Caroline M. – Through A Different Lens: NYC Hidden Gems
My name is Caroline Maltz, and I am an 18-year-old photographer in New York City. During my time at LREI, I developed a passion for adventure, exploration, writing, and photography. For my Senior Project, I wanted to take the time to bring all of these interests together to expand my learning and create something beautiful and fun. However, I will be attending Chapman University in the fall, which is 3,000 miles away; I also took this opportunity to really take in the city and learn more about why I am so grateful to have grown up here. Traveling around the city alone felt fun and exciting because I have gained this newfound freedom and independence I’ve never had before.
Each week, I visited up to two or three locations and learned something new after every journey. One of my biggest takeaways was how much I didn’t know about a place until I was actually there. You can read articles, listen to podcasts, plan your trip on Google Maps, but you can’t form a deep understanding of a place until your feet are on the ground in front of what you’re looking for. I originally chose specific landmarks that had the most interesting history related to New York. It felt important to me to have structure, but I learned that even when I have a structure, it can be more fun to pay attention to what is around me when I am flexible with my thinking. Ultimately, I ended up focusing more on art, sculpture, and fun secrets found in the city. In fact, many of the subway art installations found in this gallery were not originally on my list of landmarks to include. I learned that I thrive when creativity strikes me out of nowhere, and I can allow myself to be comfortable with not planning things as rigidly.
I photographed using only my phone, so everything was digital. As I was photographing, I thought about the different angles and shots I could do to represent different perspectives. I chose these angles because they felt very realistic to me; I photographed each location as I interacted with it. I tried to portray how a viewer would see it and experience it in real life, not framed too fancy or perfect as I tried to stay very down to earth with my project. My goal was to catch the art at odd angles and viewpoints to give viewers a new and real perspective.
In this gallery, you will find images I have taken from locations all over Manhattan in the last six weeks. Each location represents a facet of my essential questions: What can we find in NYC when we stop to look and what stories and histories are hiding in plain sight? I found art installations, historical monuments, memories of important events, cultural tributes, and other hidden gems. As New Yorkers, we’re trained to hyperfocus on what is right in front of us, rather than absorb what is around us. As easy as it is to take aspects of New York for granted, with my project, I hope to inspire people to stop and smell the roses of this beautiful city that never sleeps.
Click below to view my gallery:
