A New York City photographer’s photo series of ‘coincidences’ has gone viral on Twitter.
Street photographer Jonathan Higbee, 36, originally from Missouri, arrived in the city around 10 years ago and since then has made a habit out of being in the right place at the right time.
His serendipitous photos depict the city’s dwellers interacting with their surrounds in the most unusual way, and Higbee has been lucky enough to capture these moments as they happen.
Stranger than fiction: Street photographer Jonathan Higbee has captured the ‘Coincidences’ of NYC in a stunning photo series including this picture which depicts a man’s camera appearing to omit a blue flash
Fairy tale of New York: Some of most popular images include a woman standing on a subway train with her face blocked out by a perfectly positioned Mickey Mouse balloon
Oxymoron: While planning a coincidence might seem like an oxymoron, Higbee shared that he has trained his eye over the years to spot them, including this shot of a man looking like a giant beside a billboard
Dedicated: Higbee will sometimes go back to the same spot over and over until he gets the right shot, pictured a woman reading a book featuring a woman’s face on the cover, perfectly covering her own face
Posting each photo on his Twitter page, the photographic ‘coincidences’ started when Higbee first moved to the city.
However in 2013, he started to seek out these moments and look at it as a project rather than a hobby.
Speaking to FEMAIL he explained: ‘The work in Coincidences explores the relationship the urban dweller shares with the chaotic and overwhelming streets of New York.
‘Giant advertisements, street art and many other types of visual stimuli are engaged in a never ending fight for the attention of New Yorkers. This series explores this phenomenon.’
Getting serious: The photographic ‘coincidences’ started when Higbee first moved to the city, pictured fire and smoke on a large commercial seemingly coming from a man’s hat
Street style: In 2013, he started to seek out these moments and look at it as a project rather than a hobby, pictured a woman’s arm appearing at the side of a billboard of a woman’s face and body
Life is beautiful: He shared that there are ‘beautiful moments’ all around us, including this picture of a man and child with cotton candy blocking their faces
Up in the air: The series has helped Higbee be more present in the moment, pictured white smoke appearing to be a continuation of a man’s hair
Gut instinct: Sometimes Higbee will come across a street that he thinks has potential to produce a successful image, pictured trash against a billboard, making it look like the man in the commercial has climbed it
Speaking to It’s Nice That he added: ‘This produced more work for the series, helped me be more present in the moment, and endowed within me a hard-to-describe appreciation for the random but absolutely beautiful moments that can be found throughout life if you just look closely.’
And while planning a coincidence might seem like an oxymoron, Higbee also shared that he has trained his eye over the years to spot ‘uncanny coincidences’ but he also relies on gut instinct also.
‘Every once in a while my gut will tell me that some element I’ve come across on the street has potential to become a successful image, even if it’s nothing special just yet,’ he added.
When he has this ‘gut’ instinct, he returns to the same spot over and over until he achieves the shot he was looking for.
If the shoe fits: Some of Higbee’s work looks like an optical illusion including this show of a man holding a mirror in front of one of his legs and a woman’s leg looking like it’s his own
Award winning: Higbee has earned multiple awards for his work, including the 2015 World Street Photography grand prize, for pictures including this one of yellow graffiti looking like a continuation of this man’s bag
Love letter: He sees his collection of pictures as a love letter to the city, including this picture of a dancing appearing to emerge from a dumpster
Surreal: Higbee’s picture of two business men walking in Midtown is named The Portal thanks to the eerie way it seems they have appeared out of nowhere
Background: Billboards and advertisements often provide the perfect backdrop for his work, including this one of a man appearing to walk in front of army tanks
Some of most popular images include a woman standing on a subway train with her face blocked out by a perfectly positioned Mickey Mouse balloon and white fluffy clouds looking like a continuation of hair from a man’s head.
Other photos take on more of an optical illusion theme, including a man walking down the street looking like a giant because of the angle or yellow graffiti appearing to come from a man’s backpack in a seamless stream.
Higbee has earned multiple awards for his work, including the 2015 World Street Photography grand prize and is currently a finalist in the 2018 Hasselblad Masters Awards.
However she shared that, ‘most of all, Coincidences is a love letter to New York, and to the infinite number of serendipitous, surreal moments that make it a city unlike any other.’
Reflective: Higbee believes the surreal moments that he captures make New York a ‘city unlike any other’ and often feature the city’s building like this one depicting two men as skyscrapers
Appreciation: Higbee is currently a finalist in the 2018 Hasselblad Masters Awards, pictured men running for the subway in tandem with a billboard of men dancing and leaping to music
Crossroads: Higbee’s work has given him an appreciation for the random, including this picture of a man in a black and white striped shirt using an identical looking zebra crossing
Serendipity: He also shared that can interesting things can be found if ‘you just look closely’, including this picture of a commercial seemingly pulling a real life man along the street
Larger than life: Higbee also likes to play with proportions in his work and often uses billboards like the one pictured to make humans seem bigger or smaller than they are
Perfectly positioned: Higbee has made a habit of being in the right place at the right time to catch pictures like this one of a commercial taking on a lifelike quality thanks to the perfectly places legs underneath it
Miracle: He’s also been lucky with some of his clever shots including this one of a child dressed as an angel playing beside a shrine to the Virgin Mary