Long Island Nights

Long Island Nights is a topographical series of deadpan images of commercial businesses at night. My photographs examine the facades of buildings and the light that emanates from them. The appearance of these buildings in each image can be compared and contrasted to each other while standing in their own personal space. I grew up in Smithtown, one of the many suburbs of Long Island, NY. Commercial businesses, shopping plazas, and big box stores dot the edges of roadways. Throughout my life I have passed by these buildings when driving at night, their bright advertisements always glowing in my peripheral vision whenever I’m lurking the Island’s dark and empty streets. My town is like any other town in America, filled with its shopping malls, restaurants, and mom-and-pop shops. Using a portable 4x5 camera, Long Island Nights aims to document these commercial businesses on the side of the road, strip them of their surrounding context through the darkness of night, and showcase them with the utmost clarity and detail.