My relationship with New York City has been a love/hate one. Growing up in a small town two hours away from "the city," my life growing up was increasingly influenced by people from NYC and Jersey who invaded my town in "the Poconos" during the summer as complaining, loud tourists, and who more and more often were simply moving in. After the first hundred times or so of hearing it I became tired of the notion that everything that is New York is the Best, and that everyone from New York deserves special recognition for being from The Best City in the World. (A prime example of this is when I was working hostessing at a restaurant one summer in high school, and when I explained to a couple that there was a forty five minute wait, they exclaimed in indignation, "But we came here all the way from New York!") Being only two hours away from one of the most famous cities in the world, it's actually surprising I didn't visit more when I was a kid, but driving there was such a hassle that we usually avoided it. On the few times I did visit, it only seemed overwhelmingly crowded and dirty to me, and, well, overwhelming, & I didn't understand why so many people would want to live there. Once I moved to Boston, however, and discovered that there were buses that ran between the two cities every hour of every day, it became easier to get there even though I was further away than I was before. I have accordingly visited it much more often in the last five years, and have developed somewhat sentimental attachments to it. I suppose you could say I understand it a little more and respect it. In fact I like it more each time I visit, and can begin to see why so many people have such intense and complicated relationships with it. I won't venture to say I have my own such relationship with it, I am still just a visitor, but it does remind me of home. I now am drawn towards the influence that I resented so much growing up just because it is associated with home, and once you know that you've left home pretty much for good, anything related with it can make you nostalgic. Also, being that there's a surprising amount of people that I went to both high school and college with who are now located there, it's far from feeling like a city of strangers. I could obviously ramble about this city for awhile, but I'll just say that it took me awhile to search through the random photographs I've taken there since high school, and so at least to me, this gallery is both random and accomplished. If there's one thing you can say about New York City, it's that there's never a lack of things to photograph. Also, I feel like I should note that for a really authentic, daily taste of NYC, everyone should bookmark Joe's NYC on their computers, it's one of the finest photoblogs you'll find. (P.S. Go Red Sox.)

2000-2007

40 pictures; 35mm & digital