Joanna Milter

Director of Photography

The New Yorker

News

A Young Japanese Photographer's View of Harlem in the Nineties

joanna milter

Oct 4, 2017

For months, Katsu Naito spent his days off walking up and down Lenox Avenue, with either his Nikon F3, or his Leica CL, or, later, his Pentax 67 slung over his shoulder, but he didn't take any photos. When he bought a small tripod for the Pentax, he carried that in plain sight, too, continuing his rounds without once clicking the shutter. Gradually, he began noticing the same faces in the same spots. Eventually, they began to recognize him. Now the neighborhood kids asked what he was up to. Oh, you're from here, they said. When Naito worked up the courage to ask if he could take his neighbors' pictures, no one turned him down. - Rebecca Bengal

View the images here.

6,337