My original idea for this photo blog was to capture people reading hardcover and paperback books, particularly young people who grew up in our ever growing digitized world.
While traveling around New York City with my cameras—focusing on cityscapes, architecture, and outdoor art—when I noticed anyone reading a physical book, I realized how rare it had become.
So I set myself a reminder: “Whenever you spot someone reading a book during your travels, pause to take a few candids and save them for a future project.”
Later, I broadened my project to include people holding any reading materials—newspapers, magazines, printed papers—that predated smartphones (except e-readers).
Years of collecting these photographs has led to this—my first blog dedicated to readers in their urban habitat. Most of these candid shots were captured in Central Park, with one from my travels abroad.
Ironically, it all began when I noticed a woman lying on a bench with an e-reader in Brooklyn Bridge Park in 2014…
Seated on a bench near the Mall in Central Park, this woman was immersed in the psychological thriller The Paris Apartment, a novel by Lucy Foley. (2023)
Stopped at a traffic light on Broadway on the upper west side, I turned my head and saw this young man reading a book while seated in a traffic island. (2016)
While photographing outdoor art in Madison Square Park and surrounding buildings, I noticed a woman propped a paperback on a table in the shadows of the Flatiron Building. (2017)
While photographing everything from musicians to sculptures in Greenwich Village’s Washington Square Park, I noticed this woman reading The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee. (2016)
While photographing the wonders of Venice, I paused to capture this woman engrossed in her book. (2019)
This man was sitting on a bench near the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, absorbed in what appeared to be a website's printed promotional magazine. (2023)
While walking along Central Park South, I spotted a woman perched on a rocky outcrop with a physical book in her lap. (2024)
While climbing the stairs to Wisteria Pergola in Central Park's Conservatory Garden, I encountered this hooded man reading amid a carpet of autumn leaves. (2017)
A woman sat in Central Park, reading what appeared to be printed news articles on standard letter-sized paper, on a bench dedicated to a woman who "loved words.” (2016)
A man sat at the base of the Sailors' and Soldiers' Monument in Manhattan's Riverside Park, his New York Times broadsheet spread open before him. (2016)
After I took photos at Central Park’s reservoir, I spotted a woman on a bench behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art, absorbed in Pacific Rims, a tale about a man's basketball journey through the Philippines. (2016)
I recall that when I stopped to take a photo of this woman reading "Modern Romance" by Aziz Ansari in Central Park, she picked up her smartphone to start taking pictures of me. (2017)