NEW YORK CITY

I just had a great time wandering New York City with my camera, mostly in the Village—one of those places where you never run out of interesting people.

I met Wolfgang in East Village. Wolfgang is a poet and a writer. People assume he’s a musician—something about the way he carries himself—but he’s not. 

I met Jaco in the Village. He told me he used to be a house manager at Lincoln Center, back when life looked different. Investors bought his building and tripled the rent. Now he’s out here. He doesn’t keep track of time in the usual way. When I asked how long, he just said, “It’s been a minute.”

At the MOMA, I was photographing a Clifford Still painting when a woman walked right into my shot. She didn’t notice me at first, then turned, just as I pressed the shutter. That small moment—realization, interruption—became part of the picture.

That’s what I love about photographing in New York. You set out looking for one thing and find something else entirely.