Daniel Arnold’s photographs capture the ‘novelty and audacity’ of NYC

Daniel Arnold is an opportunist, in the best sense of the word. As one of the most beloved chroniclers of New York street life, the photographer is “always chasing” those comic, odd, poignant, beautiful, frenetic, absurd moments that comprise each day in the life of the city that never sleeps. His portraits of New Yorkers – taken in otherwise incidental moments as they go about their business – are the union of pure chance and his unique gift of spotting the “makings of a story”. “I operate on spontaneity,” he tells Dazed. “I’m a wandering collector.”

Having begun his career as a writer, Arnold first gained recognition for his photographs after posting pictures in the early days of Instagram and, within a few years, he’d attracted a mass following. But approaching photography “sideways” has its advantages. “Starting from a sense of story, rather than a knowledge of photography, made my work about failure – failing up into surprises,” he explains. “And I have no interest in changing that. It’s uncomfortable but at least I’m always learning.”

Arnold’s latest exhibition New York Life (named after the gallery in which it’s showing), brings together a selection of sublime pictures from his archive. It’s hard to pin down the qualities that define these images without resorting to a list of adjectives (as per my opening paragraph). But, however long the list of descriptives, it still feels like a reductive exercise because his pictures contain so much surprise and joy. Continually “trying to fit these bits of world I felt in love with into a little rectangle” and so often that love seems uncontainable within the frame. An abiding source of this love is, of course, the “novelty and audacity and ingenuity” of NYC itself. But he’s not just a flâneur, observing from a distance. He’s in amongst the tumult of city life, loading film after film into his camera. “I’m crazy for it,” he says. “I love it.”

Below, we speak to Daniel Arnold about his enduring desire to be moved and surprised, his wide-eyed love of New York, and what compels him to reach for his camera.

Please could you begin by introducing this particular show?

Daniel Arnold: New York Life is a collaboration. I gave the exhibition the same name as the gallery to accentuate that. Ethan James Green, the owner, is a neighbour and a friend, and a photographer whose work I’ve always admired for its precision. I operate on spontaneity and chance. I’m a wandering collector. Whereas Ethan is a controlled craftsman who seems to hit hardest when he’s executing a vision. In my mind that makes us a very interesting odd couple. And when you add his beautiful, outsider gallery to the mix, I see a potential new source of the serendipity I’m always chasing.

“My relationship with New York is Fievel’s dream of America. I’m a wide-eyed, emotional little mouse in a floppy hat and the streets are paved with cheese” – Daniel Arnold

To me, your pictures are like perfect distilled moments of otherwise overlooked beauty – but what kinds of observations or happenings compel you to reach for your camera?

Daniel Arnold: There are so many answers. Sometimes it’s weird light or the makings of a story, curiosity, desire, fear, sympathy, boredom, a great face, geometry, comedy, not wanting to forget. I could list all day. It can be a very addictive game, engaging with the world like it’s an endless thrift store conveyor belt of perfectly worn-in coincidences and provocations and punchlines. It can be really fun. But that approach can also get to feel pretty cheap and boring. I’m still compelled to keep swinging for some ennobling new complexity, but ‘good pictures’ get to feel kind of obvious after a while. ‘Bad pictures’ still feel shitty to mass produce, but the unknown universe between the two is a big mythical land of promise. So I indulge my gut, all kinds of weird action gets me reaching, because at this point I just wanna be surprised; would love to be moved. And will still happily settle for at least remembering, and adding every day to the giant pile, which is more interesting evidence to me than any particular photo.

Can you tell me about your relationship with NYC and in what ways the city has informed your work?

Daniel Arnold: My relationship with New York is Fievel’s dream of America. I’m a wide-eyed, emotional little mouse in a floppy hat and the streets are paved with cheese. It continuously churns up the novelty and audacity and ingenuity that makes it a cultural capital of the world. It’s everything. For every cold shoulder and cruelty, it’s also empathetic and soulful and so intimate. It’s full of despicable show-offs, stinks of trash and maple syrup, somebody keeps sneezing, there’s cellos and horns all night and everybody’s beautiful, every kid’s from Central Casting; iconic halal guys and horse cops, mutants and movie stars, all of them crazed, fed up, in love and angry, delusional, hustling around on dumb blue bikes, and we help each other through our little problems – even strangers – and some people are great at singing, it’s incredible. It’s alive. Drag-you-out-the-door-every-day alive, and I love it all the time, I’m crazy for it, I love it.

In what ways has starting out as a writer informed how you compose pictures?

Daniel Arnold: Ha, well, to some degree, in the same way that learning high school Spanish informs how I speak Italian. Starting as a writer helped me compose pictures because I had no idea how I was supposed to do it. I have always felt that English was a dish best served as a second language. And coming at photography sideways, I got to have a screwy accent with my words out of order – so blunt and earnest and vulnerable that way. I mean it, but also the reality is we come up so immersed in visual communication, that we speak pictures instinctively. It made the early days of Instagram so interesting to watch. Like the collective unconscious, after centuries of silent winks, sat up and started speaking in full sentences. It was like watching a language being born and then evolving faster than anybody could get their mouths around it.

Being a writer gave me an eye and a taste for a story way before I knew how to use a camera or arrange a frame. So starting out I took pictures like a cartoon dog catcher, just wildly wagging a net around, trying to fit these bits of world I felt in love with into a little rectangle, and half the time without even looking, to keep from getting smacked or messing up the scene et cetera. So, to wrap it up, starting from a sense of story, rather than a knowledge of photography, made my work, from the very beginning, about failure. Failing up into surprises. And I have no interest in changing that. It’s uncomfortable but at least I’m always learning.

“The early days of Instagram was so interesting to watch. It was like watching a language being born and then evolving faster than anybody could get their mouths around it” – Daniel Arnold

For me, there’s something very optimistic and life-affirming about your photos. But what’s your guiding principle when it comes to making pictures?

Daniel Arnold: Life-affirming is a great compliment, but I have to throw it back at you because I think the themes and insights belong to the viewer. I haven’t lain or sought out these pictures in an effort to make a comment on life or people. They’re just the truth of what’s around me – a byproduct of trying to make the most of the world, to find out on my own terms what I think of it, how to be good and what I care about.

All the documentary evidence that accumulates can read like a kind of archetypal tarot game. Like a Rorschach Test. The pictures are what you see. What they mean to me is mine, it doesn’t matter. That being said, looking at the work does seem to get under some people’s skin and start them playing how I play. If that makes their world suddenly a little more fun and full of oddness and coincidence, well, that’s not a mission I’m on but it’s a nice thing to spread around, even if sometimes all the goddamn street photography gets a little exhausting.

New York Life is running at New York Life gallery until December 22, 2023.

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