Cars, New York City (1974-1976)

In the 70s, photographer Langdon Clay took photos of cars parked on NYC streets at night and compiled them into a project: Cars, New York City | 1974-1976.

Using his Leica CL, Kodachrome 25, and a 40 millimeter lens, Clay traversed the streets of 1970’s Manhattan finding automobiles that paralleled their environment. The cinematic images are a result of time exposure, sodium vapor street lights, and the tenacity of youth.

Luc Sante wrote about Clay’s car photographs for the New Yorker:

One of the things that used to make America so distinctive was its cars. If you lived there, you would really have to go abroad for a while and then come back to appreciate the difference. In most countries of the world, cars were modest things, little bean-shaped units designed to take two or three people from here to there. In America, cars were real estate. They were enormous boats in which you could eat, sleep, make love, change clothes, throw parties, maintain an office, practice unlicensed dentistry—or take your six best friends out for a spin. They were a testament to America’s unlimited natural resources: oil, steel, rubber, naugahyde, and, above all, space. American cars could be so huge because the nation’s highways were endless, its city streets were wide, and there was abundant free parking everywhere you went. And that included New York City then, since most of its population took the subway.

A 2016 book featuring these images is out of print, but you can find copies for several hundred dollars. (via atlas obscura)

• cars
• Langdon Clay
• NYC
• photography