Wandering New York City Alone with My Leica Q2 in High Contrast Black and White.

A couple of years ago, while I was in Boston visiting my daughter, I decided to take a couple of days off and take a train to New York. I hadn’t been there since the early 80s, but meeting some of my cousins was a good excuse to go, and I knew I wanted to take my new Leica Q2 along and do some street photography.

There’s something unforgettable about wandering the streets of New York City alone, camera in hand, with no real plan and maybe even getting lost, like I did when I was younger. I did that a couple of years ago, traveling solo with my Leica Q2, hoping to recharge creatively and see what the city would offer if I followed my feet.

New York is built for street photography; it brings ideas of old vintage film shooters. It’s a city of motion, light, and layered stories. I set my Leica Q2 to high-contrast black and white and left it there for the entire trip. Most of the images are straight out of the camera, with no edits or filters, just moments captured of citizens in their day-to-day lives.

It was a cool summer’s day when I decided to walk the Brooklyn Bridge one early afternoon. It was packed! Tourists, cyclists, vendors, and street performers were colorful people everywhere, the kind of vibrant chaos that turned what would’ve been ordinary into something exciting. Shooting in black and white motivated me to create, and I didn’t care about the distraction of color or the crowds; I focused on lines, shadows, and light.

The Oculus is an arched white structure that rises near the original World Trade Center. To say that it is photogenic is obvious; there is an eeriness to the place. Light pours in from above, with strong lines and dramatic shapes. It felt like shooting inside a modern sculpture in high-contrast black and white.

There’s a certain freedom to traveling alone with a camera. I could slow down when the light was just right, change direction on a whim, and let the city decide what I would see next. I remembered why I love photography, especially when it’s just me, a camera, and a place as alive as New York.

I enjoy having a friend along on trips, but doing a solo to capture a city alive is rather rewarding.

I need to do that trip again.