Every one of us who lives in this city is a unique individual. But the photographs I have taken could very well reflect the life of a typical college girl living in New York City. These photographs are moments that are personal to my life and the people in it, but more importantly, some of the principles that I focused on are common ground among most New Yorkers. This portfolio and “love letter” was a response to a frustration that I felt was building up in me from living and working in New York City. When prompted with the task of exhibiting aspects of ordinary surroundings that we do not typically notice, I sat down with myself and reflected upon what parts of this city led me to live and work here full time. I thought about what I saw almost every day, or things that were part of my life consistently and I realized that what was missing was a true understanding and appreciation for its presence in my life. I have long forgotten how to appreciate the small things I found in my city. Lately, I had been complaining to friends that my relationship with this city was so full of both love and hate- to the point where I had forgotten where the love had even come from. In this past week, I took the time to reflect on certain moments in my typical day. Whether it was the commute back home from work, or en route during my morning run, I asked myself the question of, “what about all of this do you love so much?”
I shaped my photo portfolio as a “digital love letter” to New York City. Time Out Magazine has often described living here as being equivalent to being in a tumultuous, but passion fueled relationship. Drawing inspiration upon this concept, I decided to curate my photos in a letter very much similar to a letter I may write to my own boyfriend. In it, I explained how I had first fallen in love with this city and how my life has been shaped by it to lead me to where I am today. I had written:
New York City, you are the greatest love I have ever known in my life. I fell in love with you when I was thirteen years old, in the midst of a divorce and a move out of my hometown of Flushing, Queens and into the outer corners of Long Island. On weekends, I would take solo trips via the Long Island Rail Road, back here just to keep a little piece of my home with me. On holidays and days off from school, I would take the train into Penn Station and walk around and explore. Gradually, I began to know more about you than just the surrounding area of Penn Station. I began to know your art galleries, your hole-in-the-wall coffee shops, your alphabetical subway routes. I began to document you with my camera and at the end of my sophomore year, I fell in love in a boy just fascinated by you as I am. Together we explored more of what you had to offer and we still do, two years later. At the end of my junior year, I found a job as a hostess in Midtown Manhattan. At the end of my senior year, I found myself a tiny little apartment in downtown Flushing and I came back to you.
While the main purpose of these images was to be a source of documentation for myself, I do hope that others can find something striking, a “punctum.. sting, speck.” (Barthes, 14) in my photographs. Perhaps the “studium… a kind of general, enthusiastic commitment” can be found in the bright, vibrant colors found in some photographs, or perhaps the general composition of a portrait might entice my viewers, but what I hope becomes the “punctum” to my audience is the emotion that I wrapped in each photograph taken. I hope the story that I wrote with each single photograph allows my viewers to think deeper into what each photograph may mean- in either a general, personal or interpersonal level. I hope it drives people to ask themselves the question of, “what keeps you going in your daily lives? What do you love the most about this city? What do you love most about your life in this city?”
Sontag said that “photography has become one of the principal devices for experiencing something, for giving an appearance of participation.” (Sontag, 10) I disagree on the matter of appearance, for in taking these photographs, it was after the moments of full participation did I take the photographs. For me, these photographs were a RESULT of experiencing something; almost as stamps of a memory or of a time. In On Photography, Susan Sontag questions whether photographs are meant to purely “capture reality” or whether they serve to “interpret reality.” In my photographs, I strive to purely capture my reality and it is my hope that my viewers can interpret this reality. These snapshots from my life are just products of myself as an observer.
New York City is the reason I became a photographer; the reason behind my confidence, my growth and the relationships in my life. It is all the love that New York City gives.
