Long term projects are at the center of all this photographer creates. Topics he’s covered through these projects range from a focus on a variety of locations throughout New York City, the life experiences of twins, observing artists in their work, and engaging with the history, culture, and people of different countries including Italy, India, and Mexico. His dedication to the craft of photography is clear through the eight photobooks he’s created, one of which took as long as fifty years to complete.

“Usually my subjects choose me. I keep going to the same places to photograph. Sometimes I get enough good images initially to make me want to return. Before I know it, I have 10–20 photos that I like on a specific theme. This spurs me to keep returning. I get to know the area, the flow and moods and geography of the place. Before I know it, and almost as if by magic, I’m involved with the subject and want to do a book about it. […] Sometimes I know right away what I want to shoot and how to pursue it. Other times it can take several years of shooting before I know what my subject really is. There is no one way that I know.”

What drew me to study the work of Harvey Stein initially was his dedication to long-term projects. This commitment to following through on projects is something many photographers could benefit from, especially with today’s focus on consistently posting content that die daily deaths. In his own words reflecting on this Stein said, “I want to say something through my work. I think the best way to do this is through long term projects shot over time that gives us a deeper understanding of the subject. I love single images and they should also be strong, but I think more meaning comes from in depth studies of a subject, not one or a few photos of the subject. And I always want my images to be a reflection of how I think, behave, and believe.”

Beyond his long-term projects, Stein has seemingly dedicated his entire life to photography. He currently teaches at the International Center of Photography, regularly gives lectures on photography throughout the United States and in numerous other countries, and was previously the Director of Photography at Umbrella Arts Gallery in the East Village. His commitment is also reflected in the number of exhibitions he has participated in across the U.S. and Europe, including 86 solo exhibitions and 165 group exhibitions.

New York City is a central theme in a lot of Stein’s work, and he has created three books, each focusing on a different part of the city. Briefly Seen: New York Street Life captures the intense emotions experienced by New Yorkers as they move through the city’s crowded and chaotic streets, using various modes of transportation. The photographs in this book were taken over four decades, from 1974 to 2014, while Stein walked the streets of Manhattan. “These photographs are my response to the rough, raw, charged and even magical energy of New York City street life. I am attracted to the nuances of behavior and body language in public places, characteristic of the ‘walker in the city.’”

To convey these feelings, he used blur, motion, grain, low-angle flash, skewed perspectives, tight cropping, overlapping images, and wide-angle views. Unlike his usual style of engaging with subjects directly, these images leaned more candid, a method he has conflicted feelings about: “I always felt candid shooting was maybe sneaky or underhanded… You’re not giving people a chance to say no.”

Another example of Stein’s long-term focus is Coney Island People 50 Years, which includes photographs taken between 1970 and 2020. Over 1,000 trips were made to Coney Island, a place he first visited at age 14. Shot with a Leica and 21mm lens, the images have a slightly warped perspective, matching the surreal energy of the boardwalk. “Coney Island is an American icon celebrated worldwide, a fantasy land of the past with an irrepressible optimism about its future. There isn’t anywhere else like it.”

For Stein, it is the people that make Coney unique: “It’s a melting pot of all sizes, shapes, races, ages, religions, behaviours and occupations. The amusements, the sea and the open-air all impart a kind of freedom of behaviour I don’t see anywhere else.”

It took 23 years to put together Harlem Street Portraits. For this project Stein deliberately avoided candid shots, instead choosing to engage with his subjects directly. “Each portrait becomes more than a depiction of a person, it becomes an intimate record of a personal encounter. For me, and hopefully for the subject, the experience is rich and memorable.”

His intent was to show admiration and fondness for the neighborhood while documenting the humanity and vibrancy of Harlem. Stein explained his process: “I look for something about an individual… to discuss. I try to ‘break the ice’ with a friendly remark. It doesn’t always work, but if the approach is right and the moment is good, I’m usually successful at getting the OK to

photograph that person.” Despite Harlem’s reputation, he has said, “I’ve never felt uncomfortable shooting in Harlem. People have been friendly and open with their greetings, conversations and emotions. It’s a joy to be on the streets there.”

Stein’s work extends far beyond New York. His book Movimento, created over ten years in Italy, sought to “reveal psychological states with meaning and to explore the intertwined elements of happy and sad moments; the familiar and the unexpected.” In India, he found an unmatched environment for street photography: “Given that I’ve spent much of my photographic career meeting and photographing strangers on the street, India is an amazing and important place to work.”

And Mexico: Between Life & Death, produced after 14 trips between 1993 and 2010, captures the contradictions of Mexican life through festivals, rituals, and everyday scenes. “The images show fragments of what Mexico is, a country of incredible contrasts and contradictions… Many of the photographs explore the Mexican’s robust attachment to life, and to an acquiescent acceptance of the presence of death.”

Stein has also experimented with different cameras and approaches in shorter projects. He photographed Mardi Gras in 1979 with an SX-70 Polaroid, producing direct, collaborative portraits. He used a Holga to explore themes of flight and trees, exploiting the toy camera’s soft focus and vignetting to evoke dreamlike qualities. With pinhole cameras, he turned to water, seeking to “evoke the feeling of movement in a still image.”

Other projects reveal his range and compassion. Parallels focused on twins, sparked by a chance encounter, and eventually included more than 150 sets. After Hurricane Sandy, he photographed survivors with empathy, noting, “They were appreciative for the interest and attention I could give them, and were anxious to tell their stories. I feel in my small way that I was part of the process of healing.” In Living with AIDS, he photographed 120 people over three years, pairing their portraits with written reflections.“ Through text and image, my aim was toincrease understanding and awareness of living with AIDS and to give a human face to a disease that is all too often described only in demographic and statistical terms.”

“I believe photographs speak to us; they are reminders of the past. To look at a family album is to recall a vanished memory or to see old friends materialize before our eyes. In making photographs, the photographer is simultaneously a witness to the moment and a recorder of its demise; this is the camera’s power. Photography’s magic is its ability to touch, inspire, sadden, and to connect to each viewer according to that person’s unique sensibility and history.”