The Breaks

Photographs by Gus Powell 11/20/2017Updated 11/5/2018

To Gus Powell, the City’s “timing, momentum and veiled tenderness” set it apart from everywhere else. He trains his lens on street-level flow. People go about their business, navigating city sidewalks and crosswalks. They are frequently, purposefully, headed in opposite directions. Downtown Brooklyn may be a central business district, but it radiates personality and swagger to Powell, recalling the 1980s-era city of the native New Yorker’s adolescence. The storefronts of Queens’ Jackson Heights pop with color; the light in its train station offers what he calls a “theatrical quality,” setting a stage for commuters. Influenced by street photographer Joel Meyerowitz and absurdist filmmaker Jacques Tatis, Powell picks compositional moments according to an almost naturalistic rhythm: “It’s like watching the waves at the beach—you start to know where the breaks are most promising.” See which ones he captured in this gallery. —Andrew Rosenberg