Midtown East Tunnel Exit, Manhattan (2011)

These photographs were made over two decades as Joseph Michael Lopez walked the streets of the boroughs of New York. Devoid of the visual tropes associated with the city, the images instead present a vision of New York as it was experienced. He writes: ‘These visceral photographs are less about the city as a place, and more about what the city is in my mind, and in my heart: the emotions, the questions, the desires I’ve experienced and discovered.’ JML NYC 02-23 is published by Gost Books. Images and words: Joseph Michael Lopez

149th St, South Bronx (2021)

‘I was revisiting my roots where my Puerto Rican father was brought up. I was born on the other side of the Harlem River. Those days, I was trying to make sense of life there. Not the easiest place to work. My Spanish tongue helped. One afternoon, right outside the Lincoln hospital, I heard running footsteps approaching me and I turned around, reacting viscerally. I depressed my shutter at the hip and turned the camera along with the movement passing by me, like two dancers meeting. Or a surfer catching a wave’

A-train, Manhattan (2003)

‘I took this picture one day on my way downtown from Harlem, to work at Chuck’s darkroom in Union Square. Some time after that, a French friend of mine offered me an opportunity to meet and show my work to [French photographer] Marc Riboud. This photograph was one of the prints I shared with him. Marc saw in it a crucifix: something I was not yet totally conscious of. It was a revelation that propelled me to go deeper’

Q-train, Manhattan Bridge (2014)

‘What you photograph is a sum of your life experiences. I spent many hours in the ocean, riding waves. On the train, that day, this “scratchiti” pulled me in, bringing back the memory of a Portuguese man o’war’

Union Sq, Manhattan (2012)

‘She passed by me, and I thought, “Wow, I’ve never seen a face like that”. I stepped over to introduce myself. I asked to take her portrait. She looked at me like I was insane. I gave her my card, and she went away. A few minutes later, she runs up and says: “I looked at your website; your work is great. Please take my photo.” This is a directed portrait; I work somewhere between candid and collaborative. I believe I exposed an entire roll of film. Long story short, a month later, I sent her a scan of the photo and she replied: “I don’t like the way I look”’

23rd St, Manhattan (2006)

‘Between the sidewalk and the street. I was playing with space and form when I was gifted a miracle of timing’

Union Sq, Manhattan (2016)

‘As I approached the couple with my Leica [camera], I recognised the opportunity for a photograph. My proximity caused them to pause, and the moment appeared to have passed, but a conversation about what I was doing ensued. We traded life tales and got along as strangers can in New York City. They requested me to take their photo, to which I said, “Well, it’s really not happening now”, and I recall telling them that sometimes we simply have to let it go. About 15 minutes later, I turned around and walked past them, and bang! It was beautiful. A lesson about building trust’

Broadway, Manhattan (2010)

‘I was in graduate school. Overthinking. My obsession for abstracting the world from a three-dimensional experience into a bidimensional 35mm frame was constantly being challenged, both practically and theoretically. This picture is a result of that rigorous period. My attempt to further question the limits of framing light’

E 21st St, Brooklyn (2018)

‘While living in south Brooklyn, not far from Church Avenue, I was attracted to the graphic shape of the white paint hiding something on the wall that was no longer legible. I wanted depth of field, so I intentionally set my shutter speed to 1/60th. My optical focus was deep and then two people walked by, right in front of my field of view, in a hurry’

Union Sq, Manhattan (2009)

‘At the time, I was working on several personal projects. One of them was on reproductive justice. I noticed this girl with a kid from afar and their body language. I walked up to them and I asked if I could take their picture. She said yes. I stepped back, bent my knees, took the frame as they were. Behind me, the sound of a roaring man shouting: “what are you doing?!” I turned around and managed to diffuse his concern; at the loss of scaring the two subjects away.’ Read more with the Observer’s Big Picture feature

Bedford Ave and N 6th, Brooklyn (2010)

‘I would walk over 20,000 steps a day, chasing the light. I lived on Quay St in Greenpoint. The closest subway stop was Bedford Avenue into Manhattan. It was before all the gentrification in Williamsburg. This diagonal vantage point, in a sense, shows a place, at a particular time, which has forever changed’

1st Ave, Manhattan (2019)

‘The narrative behind the capture of this photograph will have everyone thinking I’m a bandit with my camera. It’s a late winter afternoon, and I’m eating my favourite sopa de pollo (chicken soup) at Gena’s Grill on the Lower East Side. There’s a lot of condensation on the window, and I see the profile of this individual wearing a scarf, which makes me feel like I’m transported to another time. I instinctively get out of my seat and hurry towards her, leaving my soup behind. One exposure, one frame, and then back to my hot soup inside’

Empire State Bldg, Manhattan (2013)

‘I remember when I first returned to live in New York City, I would walk down the streets and be overwhelmed by the height of the buildings. I would crouch down and look up, squinting my eyes, asking myself how the hell I would ever make sense of the place. After 20 years of spending my life in pursuit of self-discovery, as “a man with a camera”, all I have to say is in this book’