LES in the Dark

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Travel

LES in the Dark

The city felt so pervasively absent that it seemed to defeat the idea of taking any kind of aim. Maybe a Manhattan without light in a sense already is photography? I tried to cooperate.

These photos were taken the first night after the storm on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I spent a few hours walking around with my camera through all the familiar places—my old neighborhood in the East Village felt only half recognizable in the dark. The experience of being there seemed to almost evade documentation, and not just for lack of available light. The city felt so pervasively absent that it seemed to defeat the idea of taking any kind of aim. Maybe a Manhattan without light in a sense already is photography? I tried to cooperate.

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Cyclists crossing the Williamsburg Bridge.

FDR Drive

SoHo stoop lit from sirens.

Corner of 7th St. and Ave. A

A bodega stays open in the East Village.

Crossing the half-lit Williamsburg Bridge into a pitch-black Manhattan.