New Yorkers, Up Close and Very Personal

Over 8.4 million people live in New York City yet we rarely ever pay attention to the people we pass in our day-to-day lives. But for Brooklyn-based photographer Amy Touchette, the single act of noticing strangers in the most populous city in the U.S. has become a slight obsession—and the focal point for her latest exhibition, Street Dailies, on view at the Max Fish bar and gallery space in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

“I don’t think we look at each other enough,” Touchette told the Daily Beast. “I don’t think individuals know how beautiful they look in all of their uniqueness.”

Touchette began publishing these images of strangers on her Instagram account in 2012, posted simultaneously with photographs captured on film for previous photos series—images from a public pool’s changing room, people in foreign countries, and youth on the streets of New York.

Then, she began using her iPhone and Instagram more frequently, foregoing an introduction to the subject and capturing them anonymously in their natural state on sidewalks, through windows, or at their job. “A lot of the photographs I made en route to errands or a friend’s place,” Touchette said. “These in between moments when I wouldn’t have my film camera on me.”

She also found the discreetness of the iPhone’s camera helps her capture people that wouldn’t normally feel comfortable in front of a camera—a moral dilemma she’s properly reasoned. “I would never photograph someone in a compromising position,” she said. “I’m not looking to make fun of anyone … it’s just my way of connecting with people and sharing it with others.” It’s a connection she is now sharing with others through more than 100 photographs on display at Max Fish (120 Orchard Street) until January 3, 2015. Here are some of the highlights.

This image was captured on Manhattan Ave in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Amy Touchette