#11 CAMERA Book Review: David Bradford - Drive by Shootings

A quick look through Drive by Shootings: Photographs by a New York Taxi Driver David Bradford.

David Bradford's Drive By Shootings presents an extended photographic portrait of New York City made from behind the wheel of a yellow taxi cab. After leaving a career as an art director, Bradford began driving a taxi in Manhattan in 1990 and started photographing the city during his shifts. Using a compact camera loaded with high speed black and white film, he recorded thousands of fleeting moments through the windscreen as he moved through the streets of New York. Published by Könemann in 2000, the book brings together photographs made over almost a decade, offering an unplanned and continuous observation of the city's daily life.

The photographs are shaped by the movement of the taxi itself, with traffic, weather, reflections and changing light becoming integral elements of the work. Rather than seeking decisive moments from the pavement, Bradford photographed from within the flow of the city, capturing pedestrians, street vendors, architecture, billboards, bridges and passing vehicles as they appeared before disappearing moments later. The project demonstrates how a familiar occupation provided access to an alternative photographic viewpoint, producing a sustained documentary record of New York that combines street photography, urban observation and the visual rhythm of life seen through the windscreen of a working taxi.

#photography #nyc #photobook #taxi #taxidriver

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