I like emptiness. I like a city that is bustling and I like to show it empty. I find it exciting to show NY quiet. There is a scene in Vanilla Sky where the hero is on Times Square and there isn’t anybody there, I found that so exciting when I first saw it, I thought this is a place that is bustling during the day and you caught a moment when it is empty and it is fantastic. That is why I like going out at 5 in the morning and capturing photos at that time. The City (in London) on a Sunday morning is the only time I am really going to see it empty. But the buildings are alive. The picture is alive.

I belong to an empty city. It is mine. I like to think of myself as a nomad and empty places allow me that. Everywhere is yours when it is empty and you belong everywhere.”

Philip Shalam in 13 Questions