Living between several cities, I grew sensitive to how a place unfolds, and in New York, it was the light that spoke to me first. I arrived in the middle of winter, when days were short and nights seemed to stretch beyond buildings and streets forever. What felt almost unbearable by day drifted toward quiet comfort at night. The light from windows, headlights, steam, and neon created a rhythm that allowed me to learn the city in my own way.

“City of Lights” is a series about learning to look at New York through these small illuminations—moments that are easy to miss yet filled with quiet beauty. Instead of photographing the city through its towering landmarks, I focused on the fragments: reflections in passing cars, the haze of steam rising into streetlamps, Times Square glowing deep into the night, and the soft wash of color on old buildings in Soho. These lights became my portal into a city that can rush past you before you understand it, yet still reveals its pauses if you stop searching too hard.

My way into this project has been influenced by Saul Leiter, whose meticulous attention to color, reflection, and partial views showed me that a city can be understood through atmosphere rather than accuracy. His work taught me that a photograph doesn’t need to tell the whole story; it only needs to hold a feeling. I followed that approach in this series—letting light shape the framing and allowing the city to remain mysterious, incomplete, and alive.

Through this work, I hope to share the New York that revealed itself to me: not the loudest or brightest places, but the glow that lingers in corners, spills from windows, and softens the edges of a city always in motion.

Here, I invite you to see the city’s light the way I did.