Photograph by David Drebin.
DAVID DREBIN, born in 1970 in Canada, is a photographer and multidisciplinary artist based since the ’90s in New York City, a place that has since become both his home and his muse. At the heart of Drebin’s creative vision lies a slightly surreal, cinematic style that transforms the familiar into something extraordinary. Through his lens, the iconic and infamous metropolis appears as dreamlike panoramas, often emerging from the mist like stage sets, while glamorous women seem suspended in the infinite concrete cityscape, caught between reality and imagination. Each composition invites viewers into an alternate world – one where chance encounters, fleeting moments, and endless possibilities take center stage. This allure is also encapsulated in his latest book I Love New York, a photographic tribute and intimate homage to the city that never sleeps. To immerse oneself in David Drebin’s work is to embark on a journey where the boundaries between fantasy and reality dissolve.
“Looking down on New York is like watching veins of light move through the city. Taxis, office towers, stories stacked on top of each other. It’s the feeling of being close and far at the same time. That tension – inside and outside the scene – is what pulls me in. A reminder that the city is always alive, whether you are or not.”
Photograph by David Drebin.
“She’s caught mid-chaos, hair flying, flash exploding. A picture about taking a picture. I love that split second when it’s not controlled, she is just letting loose. Who doesn’t love a girl in a tuxedo? That’s New York to me – unpredictable and exciting.”
Photograph by David Drebin.
“Late night. A man leaning out of a car, claiming the night like it’s his. The blur of the lights says everything – speed, danger, desire. It’s cinematic, like a scene from a film you half-remember but can’t place. That’s the thrill: it feels familiar and foreign at the same time.”
Photograph by David Drebin.
“The city becomes her face, her face becomes the city. Fantasy and reality overlapping, like a dream you don’t want to wake up from. It’s beautiful, but also fragile. For me, it’s about how we project ourselves onto the places we live – and how those places end up living inside us.”
Photograph by David Drebin.
“The camera is always part of the story. It’s the tool, the weapon, the accomplice. Placed against the skyline, it becomes a character in itself. New York is about seeing and being seen. The city performs, the camera remembers. I love Leica.”
Photograph by David Drebin.
“Someone standing alone on a rooftop, lit up against the city. It’s intimate but exposed – like a secret on display. I love these moments when it feels like nobody is watching, but many could be. That’s New York – private lives playing out in public, stories happening right in front of us.”
Photograph by David Drebin.
“New York floating above the clouds. It looks impossible, like a dream, but it’s right there. That’s what I love – the city as myth and reality at the same time. It’s ambition, illusion, survival. No matter how many times I see the skyline, it always feels like the first time.”
Photograph by David Drebin.