My Splendid Mirage

I took these photographs in Manhattan. Their subjects are the details of urban life, and they have been photographed many times by other photographers. My goal, however, was to photograph the city like a jazz musician interprets a well known standard. Often the song is well known, but the musician still attempts to transform the song into a unique personal statement. In a bittersweet essay F. Scott Fitzgerald once referred to Manhattan as “My Splendid Mirage”. That’s an apt description, because as I walk through its streets I often feel that an unambiguous understanding of this complex city is forever beyond our reach. With that in mind, I hope people will view these photographs with an open imagination, and in the process formulate their own particularly meaningful interpretations of an urban experience in the twenty first century.