Uploaded October 2011 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Robert Herman is raising funds for his photography project The New Yorkers through Kickstarter. In order to receive contributions, the project must be funded in full by December 20, 2011. To help, see kickstarter.com/projects/977419661/the-new-yorkers
From Robert: The New Yorkers is a color photography book of my New York City street pictures.
To complete The New Yorkers, I have to raise the funds necessary to make drum scans from the Kodachrome originals, hire a writer, a graphic designer and print a first edition of 1000 copies. It will be approximately a 140 page 8" x 10" hardcover book with 100+ color images. There has been serious interest from a number of well-regarded publishing houses but the reality of the industry today is that much more than just a great concept and images are required in order for them to publish and distribute the book.
The New Yorkers is a collection of my 30 years of color street photography. It is a document of the ever changing New York that I love and want to share with a wider audience. Many of the images were made in Soho, Little Italy, Tribeca, Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side in the 1970's and 80's. It documents a New York that has now almost disappeared. At that time, these neighborhoods were a mixture of three distinct groups: the people who had lived and worked there for many years and had their ethnic background in common, the artists who came in search of affordable living and studio space, and finally the more well to-do who instigated the process of gentrification with the seemingly inevitable exile of the original neighborhood. It was a time when graffiti was an integral part of the landscape, and the clash of cultures created a cacophony of voices.
These photos tell an authentic story of New York City: not a series of skyline cliches but real New Yorkers living and working in their own neighborhoods. As someone living alongside them and also struggling to make a living, I identified with the fragile vulnerability of the subjects of my photos. The New York I saw was not the hip, glamorous place depicted in fashion magazines or Hollywood movies. New York was the lives of overlooked, anonymous people struggling to endure in this harsh yet vibrant city.
For me, the book is a record of my personal journey to understand my place in the city of my birth and the one I chose to live in as an adult. It has taken me almost 30 years to be able to create a narrative from all the photos I took. It is a photographic exploration reflected in the faces of my fellow city dwellers and their environment. Some were survivors, some were crushed by the city, and some were just living day to day, from paycheck to paycheck. It took strength to survive: I too had to develop a sense of self and learn how to thrive and grow. Through the lens of my camera, my vulnerability met theirs at the moment of exposure: a photograph of someone whose heart is open to a stranger's camera says more about a New Yorker than I ever can in say in words.
"Few photographers have the eye, the grace and the ability to really see, in order to make great street images. Robert Herman has all those qualities, along with a driving passion to more fully realize his own aesthetic. I felt I was looking at a soulful, dead-on look at the city I was born in. His project is so fully realized, so sophisticated and compelling." Stella Kramer, Pulitzer Prize winning photo editor for The New York Times
To see more of the images from The New Yorkers please visit: robertherman.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=2
To read some interviews with Robert about The New Yorkers please visit:blog.hyeryoungmin.com/?p=2956
and blog.stellakramer.com/2010/05/robert-herman-talks-about-new-yorkers.html
A big thank you to Antonio M. Rosario for making the video. vimeo.com/user511689/videos
Bio: Robert Herman was born in Brooklyn, New York. His work is included in the permanent collections of the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY, the Telfair Museum in Savannah, GA, as well the Westin Hotels and Resorts, the New York Presbyterian Hospital and many private collections. His photographs have been exhibited throughout the United States including the Museum of Modern Art, the Savannah College of Art & Design, the Henry Gregg Gallery and the Howard Yerzersky Gallery. Winner of a PX3 Prix de la Photographie People's Choice Award for his fine art book project and the Alitalia per L'Arte, Rome, Herman is represented by Glasshouse Images and Win-Initiative in New York City. He has a BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and a Masters of Professional Studies in Digital Photography from the School of Visual Arts in NYC.
Robert Herman is raising funds for his photography project The New Yorkers through Kickstarter. In order to receive contributions, the project must be funded in full by December 20, 2011. To help, see kickstarter.com/projects/977419661/the-new-yorkers
From Robert: The New Yorkers is a color photography book of my New York City street pictures.
To complete The New Yorkers, I have to raise the funds necessary to make drum scans from the Kodachrome originals, hire a writer, a graphic designer and print a first edition of 1000 copies. It will be approximately a 140 page 8" x 10" hardcover book with 100+ color images. There has been serious interest from a number of well-regarded publishing houses but the reality of the industry today is that much more than just a great concept and images are required in order for them to publish and distribute the book.
The New Yorkers is a collection of my 30 years of color street photography. It is a document of the ever changing New York that I love and want to share with a wider audience. Many of the images were made in Soho, Little Italy, Tribeca, Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side in the 1970's and 80's. It documents a New York that has now almost disappeared. At that time, these neighborhoods were a mixture of three distinct groups: the people who had lived and worked there for many years and had their ethnic background in common, the artists who came in search of affordable living and studio space, and finally the more well to-do who instigated the process of gentrification with the seemingly inevitable exile of the original neighborhood. It was a time when graffiti was an integral part of the landscape, and the clash of cultures created a cacophony of voices.
These photos tell an authentic story of New York City: not a series of skyline cliches but real New Yorkers living and working in their own neighborhoods. As someone living alongside them and also struggling to make a living, I identified with the fragile vulnerability of the subjects of my photos. The New York I saw was not the hip, glamorous place depicted in fashion magazines or Hollywood movies. New York was the lives of overlooked, anonymous people struggling to endure in this harsh yet vibrant city.
For me, the book is a record of my personal journey to understand my place in the city of my birth and the one I chose to live in as an adult. It has taken me almost 30 years to be able to create a narrative from all the photos I took. It is a photographic exploration reflected in the faces of my fellow city dwellers and their environment. Some were survivors, some were crushed by the city, and some were just living day to day, from paycheck to paycheck. It took strength to survive: I too had to develop a sense of self and learn how to thrive and grow. Through the lens of my camera, my vulnerability met theirs at the moment of exposure: a photograph of someone whose heart is open to a stranger's camera says more about a New Yorker than I ever can in say in words.
"Few photographers have the eye, the grace and the ability to really see, in order to make great street images. Robert Herman has all those qualities, along with a driving passion to more fully realize his own aesthetic. I felt I was looking at a soulful, dead-on look at the city I was born in. His project is so fully realized, so sophisticated and compelling." Stella Kramer, Pulitzer Prize winning photo editor for The New York Times
To see more of the images from The New Yorkers please visit: robertherman.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=2
To read some interviews with Robert about The New Yorkers please visit:blog.hyeryoungmin.com/?p=2956
and blog.stellakramer.com/2010/05/robert-herman-talks-about-new-yorkers.html
A big thank you to Antonio M. Rosario for making the video. vimeo.com/user511689/videos
Bio: Robert Herman was born in Brooklyn, New York. His work is included in the permanent collections of the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY, the Telfair Museum in Savannah, GA, as well the Westin Hotels and Resorts, the New York Presbyterian Hospital and many private collections. His photographs have been exhibited throughout the United States including the Museum of Modern Art, the Savannah College of Art & Design, the Henry Gregg Gallery and the Howard Yerzersky Gallery. Winner of a PX3 Prix de la Photographie People's Choice Award for his fine art book project and the Alitalia per L'Arte, Rome, Herman is represented by Glasshouse Images and Win-Initiative in New York City. He has a BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and a Masters of Professional Studies in Digital Photography from the School of Visual Arts in NYC.
