ERIN LONGWORTH

Through photography, we can see how cities grow and change, and how architecture shows human progress. One photographer who explored this idea is Berenice Abbott. Abbott showed this in her photographs of New York in the 1930s, her project was called ‘Changing New York’. Her images don’t just show the city’s buildings; they show its transformation over time. She used light and composition to show how old and new architecture existed together, which reflected the excitement of a city moving into a more modern world. 

 

In this study, I will look at how Abbott used her work to document social and architectural change. I will also explore how her ideas and techniques have influenced the way architecture is photographed today, and how her vision continues to shape our understanding of urban environments. 

 

Before the Great Depression, she started a series of photographs to document what the city looked like in that exact moment in time, before the city modernised and changed forever. This was called ‘Changing New York’, and this is the series that ultimately defined her career. Within this series, Abbott took photographs of new and old buildings, and treated them both equally in the style that she took them in. This selection of Abbott’s images give us the opportunity to see her work in its original form, and appreciate the vision that went into them. 

 

Berenice Abbott was an important tool throughout the 1930s, in showing the rapid transformation of New York City. She quoted that the “Old New York is fast disappearing” and “At almost any point on Manhattan Island, the sweep of one's vision can take in the dramatic contrasts of the old and the new and the bold foreshadowing of the future. This dynamic quality should be caught and recorded immediately in a documentary interpretation of New York City. This dynamic quality should be caught and recorded immediately in a documentary interpretation of New York City. The city is in the making and unless this transition is crystallised now in permanent form, it will be forever lost. The camera alone can catch the swift surfaces of the cities today and speaks a language intelligible to all”. 

 

Under the bridge, the street feels busy with movement and noise. Light and shadow mix together on the ground which makes patterns as cars and people pass by. The air seems full of energy with the sound of footsteps, voices, and possibly the train above. Sunlight shines through the gaps above, breaking into sharp lines that move across the people and cars below. Everyone seems to be moving quickly and in a hurry such as workers heading to their jobs. The old buildings and the shadows come together to show the heartbeat of the city. 

 

The image shows a busy street under an old train track. It captures a regular moment in city life, people walking, cars driving, sunlight shining through the gaps in the metal beams above. The steel structure in the top of the image towers over the people, showing how the city and its machines shape the world they live in. The light and shadows give the scene a dramatic mood, turning something ordinary into something noticeable. It seems like Abbott wanted to capture what city life really feels like — busy but also full of light. The image feels real, like it was seen and caught in the moment, but it also feels thoughtful, as if Abbott wanted us to notice how beautiful an ordinary street can be when you stop and really look at it. 

 

The image was taken with a traditional film camera. Berenice Abbott would have started by exploring the city, looking for a place where light and structure came together. Once she found the right spot, she would have studied how the light moved through the metal beams and how people moved through the space. After capturing the image on film, Abbott would have developed it in a darkroom, carefully controlling the exposure and contrast. The whole process is long and takes lots of time and understanding to get it right. Abbott would have needed to combine technical skill and observation, positioning the camera to capture both the street below and the steel framework. Timing was very important, she needed to capture the people, cars, and light at the same moment when they worked together. The image reflects the knowledge of cameras and film, and a creative sense of mood and story. The work feels as though it was created with careful thought. 

 

The street is full of movement, people walking, cars driving, and the steel tracks overhead make everything feel a bit shadowed and serious. The way the light falls through the beams creates sharp lines and strong patterns on the ground, which gives the scene a dramatic feeling. It feels like a glimpse of everyday life that’s both busy and calm at the same time. Even though it’s just an ordinary street scene, it feels like a story about how people live and move in a city that’s bigger than any one of them. There’s a contrast between the bright patches of sunlight and the dark shadows that adds depth to the photo. It all comes together to create a mood that’s both tense and alive. It feels like a snapshot of real life that has been carefully observed, and a moment where the patterns of the city fit together perfectly.

 

The image was taken by Berenice Abbott in New York City in 1932. The subject is the elevated train tracks near lower Manhattan, with the street scene beneath, steel bars above, people walking, cars, the building in the surrounding area. The elevated railway and the style make it clear that the image is part of the modern‑city story of the early 1930s. New York in the 1930s was transforming with elevated railways, skyscrapers, and new infrastructures. Abbott’s project, which is called ‘Changing New York’, aimed to record the city’s physical and social changes over time. Many images in the ‘Changing New York’ project have sharp contrasts of light and shadow. The difference from some of her others might be in the location or the angle that the image was taken at. The work reflects social changes of that time and fits into Abbott’s greater work which has the theme of the changing urban environment. 

