I first saw Jeff Liao's extreme panoramas when his Habitat 7 series won The New York Times "Capture the Times" photo contest in 2005, which was selected to appear in American Photography 22. This was also his MFA thesis project at the School of Visual Arts. Flash forward to this Sunday, at the Bronx Museum, and you can see his latest view of the urban scene when his Grand Concourse project goes on view. Consisting of 12 large-format images, the series was commissioned as part of the museum's year-long centennial celebration of the thoroughfare that was originally designed to be "the Park Avenue of the middle class."

After a period of decline that began in the 1960s, the Concourse is now experiencing something of a renaissance. "A lot of the photography of the Bronx is negative," says Liao, "so I was surprised when I began this project at how alive the streets are with activity." And this is what you see in his incredibly detailed images of people going about their daily activities in a barber shop, at the Bronx Zoo, queuing up for a Yankees game, or just waiting for a bus.

Left: Yankee Stadium, 2008. Right: Fish Building, 2009. Copyright Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao, courtesy The Bronx Museum.

I reached Jeff by phone today and asked him how the commission came about. "I was already working on my Depth of Field project at the time" he said, "and was aware of the Grand Concourse when I saw the museum's announcement, in 2006. Also, one of my collectors, a man who grew up on the Concourse during prosperous times in the 1940s and 50s, encouraged me to apply."

Liao is known for the tremendous research he does before starting a major project, so I asked him what had inspired him to take on the Bronx. "As well as the history, and the architecture, which is mainly Art Deco, I was thinking about Helen Levitt's photographs of children playing on the streets there," he said. "I wanted to see if the same kind of community spirit exists today, but in color," he continued.

It's not surprising that Liao takes what he calls a "social studies" approach in terms of preparation. As an intern at Magnum photos, he was able to study street photography by some of its masters. But translating the idea of shooting from the hip into shooting 8 x10 required a shift in thinking as well as practice. "I do a lot of research before going out with the camera, to see when the light is going to be right for a particular location, to talk to people in neighborhood businesses, and sometimes to borrow a roof," he said. "For the Concourse project, I probably made more than 200 visits over a period of 18 months," he concluded.

At 8 feet wide, the scale of these images puts the viewer into the action. But while the scenes convey a sense of reality, these are definitely not documentary photographs. Liao's process involves shooting a number of takes from a fixed point over the course of a day, using both an 8 x 10 and a digital camera. He makes drum scans of the transparencies and begins a painstaking assemblage of images - from 30 to 2000 for each photograph, to create an image that neither the eye or image editing software could produce alone. Liao says he feels like a painter as he selects elements - a car passing by, a kid getting his hair cut - from one photo or another.

Among the most stunning images on view are two 128-foot-long panoramas that depict every structure lining the Grand Concourse. Their intimate scale, just 10 inches high, invites careful study of the boulevard's 4.5 mile length.

Above: installation view of Grand Concourse panoramas by Jeff Liao.

The Grand Concourse: Photographs by Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao goes on view as part of The Bronx Commissions, on Sunday, August 2 at The Bronx Museum and continues through January 4, 2010. The opening reception will take place on Sunday, October 4, from noon to 5 pm. Please visit the website for directions and information about public programs.

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