The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay “A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine.  Fabulous!” Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker Aug 2013 BACK ISSUE by Robert Herman  The New Yorkers is a collection of my 30 years of color street photography. Shot on Kodachrome, many of the images were made in Soho, Little Italy, Tribeca, Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side in the 1980's and 90'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 inhabitants. 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 clichés, 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. Blonde in a Blue Convertible, New York, NY, 1981 Sheridan Square, New York, NY, 1981 Woman on the Train, Long Island City, NY, 1985 Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY. 1982 Elizabeth Street, New York, NY, 1980 Old Men in a Coffee Shop, New York, NY, 1981 Train Conductor, Long Island City, NY 1985 Crossroads of the World, Times Square, New York, NY, 1980 St. George, Staten Island, New York, NY, 1983 No Cover, New York, NY, 1983 Shadow of a Woman sitting in the Sculpture Garden at MoMA, New York, NY, 1981 Don't Look Now, New York, NY 1981 At the End of A Day in Long Island City, New York, 1980 Eldorado, Little Italy, New York, NY, 1983 Young Man on the Train, Astoria, NY, 1985 Prints and signed first edition copies of The New Yorkers are available from http://robertherman.com