East Village
photographer
specializes in
capturing the city
before dawn’s
early light
BY BOB KRASNER
There are photographers
everywhere who love the
light of day. Then there is
East Village resident Daniel Root.
Many photographers’ preferences
differ, though — some
prefer bright sunny days, others
live for overcast but bright times,
a few prefer rain and fog, many
wait for the golden hour before
sunset and there are those who
are up at the crack of dawn to
capture images in fi rst light of
the morning.
By the time the sun is up, however,
Root’s been done shooting
for at least a half an hour. For
almost fi ve years he’s been wandering
around lower Manhattan
in the dark, capturing empty bars,
restaurants and street scenes with
just the street lights and whatever
illumination is available.
Root came to NYC in the early
1980s and supported himself
painting apartments until he got
a job as a photo assistant, which
he found to be a much more
agreeable enterprise. One day
he found himself surreptitiously
shooting Madonna on the street
as she fi lmed “Desperately Seeking
Susan.”
Later, when showing the pics
to a video director, he was asked
if he had been hired to shoot
the rising star. Not wanting to
let the truth get in the way of a
possible job, Root said yes, leading
him into a career as a music
photographer.
“I shot for MTV,” he recounts.
“Frank Zappa, Isabella Rosselini,
Cher, all kinds of people! I was
the fi rst photographer for ‘Yo!
MTV Raps’ , which is how I
ended up shooting LL Cool J in
his grandmother’s house.”
He branched out into corporate,
editorial and food photography
, forming The Root
Group in 1995 with his wife
Rina, a graphic designer. All the
time, though, he has worked on
Daniel Root pulls out the Nikon to shoot Niagara on the corner of Avenue A and 7th Street.
his more experimental personal
images which have involved noncamera
processes like photograms
and materials such as wax,
Japanese tissue paper, vinegar
and aluminum.
Eventually the computer also
Daniel Root in front of the bar where it all started, the Vazac
bar (aka 7B and the Horseshoe Bar), 7:09 a.m.
became a tool, as it enabled him
to blend over 500 different images
into a single abstract image. That
work was exhibited at NYU two
years ago in a show that included
a three foot by fi ve foot print.
“I enjoy the corporate work,”
Root explains. “But I didn’t want
to lose the joy of photography, so
I’ve continued with my personal
art.”
His most recent project came
about as a result of the loss of his
dog, who passed away in 2016.
“I used to walk her every morning
along the East River, and I
realized that I wasn’t walking
anymore,” he muses.
He began to explore the vistas
of empty bars before sunrise,
starting with the Vazac (aka 7B
and the Horseshoe Bar) at the corner
of Avenue B and 7th Street, a
spot he has revisited many times.
“It always has great overnight
lighting and it looks like the perfect
bar to me,” he says.
For almost three years, he
photographed every bar in walking
distance, always fi nishing
up before sunrise. Not wanting
to abandon the project for lack
of subject matter, he expanded
his scope to include restaurants,
shops, street scenes and interesting
buildings. For almost fi ve
years he has posted images daily
on Instagram, often including
some history of the location.
“A follower wanted to know
what he was looking at, so I began
PHOTOS BY BOB KRASNER
to do some research,” says Root.
“Sometimes there’s a lot to say
about a place and sometimes not.
Researching the addresses gives
you a sense of history.”
Root mostly shoots with a Sony
RX100, a versatile, small camera
that allows him to use long exposures
without a tripod and also
to not call too much attention to
himself. While he manages to
avoid trouble while alone on the
street in those deserted hours of
the morning, sometimes it sneaks
up on him.
“I was pressed up against a
window doing a long exposure
when a man screamed in my ear,”
Root recalls. “It turned out that
he had just been released from
Bellevue, but luckily all he wanted
was a hug.”
While some might fi nd it a
challenge to shoot without the
benefi t of daylight, Root sees it
differently. “The unifying light of
daytime is less interesting to me,”
he explains. “At night, the spots
of the light, the different color
temperatures, the intensity, makes
it more interesting.” He continues,
“I fi nd it easier to photograph in
the pre-dawn hours because it’s
quiet and I notice things that I
never noticed before.”
Daniel Root’s pre-dawn images
can be seen on Instagram
at @danielrootphotography,
personal work at rootrootroot.
com and corporate imagery at
rootgroupnyc.com.
Daniel heading home, 7:07 a.m.
Schneps Media Dec. 31, 2020-Jan. 6, 2021 11
/rootgroupnyc.com
