Undercity: Exploring the Underbelly of New York City

Steve Dun­can is an urban his­to­ri­an and pho­tog­ra­ph­er whose mis­sion is to “peel back the lay­ers of a city to see what’s under­neath” – to piece togeth­er the com­plex cities we inhab­it. In this fas­ci­nat­ing video, we fol­low Dun­can as he explores the under­bel­ly of New York City. Andrew Won­der, using a Canon 5D Mark II and the Canon 24mm f/1.4L lens, doc­u­ments the adven­ture. The sen­so­ry expe­ri­ences must be extra­or­di­nary, as Alan Feuer (who accom­pa­nied Steve and Andrew on one of their trips) writes in the New York Times:

The sounds down here are even more impres­sive than the sights and smells: the Nia­gara-like crash of water spilling in from side drains; the rum­ble of the sub­way; the guh-DUNK! of cars hit­ting man­hole cov­ers over­head, like two jabs on a heavy bag.

For more, I high­ly rec­om­mend read­ing the NPR sto­ry, “Into the Tun­nels.” Also worth see­ing are Dun­can’s pho­tos of New York City bridges and the under­ground rivers of Lon­don. The video above has a run time of 28 min­utes.

Relat­ed Con­tent:

Paris Under­ground