A Thank You Letter To New York City
Layers Of Lower Manhattan from the roof of the Whitney Museum in Manhattan, New York City, New York on December 30, 2016 by Michael Mroczek. Photographed with a Fujifilm X-Pro2 and XF23mmF1.4 R lens at 23 mm | ƒ / 8.0 | 1/180 sec.
Two Stories One City
The two of us have a different relationship with New York City. Despite us having our own experiences, we ended up in the same place. The city brought us together and stoked the fire of our relationship.
Michael grew up in the shadow of the city in the congested North Jersey 'suburbs'. He followed the sports teams, listened to it's radio stations, and made a yearly pilgrimage across the river to a Yankee game or museum. For him, the city was just there. It was the place he knew he might work one day. It wasn't this idealized city like it is for so many people.
I grew up in South Jersey, the part of Jersey no one really thinks about or understands. While my hometown is only 2 hours down the NJ Turnpike from Michael's, it can feel like a completely different state. North and South Jersey have different accents. Different names for things like pork roll and hoagies, or as Michael would say Taylor Ham and subs. For me, New York was an overrated city (because let's be real Philly is the greatest city). But it was still New York, it had this aura around it that I wanted to understand. So when my best friend got a job in New York, I decided to come along for the ride and see what New York City was all about. Although, being true Jersey girls, we couldn't actually leave Jersey, so we moved to Hoboken.
Coney Island Bordwalk In The Fog in Coney Island, New York City, New York on September 26, 2015 by Michael Mroczek. Photographed with a Fujifilm X-E2 and XF35mmF1.4 R lens at 35 mm | ƒ / 8.0 | 1/550 sec.
New York Harbor Through A Window of The Brooklyn Flea in Brooklyn, New York City, New York on October 18, 2015 by Michael Mroczek. Photographed with a Fujifilm X-E2 and XF35mmF1.4 R lens at 35 mm | ƒ / 8.0 | 1/60 sec.
New York City Made Us Better Photographers
Ultimately, New York City brought us together and made us better photographers. We both always enjoyed photography, but it wasn't until we met that we started to photograph New York. It's no secret, New York has an endless supply of subjects. It provides photographers with plenty of opportunities to make great photographs. So why didn't we photograph New York on our own? Michael never photographed New York because he felt he didn't have the skill to capture what it had to offer. While I explored the city before Michael, I was always too shy to take my camera with me. Together weekend jaunts into Manhattan helped us train our photography brains. We were able to photograph familiar subjects while developing our own personal style capturing the diverse architecture and people. All while getting to know the city and each other.
Victoria And The Freedom Tower in Manhattan, New York City, New York on May 16, 2015 by Michael Mroczek. Photographed with a Fujifilm X-E2 and XF35mmF1.4 R lens at 35 mm | ƒ / 2.2 | 1/1500 sec.
The Occulus in Manhattan, New York City, New York on December 12, 2015 by Michael Mroczek. Photographed with a Fujifilm X-E2 and XF23mmF1.4 R lens at 23 mm | ƒ / 8.0 | 1/60 sec.
Our experiences in New York City helped us understand photography as a skill. A skill that develops over time through patience and practice. The importance of taking your camera with you everywhere you go because you never know when inspiration will strike. This philosophy allowed us (mostly Michael) to capture so many moments during our time in New York, Hoboken, and Bayonne. Moments that we will still have hanging on our walls today. Although, we learned we are not city people, we still appreciate all it has to offer. The city helped us become who we are today.
Visistors to the Whitney Museum through a window in Manhattan, New York City, New York on December 30, 2016 by Michael Mroczek. Photographed with a Fujifilm X-Pro2 and XF23mmF1.4 R lens at 23 mm | ƒ / 5.6 | 1/100 sec.
