Robert Nicod — New York

REPORT 07 / 08

CityNew York

BoroughsManhattan, Brooklyn

Year2026

Plates60

New York — The city that never stops

I spent only one week in New York. This work therefore makes no claim to capture the city in all its complexity, but offers a necessarily partial and personal view, that of a photographer trying to grasp a few fragments of an immense reality.
I arrived with a few preconceived ideas, inherited from a stay in the late 1980s, when the city still had a dangerous reputation. I expected to find it just as it was. It had changed, though.
What struck me first was its power rather than its crime. Manhattan seems built on a scale that is not quite human: one feels both admiration and a sense of being crushed.
But above all it was the people who held my attention: an extraordinarily mixed crowd, this melting pot of humanity, where lives cross without ever really meeting. It is one of the paradoxes of New York: you can be surrounded by thousands of people and yet profoundly alone, in that loneliness specific to big cities.
I was also struck by the freedom with which some New Yorkers present themselves to the world, without caring about other people's gaze.
This city is also tiring: the noise, the movement and the crowds never stop. Central Park or Washington Square then become true breathing spaces.
I did not try to photograph the monuments, but what happens between them: a look in the subway, a conversation, a silhouette lost in the immensity. Less a portrait of New York than an attempt to capture a few moments of what this city does to those who pass through it.

Plate I — New York

60 plates

New York — Lower Manhattan, Historic heart of New York — PL. 1 Lower Manhattan
Historic heart of New York

New York — View of Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights, New York — PL. 2 View of Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights
New York

New York — Neighboring city of New York, Hoboken — PL. 3 Neighboring city of New York
Hoboken

New York — The city can run without him, New York — PL. 4 The city can run without him
New York

New York — Little square, New York — PL. 5 Little square
New York

New York — Artist listening to other artists, Washington Square, New York — PL. 6 Artist listening to other artists
Washington Square, New York

New York — Father and son, brothers and sisters, Washington Square, New York — PL. 7 Father and son, brothers and sisters
Washington Square, New York

New York — The freedom to be yourself, New York — PL. 8 The freedom to be yourself
New York

New York — Cigarette or joint?, Cannabis has been legal since 2021, West Village, New York — PL. 9 Cigarette or joint?
Cannabis has been legal since 2021
West Village, New York

New York — Atop Rockefeller Center, New York — PL. 10 Atop Rockefeller Center
New York

New York — Table facing the street, New York — PL. 11 Table facing the street
New York

New York — Waiting for a taxi, New York — PL. 12 Waiting for a taxi
New York

New York — New York subway — PL. 13 New York subway

New York — Path along the Hudson, New York — PL. 14 Path along the Hudson
New York

New York — Caught in a sudden rain, New York — PL. 15 Caught in a sudden rain
New York

New York — Typical Manhattan street food, New York — PL. 16 Typical Manhattan street food
New York

New York — Alone in the big station, Hoboken — PL. 17 Alone in the big station
Hoboken

New York — Construction site guard, New York — PL. 21 Construction site guard
New York

New York — Spoiled dog, New York — PL. 22 Spoiled dog
New York

New York — Subway workers, New York — PL. 23 Subway workers
New York

New York — A bit of a Seventies air, New York — PL. 25 A bit of a Seventies air
New York

New York — Brooklyn Bridge, New York — PL. 26 Brooklyn Bridge
New York

New York — John Paul Jones Park, Brooklyn, New York — PL. 28 John Paul Jones Park, Brooklyn
New York

New York — The book can wait, New York — PL. 29 The book can wait
New York

New York — Manhattan Bridge and Pebble Beach, Brooklyn — PL. 30 Manhattan Bridge and Pebble Beach
Brooklyn

New York — Visitors taking a break on the Brooklyn Bridge, New York — PL. 31 Visitors taking a break on the Brooklyn Bridge
New York

New York — Remote offices, New York — PL. 32 Remote offices
New York

New York — Little Italy, New York — PL. 33 Little Italy
New York

New York — Chinatown, New York — PL. 34 Chinatown
New York

New York — Last adjustment before the photo shoot, Chinatown, New York — PL. 35 Last adjustment before the photo shoot
Chinatown
New York

New York — Fashion shoot, Central Park, New York — PL. 37 Fashion shoot, Central Park
New York

New York — Central Park, New York — PL. 38 Central Park
New York

New York — Over 400 m tall, barely any width, Central Park, New York — PL. 39 Over 400 m tall, barely any width
Central Park, New York

New York — The Kitchen by Pablo Picasso, the painting watches them too, MoMA, New York — PL. 40 The Kitchen by Pablo Picasso
the painting watches them too, MoMA
New York

New York — Chance gives stuffed toys legs, MoMA, New York — PL. 41 Chance gives stuffed toys legs, MoMA
New York

New York — Museum of Modern Art, New York — PL. 42 Museum of Modern Art
New York

New York — MoMA, New York — PL. 43 MoMA
New York

New York — Seeing differently, MoMA, New York — PL. 44 Seeing differently, MoMA
New York

New York — West Village, New York — PL. 45 West Village
New York

New York — Midtown, New York — PL. 46 Midtown
New York

New York — “Lunch atop a skyscraper” – tourist version, New York — PL. 47 “Lunch atop a skyscraper” – tourist version
New York

New York — Times Square, New York — PL. 48 Times Square
New York

New York — 9/11 Memorial, New York — PL. 49 9/11 Memorial
New York

New York — Trinity Church, New York — PL. 50 Trinity Church
New York

New York — Jean Dubuffet-1972, Chase Manhattan Plaza, New York — PL. 51 Jean Dubuffet-1972, Chase Manhattan Plaza
New York

New York — Empire State Building seen from, Brooklyn Bridge — PL. 52 Empire State Building seen from
Brooklyn Bridge

New York — Private life on display, New York — PL. 53 Private life on display
New York

New York — View of Lower Manhattan from, Brooklyn Heights — PL. 54 View of Lower Manhattan from
Brooklyn Heights

New York — Manhattan seen from, Brooklyn — PL. 55 Manhattan seen from
Brooklyn

New York — With a book, without a phone, New York subway — PL. 56 With a book, without a phone
New York subway

New York — Crushing feeling on leaving the subway, Midtown — PL. 58 Crushing feeling on leaving the subway
Midtown

New York — Yellow cabs, eternal extras, Times Square — PL. 59 Yellow cabs, eternal extras
Times Square

New York — New York never sleeps — PL. 60 New York never sleeps