New York, Raw and Uncut

Photographs 1981-2001

Wide Angle Press, Hard Cover 280 pages

Boarding a Capitol Airways DC10 in 1981 brought me for the first time to JFK, this was my first trip outside of Europe and New York seemed the perfect choice and destination.

Within seconds of walking out of the subway, Manhattan grabs your soul and spirit, and you understand that it will never let you lose. I am a 20-year-old with dreams. Like many photographers before me, I want to explore, discover and photograph the moving city. All streets and neighborhoods must be visited. In 1983 and 1984, I am attracted by the names The Bronx or Harlem as I try to channel my inner strength by walking through the hoods while shooting images. It is in these neighborhoods across the city that I really learned my trade and that I became a street photographer, overcoming my fears of the unknown and the rough edges of the city. By 1986, I was cruising the city, somewhat fearless, still aware of the challenges but riding my luck -luck is an element of the daily life of any photographer, you simply need some to make some of your best photographs.

So for 20 years, I would come and go, sometime on assignment for newspapers like my beloved “Libération” or to shoot portraits, the other side of my photography. And naturally I would walk from Battery Park to Jerome Avenue in The Bronx or from Times Square to Coney Island, yes, I wrote walk, because for me, the steps from street to street are at the heart of any street photo project. New York taught me that there is something happening, in life, around every corner. This is also my last street reportage project completely shot on film. With only 36 images to a roll of Tri-X, the mind and reflexes had to be sharp. For sure that number 36 was a friendly reminder that frame, distance, aperture and speed better be in osmose with your brain.

This book strives to show you how I achieved my dreams of becoming a photographer.

New York helped shape me and my career, that is a fact.

Jerome De Perlinghi

March 2026