The New Yorkers
By Max Lang
I am not a New Yorker.
As an outsider from another country, I have always fantasized about New York. I imagined the city to be the yellow cab speeding by a hailing, pedestrian, or the rodent passengers on the A train, or the banker who lives in the Upper East Side on a steady diet of one-dollar pizza and Michelin-starred sushi. My imaginations were terribly narrow.
I began this photography project to find out what New York is. Inspired by Robert Frank and his legendary publication, The Americans, I wanted to show a cross-section of the New Yorkers with a camera and a lens. The photography from this project were taken during the COVID pandemic of 2020, and they are by no means a holistic display of the New York life. Instead, these photographs present a very personal perspective – my perspective. In my effort to try to dissect New York, I am unconsciously dissecting myself. With these photographs I was able to piece together not just a fragment of the city, but also a slice of m life apart from assignments and deadlines.
I attempted to find out who the New Yorkers are, and I ended up finding out who I am. Colson Whitehead wrote that one becomes a New Yorker when one starts building one’s private New York, when one points at a Chase Bank and sees the demolished bodega, and when for whom “what was there before is more real and solid than what is here now”. I disagree with his remarks. I believe one becomes a New Yorker only when one becomes part of someone else’s New York. I am more than just a voyeur observing from the outside. I break into people’s lives with my camera and become a fragment of their New York.
I am a New Yorker.
Winter 2020
![picture of phone booth](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/1 phone booth_1.jpg)
Phone Booth
New York, NY
![photo of a barber shop interior](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/2 barber shop_1.jpg)
Barber Shop
New York, NY
![photo of outdoor graffiti](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/3 legs and graffiti_1.jpg)
An Extra Pair of Legs
New York, NY
![person standing in shadows](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/4 model in the light_1.jpg)
In the Light
New York, NY
![person walking on sidewalk](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/5 walking with arrow_1.jpg)
One Way
New York, NY
![person carrying sack](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/6 burden_1.jpg)
Burdens
New York, NY
![parking marquee](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/7 park5_1.jpg)
"Park"
New York, NY
![hearse](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/8 hearse5_1.jpg)
Hearse
New York, NY
![picture of people in union square](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/9 union square people_1.jpg)
Union Square
New York, NY
![picture of subway entry](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/10 subway entrance_1.jpg)
The Path Below
New York, NY
![person holding a sign at protest](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/11 sign_1.jpg)
A Sign
New York, NY
![person holding a balloon](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/12 trump ballon_1.jpg)
A balloon
New York, NY
![outdoor dining tent](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/13 dinning out3_1.jpg)
Outdoor Dining
New York, NY
![food on sidewalk](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/14 ruptured garbage 3_1.jpg)
Outdoor Dinner
New York, NY
![Pizza Parlor exterior](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/15_16 pizza place_1.jpg)
Night Pizzas
New York, NY
![street and crosswalk](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/17 moving car1-2_1.jpg)
Sixth Avenue
New York, NY
![sidewalk and street](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/18 moving man1_1.jpg)
West 30th Street
New York, NY
![person smoking cigar](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/19 cigar on w 17th_1.jpg)
Cigar on West 17th
New York, NY
![person playing guitar outside](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/20 guitar man_1.jpg)
D Major
New York, NY
![Man with a polaroid t - shirt on](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/21 polaroid man_1.jpg)
Polaroid Man
New York, NY
![2 people with arms around each other](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/22 couple_1.jpg)
Happy Together
New York, NY
![fluffy cat on stoop](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/23 cat 4_1.jpg)
Cat
New York, NY
![smile you are on camera sign](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/24 smile4_1.jpg)
"Smile"
New York, NY
![people on stoop talking](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/25 two men on steps_1.jpg)
Conversation
New York, NY
![people outside with backs toward each other](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/26 moving bus_1.jpg)
Lost for Words
New York, NY
![Person alone in park](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/27 working man2_1.jpg)
Socially Distant
New York, NY
![person with dog on long leasht](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/28 man and dog2_1.jpg)
Social Distances
New York, NY
![subway entrance](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/29 subway_1.jpg)
Subway
New York, NY
![subway entry with person](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/30 subway with a man_1.jpg)
Commute
New York, NY
![birds in flight](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/31 birds and branches_1.jpg)
Flock of Pigeons
New York, NY
![pay phone with receiver dangling](/content/dam/tisch/openarts/GalleryFall2020/MaxLang/32 hanging telephone_1.jpg)
Don't Hang Up
New York, NY