Steven Richman Art Collections

Portfolio Cityscape BWs

A photograph must resonate. It has an initial impact on a visceral level that affects the viewer. It has a complementary impact, as the viewer brings other factors to bear, both conscious and subconscious. A photograph is successful when it taps into the collective reservoir of common understandings that transcend purely individual life experiences, and provides an insight into the human condition. As one sharing those understandings, I react to the moment, frame the subject and press the shutter to capture the image. I seek to capture the individual in the city, whether in isolation or a crowd, but focused inward. The individual is part of the city and the city part of the individual, and both are subjects that inform the other. These tiles form the broader mosaic of contemporary life. Since the city is its people and its people, the city, I look for points of interaction that simultaneously are unique but also form part of a broader pattern of urban existence. It is essential that these images are made without judgment or dogma. In the tradition of such urban photographers as Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand, Berenice Abbott and Walker Evans, the moment of humanity itself becomes the subject. I want to show the full range of human existence in the city, from the poor to the rich, the sad to the happy, the lonely to the engaged. The city itself is humankind's greatest artistic achievement, a model of societal transcendence whose whole is greater than its parts. It is important to not forget those parts and their stories.