Harlan Erskine

December 9, 2016

The Urban Lens: Harlan Erskine explores an eerie Midtown after midnight in 2008

6sqft’s ongoing series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment Brooklyn resident Harlan Erskine highlights the Midtown lobbies and streets past midnight, during the Great Recession. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Though Midtown is now booming with larger-than-life skyscrapers and blockbuster condos along the likes of Billionaires' Row, 9 years ago at the peak of the Great Recession, it was a much different story. In 2008, Brooklyn photographer Harlan Erskine took to the city after dark and documented the ghost town that was Midtown. While New Yorkers are today used to seeing bustling crowds spilling into the streets at all hours, Harlan's photographs depict the polar opposite: empty office lobbies, streets and sidewalks.
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