A Slice of the Big Apple

South Bronx - Harlem - Midtown / Upper East Side

By d’Jurnet

October 25^th, 2025

Much has been written about New York City. It stands as a bedrock for cultural change, each borough possessing its own distinctive cultural imprint. Those who take root - temporarily - or call it home by choice or circumstance - are swept up in a relentless energy that one must learn to navigate alone.

I’m not revealing anything a visitor doesn’t sense once they arrive. There is a universal and multi-cultural vigor, a restless zeal that defines the commerce of living in New York City. The city is everything and moves indiscriminately, from one place to another, leaving a benchmark for another time that will either move to another place or ossify in structural imbalances that results in lower standards of living.

For many New Yorkers, time feels stationary—a daily “rat race” to meet rent, find work, or simply keep space for oneself. Yet, it’s remarkable how people still manage to create a community, finding ways to navigate and resist systems that seem immovable. Others, however, remain on the margins: no less human, but unable to gain a foothold in a city that rarely waits for anyone.

My time in NYC was fleeting, a few days with little preparation for an in-depth project. The photos I captured traces over a hundred walking blocks of Harlem, a slice of the South Bronx and the streets of Midtown and the Upper East Side. I worked discreetly using a 35 mm lens, and most people I photographed were agreeable and quite gratifying. Given the location where I was shooting, and the atmosphere of paranoia hanging over the country, I was surprised that there were only two confrontations, both were resolved less amicably than I would have hoped for.

The photos are a day in a life; on the street, in a restaurant, and commuting on the subway during off hours. The photos are unexceptional other than they are a record for a moment of time.