Bjane Levine
I was raised in the suburbs of New Jersey, a short bus ride from New York City. I earned a PhD in Biochemistry from Columbia University, but left the field of molecular biology research and then worked as a manager in Health Care. After leaving research, I took an interest in photography and began taking classes at ICP and other online platforms. I further honed my skills through many photography trips around the world. My photography spans many genres including street photography, landscape photography and long exposure cityscapes. I continue to work on my project, Urban Tales. It has evolved to include both candid portraits, scenes on the corner and reflections of city life.
About The Collection…
This project is a series of candid portraits of strangers and reflections of scenes captured on the streets of New York City. I prefer to capture transitory scenes on the street without the knowledge of the subject so that the expression, gesture and/or movement are authentic. I go out with no expectations of subject matter other than looking for a moment, which elicits some emotion that I respond to with the subject, it is mainly driven by an internal signal that connects me to the subject or situation. Often, I will shoot a few images and walk on my way, but sometimes I find that a place has great potential and I need the patience to wait around for a scene to evolve. I am drawn to creating layered scenes as well as up close candid portraits. I try to respect the subjects that I photograph, taking an image of a fleeting moment, which I observe with no intent other than to memorialize the scene. The resulting photograph is real for the subject/s as well as myself, yet it may not be a truthful representation of what actually occurred. New York has been a place that I can wander the streets relatively inconspicuously and feel as if I am part of a bigger society. The people in the photographs all possess a characteristic, gesture, or physical trait that I identify as part of my own story. The series is a composite of pieces of my life – a self-portrait.
