"Growing up in Crown Heights Brooklyn in the fifties and sixties has had a significant effect on how I relate to New York City and my photography.” - Jay Gross

His fascination with photography began at age eight when his father gave him his Kodak Twin Lens Reflex Camera. This is when Jay’Gross’s interest and curiosity about urban street photography began as he photographed local neighborhood street scenes in black and white.

After attending Brooklyn College and the Germain School of Photography in New York City in the early l970's Jay turned to professional sports photography. During the seventies and eighties he was fortunate to cover some of the great major New York sports events in what he considers to be its’ golden era.

Jay returned to his urban roots in the early nineties when he began a lifelong passionate journey into New York City night photography.

For the past 12 years he has tried to develop a style that captures the character and personality that makes each street and neighborhood of New York City so unique. From a warm summer night under the "el" at Yankee Stadium, to a Greenwich Village nightclub in a winter storm, he tries to communicate the distant nuance and feeling of this great city after dark.

His subject matter is very carefully chosen based on historical significance and aesthetic value. When Jay finds an interesting corner of New York that meets these criteria, his mission first begins.

Many of his photos are the result of going back to the same scene over and over again for several weeks, even months, until the right weather conditions and subject matter appear in his viewfinder. This requires “much patience, passion, and a little craziness” to spend hours, sometimes to 3 or 4 a.m., in the rain or near blizzard conditions, until the decisive moment appears through his camera's lens. He chooses to photograph in rain or snow because he feels it adds interesting mood and dimension to this city after dusk.

Jay is a traditionalist and does most of his photography in medium format, on a tripod, with very fine grain film, such as Fuji Velvia or Kodak 100 V.S. His exposure times can vary from 1/4 of a second to 6O seconds. His technique attempts to capture the main scene, such as a Greenwich Village Theater or Washington Square Arch, very sharp and detailed with vivid color saturation, while at the same time contrasting this with an interesting subject moving through the scene in an abstract blur.

The final print is always captured on film and custom-printed on archival paper. His images are never manipulated or altered in the darkroom or by computer.

Jay Gross’s mission through his photography is to document and capture the personality of some of New York's most interesting and historical corners, while at the same time attempting to touch an identifiable place in the viewer's heart that equals his passion for the subject.

Editorial publication credits for Gross include Sport Magazine, Popular Photographyand American Photo. which published one of his photographs of the East Village in a blizzard as its’“Number One Urban Photograph of 1994.”

Advertising credits include the Pentax Camera Corporation, which used his New York City night photos to promote their professional medium format camera system

“While I may attempt other types of photography, I will always place my major focus on New York City urban night photography as an ongoing life long passion and personal project.” - Jay Gross