I Didn’t Expect To Get Any Photos Today

I was just doing errands in Midtown, on a mundane day.

I knew that if I didn’t bring my camera, and saw scenes and people that were photo-worthy, I’d be pissed. Thats the thing about New York, its always on, and never off.

I finished shopping, stood at a corner, and carefully pulled out my camera, untangled my camera strap, put it around my neck, then started to head home.

I didn’t make it down the block before stopping 3 people to take their portrait.

Everyone I stopped just had something. It wasn’t just their clothing, it wasn’t just their beauty…

They had attitude.

There’s something beautiful about a mundane city day.

I was in midtown, which meant everyone was running late, on their lunchbreak, on their phone trying to close a deal, getting their mid-day coffee (3rd of the day), and for the tourists- not paying attention to where they were walking.

And, there’s comfort in being a part of that. There’s a familiarity as a native New Yorker in being part of an interwoven society of doers, go-getters, hustlers. We’re always on time, which means we’re late. And if we’re late, we could get fired. This is the kind of stress, energy, and pulse that runs the undercurrent of Manhattan. I was grateful that I brought my camera, even to capture a few staple moments and faces. But, I was even more grateful to be in it. I want to be smack in the middle of New York chaos, sometimes. It’s such a big part of my DNA, and today was a reminder of that. My savvy was born in this place. And in bringing my camera on a random, gloomy, nothing Wednesday for an errand run— I noticed that real life is also made up of the small, seemingly insignificant, ordinary moments.