Bami

One of my favorite aunt’s lived on Staten Island when I was young and it was always such an adventure to get on a boat to her house. In my early 20’s I dated a young man that lived there. It was a mix of excitement and anxiety.
I lost my virginity at 21 at my then boyfriend’s house in Crown Heights.

Goldie

I love Outpost Lounge in Bed Stuy. It’s just an amazing hangout spot. They have a garden patio area and beautiful paintings up. You can totally hang out there in the daytime. It’s a place where everybody knows your name.
I absolutely love, love, love The High Line. During the winter months when it’s too cold and windy, I get sad that I can’t go up there and walk around. It’s just incredible and always lifts my spirits to go there.

Patricia

I just love shopping at Fairway. First of all because it has such a huge variety and second of all because it has lots of organic produce and meats and all kinds of things that I just love love to eat. There’s no store in NY like Fairway.
For us urbanite kids growing up in the city, Central Park was like a big backyard. At a very young age I learned how to get from where I lived to Central Park. Me and my friends would just go up there and we’d visit the zoo. It use to be one of the most exciting places for us to go because it was free and we could get in and spend the entire afternoon there.

Marisol

A place I connect with a lot in NYC is the garden that’s behind St John the Divine. I really enjoy going to that garden and just sitting because there are peacocks there and they roam freely. They’ve been there forever. I enjoy their spirit because my spirit animal is a peacock. I feel like I’m sitting with a friend when I sit back there.
Dancing has been extremely important for me and the dance I love to do is Salsa. That’s what attracted me the most to NY. The community here has really preserved the Latin spirit. I enjoy going to Gonzalez Y Gonzalez on Thursday nights because it’s free, they have a live band and the crowd is just good. They are there to have fun and dance.

Henry

Underneath the George Washington Bridge on the Manhattan side there’s a Little Red Lighthouse. It actually predates the bridge for many many years. It’s a children’s book which you can still find today. The outcry from children from around the country saved the Lighthouse from being torn down. One of my favorite spots.
The observation deck of the Empire State Building use to be a lot more popular when it was the tallest building in the world. On a clear day you can see past Jersey and well into Nassau County. The view is spectacular.

Luna

My favorite places are ICP, the beach and the American Museum of Natural History.

Mona

I’m connected to Union Square Park because that’s where I live now.
I like Battery Park City because I use to bike around there and it’s very scenic too.

Sana

One of my favorite places in NY actually ends up being right in the middle of the city is Bryant Park. It’s just this small quaint park that gets neglected because everyone wants to go to Central Park. It’s very close to me so I really like Bryant Park.
The 96th St Mosque Islamic Center on the Upper East Side. It was my first time ever going into a Mosque, being in NY or being anywhere all around the world. A nice reminder of how amazing NY is and that you can be home anywhere, just find your community.

David

Every Saturday morning I attend the men’s morning meditation group that meets at Soundview Presbyterian Church.
After I fellowship with my brothers on Saturday morning, I usually go visit my mother in Bronxdale projects.

Satomi

Ditmars Blvd in Astoria is the first place I lived in New York City. I like the local stores and the people there.
I like Whole Foods Market especially the fish market. I really like their littleneck and cherrystones. It’s really good to have raw cherrystones. I love it.

Steven

My favorite places are Rockefeller Center and Central Park’s Great Lawn.

h eugene

The International Center of Photography on 43rd St & 6th Ave, the Studio Museum in Harlem on 125th St. I just like those places.

Marilyn

The walk from Carl Schurz Park along the East River. I’ve been walking in that park for 40 years. When I was a single girl, I read the Sunday Times on the grass. Later when I got married, Murray and I would go sit on a bench and look at the East River, the boats and take a walk. It’s a really important part of my life.
About 104th or 5th St and 5th Ave is the Conservancy Garden. It is beautiful in the spring. It’s just a special place in NY and I wish more people knew about it because it’s an enriching thing to go and sit there on a bench and look at flowers.

Jane

I love my church. I am an AME member. My church is on 135th St between Lenox and 5th Ave. I enjoy going to church because we have a good Pastor.
I love the Apollo because that’s where I’ve seen Michael Jackson, Pearl Bailey, Lena Horne and Sammy Davis Jr. and I’m proud of seeing that for my age.

Otavio

The Meatpacking District is fascinating to me because I work in the area and in the summer time and the winter people would get off of work for happy hours and go to bars and restaurants. It’s very alive. There’s this transition from day to night and you always see something interesting there.
When I came to the US from Brazil for the first time in 1998, I visited NY and the first place I saw was Herald Sq. So that I didn’t get lost, I use to look at the Empire State Building from afar and I knew that I could always get the Path train (I lived in NJ). The first and last stop is 33rd St. and that’s how I was safe to go back home.

Walter

The most important place for me in NY is Times Sq the theatre district. I came here as a kid and remember going to see South Pacific and The King and I original productions and that made me decide right then and there that I was going to live in NYC. The theatre just became part of me in a way that nothing has ever touched.
I also love Grand Central Station. It’s just like being on a movie set when you’re there. It’s spectacular and it’s huge. Thank god for Jacqueline Onassis because she personally took it under her wing to save that building from being demolished. Seeing the people leaving and arriving, it’s very exciting and you get the crossroads of the world in many respects.

Lavonne

I have a love/hate relationship with NY. There are so many cool places to hang out. One of the places I enjoy going to during the summer is the South St Seaport where they have free concerts and other free events. But it’s just really nice to hang out by the water with all the different activities and of course many great places to eat.
I’ve lived on the Upper West Side most of my life and it’s a pretty interesting place to live. I love that Central Park is right around the corner from me especially when it snows. I go hang out and photograph the snow before it gets really dirty.

125th St is where I did my first photography project and I feel very connected to that place.
I like going to Cafe Reggio in the West Village because I can smoke while I drink coffee.

The New York metropolis is home to 8.3 million people. The sheer density of the city’s populace has profound affects on behavior and the human psyche and can even change the nature of personality. Correlations: NYC is a photographic exploration of the relationship between personal identity and place. It is based on the belief that one’s sense of self is deeply influenced by the localities one visits. Each person is combined with their special places to create complex layers and reflections and thus provide a way of seeing New York through individual eyes.