Street Photographer Matthew Kraus Releases Captivating New Zine
PHOTOGRAPHS Volume 1© Matthew Kraus.
Written by Tyler Austin
Street photography is an artist’s documentation of the everyday, finding art in the chance encounters that we are met with as we perform our daily tasks; going to work, grabbing breakfast, meeting old friends, etc. But in the words of Matthew Kraus, street photography is simply ‘capturing moments that never have and never will happen again.’
Kraus is a passionate lover of all things photographic and a proud street photographer himself. Based out of New York, his photos consist of images that he takes all over the bustling city in which he resides; from crowded Chinatown scenes to midtown political protests, from underneath city streets to aerial views hundreds of feet above them, his lens knows no limit.
Nothing To See Here. Broadway & Walker Street. TriBeCa. New York City. 2016.© Matthew Kraus.
Women's March on New York City. Midtown Manhattan. NYC. 1.21.17© Matthew Kraus.
In a recent zine from Kraus, he displays 27 black and white images that completely immerse the viewer in the beauty that is NYC.
The photos he captures in the zine give unique perspectives on everyday moments throughout New York. By taking the endlessly busy streets of Manhattan and stripping them down of all their color he immediately gives the audience a view that they normally would never see.
Shadows intensify as they’re contrasted against their newly colorless subjects. Light coming from street lamps and traffic lights are magnified in each shot as they’ve now become the brightest objects in their frame. The juxtaposition between the modern technology in subway stations with the vintage feel of black and white turns daily activities like waiting for the train into an unfamiliar beauty.
Weilgus & Sons. Canal Street. Lower East Side. New York City. 2016. © Matthew Kraus.
Ken Hing Food. Canal Street. Chinatown. New York City. 2016.© Matthew Kraus.
From the A Train. West 4th Street Station. New York City. 2016. © Matthew Kraus.
Walker Street. TriBeCa. New York City. 2017 © Matthew Kraus.
In addition to his photography work Kraus serves as the current Art Director of Musee Magazine and Senior Art Director of Shahid & Co. He is an art and photography book designer, where Collier Schorr's Freeway Balconies, Blumen and 8 Women are a few of his past projects. He is also the former Art Director of Interview Magazine.
The zine, titled Photographs. Volume 1, contains 27 full bleed images and is available for purchase on Kraus’s website here. You can also see more photos from him not featured in the zine, in the galleries on his website and his Instagram account.
