It was the summer of 2018 and I had just finished undergoing nerve-wracking medical tests the last months. When I finally received the last result and good news I was so relieved and so deeply aware of how short life is, that I decided there was no more time to waste and time to tick something off my bucket list. I was going to New York and right now.

New York is not in my last-minute budget. But an old friend lived there at the time and they were busy working around the clock and offered me to stay at their apartment. The most expensive part taken care of and with a tight budget I was ready to go. I flew from Amsterdam to Newark the first week of August to spend a week in New York.

No research, no plans, nothing. I took my small luggage, my MacBook and my phone, a Samsung S8. Back then I wasn’t doing anything with photography anymore. My Nikon D3100 was gathering dust. I didn’t feel like hauling it around New York.

My friend picked me up from the airport and drove me to their place. They lived in a high-rise building in the Financial District right across the highway from Battery Park. They took me to the rooftop, pointed out the directions, gave me my keys and off I went. After a six-hour flight, I didn’t even sit down. Went out right away and walked and walked all day long.

It was the best feeling. Even now almost 6 years later I still remember the high I felt that day. New York was always a dream of mine. I still wouldn’t mind at all going back there. Unfortunately, my friend doesn’t live there anymore. But if I could I would travel there again in a blink of an eye.

I didn’t take my camera with me, which was a good idea because the walking one does in Manhattan is insane. Add to that that it was the hottest week in the summer. Before I even reached the subway I was already drenched in sweat. The humidity was insane. I’m from Aruba so I’m used to the relentless sunny 30 – 33 Celcius degree weather. But we don’t have humidity. Oh my, the humidity.

The best camera is the one that’s with you

Like said, I only had my Samsung S8 to take photos. I wasn’t concerned with getting the best shots. I just wanted to document my time there. Of course, once back and going through them all I told myself I should have shot way more. It’s a recurring thing, every time I travel I think I took enough but then immediately when back I lament not having taken enough photos. There are never enough photos!

Recently I was looking for a memory card to test a camera when I found the memory card I had in my Samsung S8 back then. It had all my photos and a couple of short clips I took when in New York. I decided to go through them all again. Make a selection and load them in Lightroom. Looking at them now almost 6 years later. They aren’t bad photos at all for being taken with a Samsung S8 and taken with no intention to shoot the best frame with the best light and so on.

I once read on a blog from someone who took a course with the photographer Alex Webb. Webb taught them to go back to their previous photos and look at them with a “new” eye. It felt a lot like that going through those photos now. Photos I discarded back then, now look much better to me. And photos I found good back then now I don’t think they are so good anymore. I made a selection, edited and streamlined the colours. Cropped some of them because the Samsung has a very tall portrait and long landscape format. It didn’t suit every picture. I must mention I never use the in-camera photo AI to improve the colours. I prefer to shoot as is.

“One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years.”

– Tom Wolfe

Photos are copyright of Darice de Cuba

The Friends building shot was taken for me by a kind stranger. They even took a photo of me while I walked there to go stand in front of the building. There was no shortage on that trip of people willing to snap a photo of me for me. Tourists will help each other out.

It was a great trip, revealing, some tough moments, exhilarating and my first time travelling solo.

New York, you are the best.