Urban Footnotes: New York

New York is never still, and this is what has constantly challenged me in a good way. The way I always want to be up before sunrise to see this city waking up. The city hums before dawn, when the streets are washed clean and the first coffee carts open, and it doesn’t let go until long after midnight.

Walking here means surrendering to a rhythm that is bigger than you—rivers of people, the rumble of the subway beneath your feet, fragments of voices carried up the avenues—the burning concrete in summer or the razor-sharp winds in winter.

I found myself following the light as it cut between buildings, pausing on corners where strangers crossed paths and parted again in seconds. The speed and movement of the city keep you awake, hungry for frames and moments, and it exhausts you at the same time, wanting you to repeat the same the next morning before sunrise.