clear my head. The Promenade looks out over the East River to the NYC skyline. On one of my walks, for a fleeting moment, the skyline reminded me of my childhood fantasies. The picture I snapped embodied the contrast of the differing inside and outside view. It makes The City look almost unreal; like it was a painting of a memory and not a photograph. The photo looks deceiving; the city looks sleepy and almost glittery from the outside, yet the city is always filled with bustle at all hours of the night, and it is definitely not as glittery on the inside. The viewer can see a gorgeous sunset to the left of the photo, which bathes the buildings a nearly ethereal glow of soft sunlight. In reality, the inside of The City is already under the cover of darkness.

The picture was taken in color, which captures the essence of the photograph. The natural lighting and sunset give the photo a quality that would not be captured in a studio. It gives the photo beautiful light, whereas the inside of the subject is completely dark.

My goal is to make the viewer see the contrast of light and dark in relation to memories. I have done my job as an artist if this photo is not merely a pretty picture to hang on a wall, but a photograph that makes the viewer feel unexpectedly and delve into lost memories.