New York Resized A Photoessay by Jasper Lonard

New York has been captured in numerous ways over the years. To bring a new perspective to such a popular muse needs some serious imagination, and, more importantly, risk-taking. That is exactly what the Belgian photographer Jasper L&eacuteonard does in New York Resized.

From the Lannoo Publishers stable, it contains images of the Big Apple...with a small twist. L&eacuteonard has focussed his tilt-shift lens on New York&rsquos buildings and monuments, its vibrant people, parks, bridges and even yellow cabs from high vantage points like rooftops, helicopters and sometimes drones. This has given the city an almost comical perspective&ndashone that resembles something out of Legoland. Interspersed with these unique images are some eloquent lines on NYC from celebrities there&rsquos the English playwright Peter Shaffer (&ldquoIf London is a watercolour, New York is an oil painting.&rdquo), poet Walt Whitman (&ldquoWhat can New York&ndashnoisy, roaring, rumbling, tumbling, bustling, story, turbulent New York&ndashhave to do with silence&rdquo), author Ayn Rand (&ldquoI would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York&rsquos skyline.&rdquo), and singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey (&ldquoA lot of the time when I write about the person that I love, I feel like I&rsquom writing about New York&rdquo).

This isn&rsquot the first time Jasper L&eacuteonard has brought a bustling destination down to the scale of an anthill. His first compilation of images taken with a tilt-shift lens had his home country of Belgium as the subject, and was published by Lannoo in 2016. In fact, L&eacuteonard credits his success to his early days and &ldquothe pleasure I experienced in tinkering impetuously with camera lenses&rdquo. One of these lenses was a 45mm tilt-shift in which the rubber is folded in such a way on the lens that in certain places the image loses its characteristic sharpness. &ldquoWith the right subject and the right perspective, the miniature effect quickly makes a realistic scene look orchestrated.&rdquo

Here, we present some select images from New York Resized, a fleeting glimpse of a beautiful city seen through the eyes of a bird. As the poet Ezra Pound once said, &ldquoNew York is the most beautiful city in the world It is not far from it.&rdquo