What struck me when I first came across the Diamond District was how different it felt from the rest of Midtown. I’d been taking photographs nearby and happened to turn onto 47th Street. Hawkers were trying to get people into shops, men stood talking in doorways, and I couldn’t tell what half the people were doing. I started photographing there and kept coming back.
The Diamond Dealers Club moved to the block in 1941, following the jewellery trade’s gradual move uptown from Maiden Lane. Jewish and Indian traders have helped make it an international centre for the business. But walking through, you get only a partial idea of what goes on. Much of the work happens upstairs. My photographs come from the pavement, where customers and people working in the district mix with whoever happens to be passing through Midtown.
I’m interested in diamonds as things people want to be seen wearing, and in the people who make a living from that desire. Someone buying a custom chain might be celebrating having made it. For the person making it, there’s a job to finish. I found the place appealing, sometimes a bit sleazy, and kept wondering how much its reputation affected what I thought I was seeing.
