I sold Kenny a pair of Air Jordans in the 90s. We had many adventures. I’m quite sure there was a time we’d both had considered each-other among the best of friends, but lost touch. Fast forward, post-Zuckerberg reconnection. I’d literally only been taking photographs for two months, and somehow, Kenny thought I’d be good shooting a new club? Honestly, I don’t remember how it came about. But there I was, opening night. Meatpacking District, NYC. At the hight of the open format bottle club scene. I hadn’t even been in a club since the year 2000, I think with Kenny, as well. A Y2K party at Pacha, and nobody was there. Freaking Y2K.

I had no idea what I was doing. Armed with a 24mm-88mm kit lens, a 50mm 1.8, & brand new Nikon D600, and a SB-700 flash, I shot opening night for VIP Room NYC. VIP Room was kind of a big deal. I googled “nightlife photography,” had no real understanding of anything I read, and went to work. I remember being so shy. So hesitant to approach people and take their images. Its funny.. after all these years, it still takes me a little bit to settle in when shooting these kind of things. I remember not being able to capture the lights. The club would be thumping with colors and strobes, yet everything looked dark. At that time, I had no idea that the flash I had would overpower all the club lights, rendering the club to look dark in most shots. I had no idea about the little white bounce card in the head of the flash. I didn’t know how to use nor properly understand ISO. So I just took portraits of people I found interesting or attractive, that said yes when I hesitantly asked their permission; portraits and group shots of the staff. I also learned, that after an hour or so and everyone is well lubricated… I don’t have to ask.

No preconceived notions nor expectations of what the work needed to look like. I could do whatever I wanted.

Right place, right time. Turns out I was doing something different. These portraits are some of my favorites. To be honest, I don’t see this kind of stuff in nightlife photos anymore. Even in my own. I’ll have to run with just a 50mm sometime in the future. I really am happy that I went back and found/sorted through/re-edited these.

Many of these images were shot in black & white, colorized with Adobe Photoshop AI and then edited to my specifications.

If you know any of the people in this photo essay, please, send them here. They should see them, dont’cha think? I’m in three of these. I must have handed my camera to Kenny, because… I’m not insane.

Those were words. These are images.

All images © Stuart Tracte.