The NYC Landmarks Project

 

The Photographer

To begin with, my name: Laura Waterbury. I'm a born and mostly bred New Yorker. When I was a kid we mostly lived in the city and when we did live here, we lived in Brooklyn. I grew up in a nineteenth century brownstone just beyond the presently designated outlines of the Historic District of Boerum Hill. I say I mostly grew up in New York because my family spent several years abroad as well, in Ecuador and Mexico. However, I have always considered myself a Brooklyn girl, no matter where in the world I've gone and where I've lived and for how long. Brooklynite is a hard identity to shake.

photo of the photographer Laura WaterburyWhen I went to college, I left New York behind for more than a decade, rarely even visiting. I ended up spending years in Montreal, Madison, and Chicago either studying and/or working. I pursued a bunch of related and unrelated degrees, the research for which required long stretches of time spent back in the same area of Mexico I had lived in as a child.

When I came back here, finally, it was to teach in a public school as part of the New York City Teaching Fellows program. THAT was an experience. But after a few years I came to realize it was about time I did what I had wanted to do since I picked up my first SLR camera. That was back in the dark ages when we used film and darkrooms and other such antiquated things. So, I've now picked up my camera full-time, more or less. Want to know about my paying work or interested in having your portrait done? Check out my other website, www.laurawaterbury.com.

This landmarks project grew out of a couple things: my fascination with history, my love of architecture, my in-fascinated-love of New York City, and my original (but discarded) idea to photograph the Brooklyn Bridge every day from a single vantage point. That would have bored me after a few days. It DID bore me after a few days. So, instead, I embarked on a project that is both more varied and, ultimately, more challenging.

Want to contact me? There's twitter and facebook and good, old-fashioned e-mail at waterburyphotography@gmail.com.