2017 GANYC Apple Awards Nominee: Nathan Kensinger

Each year, GANYC proudly honors organizations and individuals that encourage and promote New York City tourism, culture and preservation, while supporting the work and contributions of professional New York City tour guides. The 2017 GANYC Apple Awards is coming up, on Monday, March 6, 2017. This year there are 44 nominees. Below, is an interview with one of them.

Nominations (multiple): Camera Obscura, Nathan Kensinger, Curbed NY, Outstanding Achievement in Essay/Article/Series Writing (published October 1, 2015 – September 30, 2016); Nathan Kensinger, Bronx Casitas 5, Outstanding Achievement in New York City Photography (singular image, published October 1, 2015 - September 30, 2016); Nathan Kensinger, Port Morris 3, Outstanding Achievement in New York City Photography (singular image, published October 1, 2015 - September 30, 2016)

Nathan Kensinger is an urban explorer who has been extensively documenting New York for years via photography and the written word, often exposing an aspect not often seen, even by well-traveled, veteran New Yorkers. In addition to giving talks and walks of much of his subject matter, many of his photographs have been exhibited around New York, and often show parts of the city that no longer exist, except in virtual form, as can be seen on his website.

What was the main source of inspiration for starting Camera Obscura?

My photo essay series, Camera Obscura, has been published every two weeks for the past five years by Curbed NY, but these bi-monthly articles actually started 10 years ago in March 2007, when I began self-publishing a photo-blog exploring the abandoned and industrial edges of New York City. The inspiration for creating those first photo essays was seeing the entire Brooklyn historic industrial waterfront being demolished, and wanting to document its buildings before they disappeared. My first 95 photo essays were portraits of all the old, abandoned industrial buildings on the New York waterfront, and of unique neighborhoods along the coast. When Curbed NY approached me in 2012 about continuing this essay series on their website, it was a great opportunity to expand into some new topics and territory. The first series I did for Curbed NY explored all of the new parks which had opened on the city’s post-industrial waterfront during the Bloomberg era, and then Hurricane Sandy hit later that year, taking my explorations of the waterfront in a much different direction.

Please describe, briefly, what your process is like for developing each article?

Each of my photo essays is a different adventure into a unique part of the city, usually exploring a place that intrigues me and that I don’t know particularly well, and whose story hasn’t really been told before. I begin with an intensive period of research, digging into the history of each location using newspaper archives, old maps, and books from my personal library. Then, I plan out possible routes around the area, using satellite maps to scout out places that would be interesting to photograph. For each essay, I usually hike around and photograph for two or three days, taking hundreds of photos, and then spend a day going through photos, before starting to write the essay portion of the piece. The essays and the photos go hand in hand, with one informing the other.

What’s been a highlight of your work or a particular event or happenstance that has kept you motivated to continue doing it?

When Hurricane Sandy hit New York in 2012, it motivated me to continue documenting the city’s waterfront. Many of the areas I had been writing about before the storm were decimated, and I knew I wanted to follow up and see what had happened to them in the immediate aftermath. In the years since the storm, my work has focused on the recovery process from Sandy, and on the city’s future, as it deals with the reality of sea level rise and climate change.

For our professional GANYC tour guide members, what things about your work might we share with the thousands of visitors to NYC we meet every year?

Each of the 200+ photo essays I’ve done over the past 10 years is a short, unique piece about a small part of New York City’s history. Some of them are portraits of specific historic buildings, some cover entire neighborhoods. The essays can be read individually, informing a specific tour or walk, or can be taken in as a whole, giving an overview of how New York’s waterfront has evolved during the past decade, including insight into the past few centuries of the city’s history, and what the future of the city will be.

Favorite tour you've taken in NYC, or if you haven't taken a tour, where in NYC would you next like to have a tour (preferably led by one of our GANYC members)?

I don’t go on too many tours of the city, because I am usually out visiting places which are pretty far off the beaten track, but my favorite tour company is Turnstile Tours, which is run by Cindy VandenBosch and Andrew Gustafson. Their tours of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Brooklyn Army Terminal offer great insight into Brooklyn’s changing waterfront, combining historical depth with fun glimpses into how the city is currently evolving.

What is your favorite place in NYC and why?

My favorite places in New York are the lesser-known beaches and rivers hidden all along the coast, which I’ve been writing about for the past few years. The sandy strips along the Arthur Kill, the bottle beach at the Edgemere Landfill, the backwaters of Hook Creek, the pathways along Gabler’s Creek and Lemon Creek. These places are quiet refuges, sometimes completely unknown and unvisited. It’s great to still be able to find a bit of solitude, in the most populous city in the United States.  

If you could be any one of the five NYC boroughs or a particular store/restaurant in NYC, what would you be and why?

I don’t know that I would want to be an entire borough – they all have good and bad sides. Same with being a restaurant. If I could be one place in the city, maybe it would be the island in the middle of Pouch Camp on Staten Island – surrounded by nature, calm and peaceful, and a complete surprise for those who stumble across it.