Dreamland Stage. © Jeff Liao

Jeff Liao moved to New York City in 1999 and has created meditations on the city he now calls home since 2004, when he started photographing the neighborhoods along the 7 subway line, from Times Square in midtown Manhattan to Flushing, Queens. Three years ago he focused his viewfinder on Coney Island, Brooklyn. The historic amusement park and boardwalk, located along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, has gone through numerous changes since its opening in the early twentieth century; the last major revitalization occurred in 2010. This is about the time when Liao setup his camera and tripod to photograph the excitement and bustle of summertime in Coney Island. His panoramics are detail filled, and capture the essence of the many places that make Coney Island so unique–from the back-in-time feeling of the boardwalk and the thrill of the historic Cyclone roller coaster to the iconic hot dog stand Nathan’s Famous and the newly opened Luna Park. We see history meeting the present in these images, which already feel reminiscent of the past given the damage the area sustained after 2012′s Hurricane Sandy. But Coney Island goes on, as it ever has, and you can be sure Nathan’s will be hosting its annual hot-dog-eating contest on July 4, an event that marks the start of summer for many of the city’s residents. (Visit ConeyIsland.com to learn more about recovery efforts as well as when Coney Island is set to open for the summer 2013 season.)

Nazaraeli Press has recently published this collection of work by Liao in a new book, called Coney Island (Nazaraeli Press), which includes an introduction by curator Sean Corcoran. The images are also currently on view at the Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr subway station in Brooklyn, New York, as part of the MTA’s Arts for Transit and Urban Design program.

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“Bedford & North 6th, Brooklyn, New York”, 2010

Joseph Michael Lopez’s series “Dear New Yorker” is part of a group exhibition currently on view through April 5th at the South Street Seaport Museum. “Street Shots/NYC” is a collection of images by nearly 100 photographers, selected from over 5,000 images submitted to a juried open call, that reflect the spirit and diversity of street life in the city’s five boroughs as well as the evolving styles and formats of contemporary street photography. The galleries at the museum are open every day from 10am to 6pm.

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“Zara #01,” 2008. A hotdog vendor looks at a woman next to a Zara billboard on 5th Avenue. All Images © Natan Dvir/Courtesy of Anastasia Photo

Israeli photographer Natan Dvir‘s first exhibition at Anastasia Photo is currently on view through May 19th. Dvir began this series, “Coming Soon,” in response to his surprise, as a foreigner, at the “numerous ads and billboards covering New York City in a kaleidoscopic commercial net.” By juxtaposing giant billboards against seemingly miniature humans in everyday street scenes, he explores our relationship with branded city centers and the commercial environment we live in.

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All images © John Schabel, from the book Passengers

The images contained in photographer John Schabel’s recently released book, Passengers, published by Twin Palms, documents the in-between time of airplane travel and the state of mind of the traveler–a mixture of excitement, trust, wonder and reflection.

Schabel describes the series as a meditation on the strangers framed in little windows, waiting to take flight. “Suspended between departure and arrival, we sit 30,000 feet high, sealed in a metal tube, gliding over geography with a low hum,” he says.

The International Center of Photography in New York City will host a book signing event for Passengers on Friday, February 8, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.

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Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Late 1980′s # 5-5

After moving to the south side of Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 1988, James Cathcart became interested in observing, documenting and working with the process of ‘car stripping’. In the height of the crack cocaine epidemic, Williamsburg was a convenient neighborhood for the dismantling of stolen cars and the resale of used car parts. His observation of car stripping and disposal in Williamsburg continued through the mid nineties — when the neighborhood began changing rapidly.

Boneyards opens June 1st at Causey Contemporary Gallery in Williamsburg. The show runs until July 15th.
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