Love Your Enemies New York City Street Photography
A Biblical Message on a Manhattan Sidewalk
Sometimes the smallest thing on a city street becomes the photograph.
I came across this sidewalk sign in New York City with a handwritten passage from Matthew 5:44: “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” It stood there almost casually, surrounded by the ordinary movement of Manhattan, with a pedestrian disappearing into the distance and the city continuing behind it.
That contrast is what made me stop. The message is quiet, personal and direct, yet it has been placed in one of the busiest urban environments imaginable. Nothing about the setting is grand. It is simply a framed chalkboard sitting on the pavement, but the words give the scene an entirely different weight.
I chose black and white because colour was not important to what interested me. The photograph is really about the sign, the handwriting and the separation between that clear foreground message and the softer city beyond it. Even the lone figure walking away adds to that sense of a private thought existing in a very public place.
I am often drawn to these small discoveries in New York. They are easy to walk past because they are not landmarks and they do not announce themselves as photographs.
This one did. For a moment, a simple sidewalk sign became the entire story.
© Dan Kosmayer, 2017
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About My Fine Art Photography
Every photograph in my collection comes from my own travels, explorations, and years behind the camera.
I create my work as photographic art rather than mass-produced decoration. From street portraits and abandoned places to landscapes, architecture, and the unusual subjects I discover along the way, each image begins with something that made me stop and look.
My photographs are available in multiple sizes so the same image can work in anything from an intimate wall space to a large statement installation.
