In the last three decades of the century, New York photographers developed a kinetic approach to high-pressure subjects. The advent of fast color film enhanced the sensuous appeal of what had long before become an emotional investment in the life of the city. Alex Webb endowed the public appearances of the metropolis with a tropical warmth. But others generally reconsidered New York, not so much as a collective whole as the site of private observations. Photographers were energized by wonder at intimate phenomena: the charged chemistry of high-spirited gatherings or the disconcerting loveliness of unexplainable incident. Larry Fink, a one-time student of Lisette Model, gave both a voluptuous and a hilarious edge to upscale cocktail parties. Mary Ellen Mark and Bruce Gilden infused a visceral dynamism into an off-kilter New York. Nan Goldin candidly revealed the activities of her particular subculture—affirming in the process a glamorous or suffering display of libido. What middle-class society stigmatized as unsavory behavior, she described as a live-wire community. Other photographers captured unlikely subject matter that would have remained unnoticed but for their poetic eye. Sylvia Plachy imbued the meat-packing district with an otherworldly phosphorescence, and even her Times Square celebrants appear as haunting specters. As for Jeff Jacobson, Ralph Gibson, and Jeff Mermelstein, their world was chafed by the insubordination of objects, and the vagrant wackiness of city life. New York, as they saw it, was an effusion of bizarre microhappenings with no reasonable cause in sight. In the sheer incongruity of such phenomena, which may await the viewer around the next corner, they perceived the density of urban experience, alive with folly, enigma, and charm. Jeff Mermelstein (b. 1957) Untitled, New York City, 1993 Fujicolor crystal archive, 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm). © Jeff Mermelstein, courtesy of the artist Nan Goldin (b. 1953) Misty in Sheridan Square, New York City, 1991 Cibachrome print, 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61 cm) © Nan Goldin, courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, New York Mary Ellen Mark (b. 1940) Coney Island, 1994 Gelatin-silver print, 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm) © Mary Ellen Mark, courtesy of the artist. Larry Fink (b. 1941) George Plimpton, Jared Paul Stern, and Cameron Richardson, Fashion Shoot, Elaine’s, New York City, 1999 Gelatin-silver print, 14 7/8 x 14 7/8 in. (37.8 x 37.8 cm). © Larry Fink, courtesy of the artist