New York: A photographic celebration of NYC's architecture and street life

Richard Koek lives in New York but he is from another world. In his obsession to photograph his chosen place, he spread out across its five boroughs

Brooklyn Bridge: Koek searches for light and colour in a city many residents would view as black and white (All photos Richard Koek/Lannoo)

If you want to know a place, you have to walk it. Particularly such a rich and varied city as New York. You can see bits and pieces from inside a taxi or the swollen streets as you enter a theatre or restaurant; everything at a distance. Or you can dive into its complexity. Walking carries you there. New York can be frightening just by its size and number of people, or it can be exhilarating for the same reasons. The city is not one dimensional or selective, it incorporates everything, be it in an alley or a skyline.

Dutch photographer Richard Koek was compelled to come to New York. Once there, he was drawn to more personal expression than the world of assignments and studios that he knew. He began to walk. He photographed what appealed to him, what roused his curiosity. It was a lot, he photographed it all. And in brilliant colour.

Not all New Yorkers would think of their city as colourful apart from a specific item, in fact, they would quite likely see it in black and white or in shades of grey. But Richard Koek went after light and colour. It is strange but most often it takes an outsider to see the richness of detail and peculiarities of a place. Many photographers have to travel in order to be able to photograph. Koek lives in NY but he is from another world. In his obsession to photograph his chosen place, he spread out across its five boroughs.

A passenger with an iguana on his back on the subway in Brooklyn (Richard Koek/Lannoo)

Look at the graceful photograph of two workers at night, mending the street, moving like ice hockey players to smooth the asphalt. Or the ubiquitous chess players in Union Square Park with their bodies absorbed in play. Or the man on a subway with an iguana on his back looking right back into the camera. Or the ethnic street scene in Queens. Or the couple in wedding gear heading up the stairs to the Clerk’s Office to cement their union, carrying their two children. Scenes of snow that clean the street, then leave it a grungy mess, reverence in the central reading room of the 42nd Street Public Library. Religions, races, economic variations. Everything is taken in and given to viewers with vibrant colour and an obvious love of the place.

The buildings are profound. They rise and dominate. The endless light of buildings and streets is like a fairy tale; unimaginable until you see it. These balanced with the crowds of people in flux below. It all moves from high to low, fascination on every level.

His new book enters through a bridge and leaves the same way. You are swept in, there’s no turning back. There’s an unusual shot through the wires of the Brooklyn Bridge at the southern end of Manhattan. The colour is not bright, it is a hazy day, probably early morning, the photograph is a slight yellow. Ships are moving up and down the river, smoke stacks and shipping cranes dot the painterly landscape. And there, patiently standing is the beloved Statue of Liberty, welcoming again and again. It is New York’s gift to the world. Koek has made good use of it.

About Richard Koek

The Dutch-Argentinean photographer is a visual storyteller. He shares his love of New York City and the people that live there by communicating with them through the lens.

His sensibility for the complicated life in New York shows in his photos, which are, rather than a decisive moment, an encouragement to viewers to form their own interpretation of his work. Every picture becomes a new narrative, unique to its beholder.

Koek (Amsterdam, 1965) decided to give up his profession as a tax lawyer to pursue his passion for photography in New York City. His work has featured in renowned titles including Interview Magazine, Stern, The New York Times and The New York Review of Books. Richard Koek lives in New York and Amsterdam, working for various international publications, companies and non-profit organisations.

New York New York: A Visual Hymn by Richard Koek, published by Lannoo, RRP $55 (£39)