 

This photograph captures the energy and structure of the city at night. The buildings glowing windows create the idea that the city comes alive at night. Abbott shows the city as something that is living but made of steel and electricity at the same time. The black and white colour scheme emphasises the strong contrasts between brightness and darkness. The glow of the lights against the dark night highlights the sharp edges and shapes of the architecture and buildings. Even though the image has lots of different tones and texture, everything fits together, which gives a feeling of unity. Each skyscraper has glowing windows that form a grid which pulls the viewer’s eye across the lighter part of the image. As the photo is taken from an elevated view, it flattens the scene slightly which turns the streets and towers into quite abstract forms. Abbott’s use of black and white emphasises the light and focusing attention on contrast rather than colour. The bright lights, the photograph intensity without the need of colour. 

 

The image shows the city at night, glowing with life and energy. The subject is the urban landscape which is the view of tall skyscrapers with light shining from the inside. The image is trying to show not just the architecture of the city but also about the modern life of the city itself. Abbott captures the city in different ways, showing how humans and industry have reshaped the environment. The glowing windows symbolise human activity and each light suggesting work and movement within the city. Abbott used photography to explore how architecture and technology shaped society which makes her work as much about people and society as it’s about buildings. Abbott wanted to capture the world as it appeared, and she frames the image to show that. The strong contrasts of light and dark, and the repetition of geometric shapes, give the scene abstract beauty. The content is striking, but the longer someone looks at the photo in more, the more details emerge. 

 

Berenice Abbott made this image using a large-format camera and black and white film, which allowed her to capture the city with great depth. Taking a picture like this would have required careful planning and a deep understanding of light and timing. Abbott likely would have waited for the right moment when the city’s lights glowed brightest against the sky, and because she was shooting at night, she would have used a long exposure, which meant she had to keep the camera perfectly still while the film slowly captured the scene. After taking the image, she would have carefully developed the film and made prints in a darkroom. She would have adjusted contrast and tone and lighten some areas and darkening others. This would have been to emphasise the glow of the windows and the shadows. The image would have took time to perfect, so creating an image with this level of precision, would have required patience and creativity. 

 

The photograph gives off a mood that’s both calm and full of energy at the same time. When I look at it, I feel a sense of the city being alive with light. The glowing windows make me think about all the people inside having their own lives, while from this distance everything feels quiet. It reminds of standing and looking at something in awe of how beautiful and amazing it is. The mood isn’t exactly happy or sad, it’s more filled with awe. The strong contrast between the bright lights and dark shadows gives the photo a feeling of depth. It captures the idea that modern life is both exciting and overwhelming at times. It also shows how people can build something so huge but only be small parts of it. The image shows that it’s not loud and chaotic even though it’s a busy city but it feels peaceful. 

 

This photograph by Berenice Abbott was most part of her Changing New York project. The photo reflects a time when the city was rapidly modernising, full of new skyscrapers and bright light. Her photographs share the idea of progress and modern life. This image was made for the public, to document the transformation of the city and to show people the beauty of the environment and city that they live in. Her photography connects with the art, music, and design of her time. Abbott didn’t just want to take nice pictures, she wanted to document a changing world and city, and show the beauty in progress. During the 1930s, New York was deeply impacted by the Great Depression, unemployment spiked and poverty increased, so the ‘Changing New York’ series showed New York in a positive light despite the struggles that the city was going through at that time. 

 

Through her photographs, Berenice Abbott showed that cities are living things that constantly evolve. Her images in the ‘Changing New York’ project capture not only the architecture of the time, but also the emotions behind it. Abbott’s photography set a standard for architectural photography that continues to influence photographers today.

Her work shows that photographing architecture is about seeing life within spaces and not just about lines and symmetry. She taught us to look at a city not as something fixed, but as something always improving and evolving. That idea continues to inspire modern photographers to look beyond the surface and consider what a building represents.

We live in a world where cities are constantly transforming, and Abbott’s photographs remind us that architecture reflects human life. The camera that she used became a tool for preserving history by capturing it in the moment.