Walking the high line

In March 2000, Joel Sternfeld began photographing the High Line, an abandoned elevated railway which runs down the West Side of Manhattan. Sometimes a river of grass, sometimes more like Canadian wheat fields, this unique ruin permitted Sternfeld to contemplate nature within the city. Walking the path of this true-time landscape, Sternfeld experienced the seasons as they unfolded in a meandering ribbon within the vertical architecture of New York City, and he created a suite of images marked by quiet grace and formal rigour. In Walking the High Line, as in all of his work, landscape is both a social and cultural indicator. In 2009, the High Line was converted into a public park that will preserve the delights of the High Line for future generations. Sternfeld's book is thus a unique record of the High Line at a time when it faced demolition, and this reprint follows several sold-out editions. A major figure in the photography world, Joel Sternfeld was born in New York City in 1944. He has received numerous awards including two Guggenheim fellowships, a Prix de Rome and the Citibank Photography Award. Sternfeld's books published by Steidl include American Prospects (2003), Sweet Earth (2006), Oxbow Archive (2008) and First Pictures (2011).