Craig Feder – The Real NYC

Craig Feder – The Real NYC

By Arden de Raaij

New York City based Craig Feder has a rich history in photography and always travels the NY city streets with his camera. This resulted in an almost iconic series of the people of New York City. Craig has managed to capture the kind of people that caught my eye when I was in New York, but who he calls ‘the invisible people’. They are the kind of people that would stand out in any other place in the world, but as New York is not like any other place in the world; they don’t even get a glimpse on the streets of Manhattan.

The real NYC - Street photography by Craig Feder
The real NYC – Street photography by Craig Feder

Artist statement: Craig Feder is a graduate of Princeton University with a degree in Sociology. He has studied film and photography at the University of California at Berkeley, NYU, and at the International Center of Photography. Craig has worked as a professional portrait, fashion, and travel photographer, and has his camera with him all the time while on the streets of NYC. This project stems from seeing, everywhere he went, what he calls the “invisible” people, who go about their difficult daily lives and make it to the next day. Their resources are very marginal but they have dignity as human beings in a busy, tough city. This is the other one per cent of the 99 per cent, those who must meet each day with the resolve that they will get through it.

The real NYC - Street photography of New York city by Craig Feder
The real NYC – Street photography of New York city by Craig Feder
The real NYC - Street photography of New York city by Craig Feder
‘Man with Cans’ – The real NYC – Street photography of New York city by Craig Feder

That  9/11 did had its impact on New York City, is something that Craig also experienced as street photographer:

“A couple of years ago I was roaming the midtown area in Manhattan, often called The Grand Central District, after Grand Central Station – right in the middle of things. This area is often rich in visual material, since it is very dense and congested, not residential at all, and crowded with people rushing in and out of office buildings to come to or leave from work or have lunch or get provisions at a drug store, etc. As I was standing on a corner, thinking I was invisible, a security guard in uniform from a huge office building ventured over to me and told me rather harshly that photographing the buildings is now illegal in NYC due to the terrorism warning. I replied  that first of all my camera was not raised up to the buildings and second I am not even interested in buildings – I am totally a street photographer. He was getting ready to radio for back up and have me arrested for some sort of terrorist plot, so I quickly tried to reason with him and said I am being very honest and have no plans to photograph buildings. I decided not to be flippant and point around us to the hundreds of tourists streaming out of midtown hotels and taking pictures of the skyscrapers — I wanted to save my own skin. After my speech he reluctantly turned away, and I took that to mean I was off the hook and went somewhere else to continue my street photography.

'Standing, sleeping'  - The real NYC by Craig Feder
‘Standing, sleeping’ – The real NYC by Craig Feder
The real NYC - Street photography of New York city by Craig Feder
The real NYC – Street photography of New York city by Craig Feder