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A boy jumps in a square in New York.

High and low: the spontaneous joy and drama of New York City – in pictures

This article is more than 9 months old

Street photographer Daniel Arnold searches out the candid human moments of NYC, capturing a complex city alive with characters and contradictions

Thu 6 Nov 2025 08.00 CET
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Daniel Arnold (b. 1980, USA) is a photographer whose candid, street-level images capture the unfiltered rhythms of urban life.
Over the past 15 years, Daniel Arnold has become a cult figure on the New York art scene, known for his images of colourful encounters with its citizens. All photos by Daniel Arnold. You Are What You Do by Daniel Arnold can be purchased from Loose Joints Publications
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This collection showcases Arnold’s wry, tragicomic style capturing the city’s characters with charm.
This collection showcases Arnold’s wry, tragicomic style capturing the city’s characters
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Arnold’s work confronts the chaos, chutzpah, humour and vitality that define the city
Arnold’s work confronts the chaos, chutzpah, humour and vitality that define the city
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There are genuine moments of sadness and grief mixed with joy, alongside spontaneous scenes of pure street theatre
There are genuine moments of sadness and grief mixed with joy, alongside spontaneous scenes of pure street theatre
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An image of someone taking a photo from the East River ferry
Arnold says: ‘This little miracle has been following me around for 12-plus years. I crossed my fingers and nervously snapped one shot with my little Yashica on the East River ferry, long before I knew how to use a camera’
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A boy using an iPad in pyjamas
‘You are what you do. Factor that into your screen time analysis. This boy was using an iPad in pyjamas, right off of Rockaway Beach in October of 2017, when we made eye contact’
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‘Covid-19, Broome and Lafayette, June 2020. Everyday I wandered alone, looking at the clouds and laughing. Everything changed but the weather’
‘Covid-19, Broome and Lafayette, June 2020. Everyday I wandered alone, looking at the clouds and laughing. Everything changed but the weather’
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‘In a previous life, working as a writer circa 2010, I’d spend lunch breaks trawling Times or Union Square. Once in a while I’d be brave enough to take a picture, and surprise myself’
‘In a previous life, working as a writer circa 2010, I’d spend lunch breaks trawling Times or Union Square. Once in a while I’d be brave enough to take a picture, and surprise myself’
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‘This summer [2019] I cut off communication in the midst of accidentally falling in love, and re-routed all my tweaked, manic energy into walking-around-work. A very productive period’
‘During this summer [2019] I cut off communication in the midst of accidentally falling in love, and re-routed all my tweaked, manic energy into walking-around-work. A very productive period’
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‘That’s Katie making effortless glamour of being in Lenox Hill Hospital. I saw her lying there just as she is in the picture and thought: Hey, I know this one. Candy Darling by Peter Hujar’
‘That’s Katie making effortless glamour of being in Lenox Hill Hospital. I saw her lying there just as she is in the picture and thought: Hey, I know this one. Candy Darling by Peter Hujar’
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His candid, street-level images capture the unfiltered rhythms of urban life.
Arnold’s candid, street-level images capture the unfiltered rhythms of urban life
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From the glamorous heights of high culture to the downtrodden and overlooked, You Are What You Do draws a wide, empathic circle around New York
From the glamorous heights of high culture to the downtrodden and overlooked, You Are What You Do draws a wide, empathic circle around New York
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