Sarah Hartley

Harlem, NYC

I spent much of my young adulthood in restless motion across the globe, eventually trading my sunny coastal beginnings in San Diego for the dense streets of New York. My search for a creative voice has been an evolution, teaching me that different environments demand entirely different languages. The camera has always been my tool for capturing the transient. I've used it to chase the shifting balance of light and shadow across my travels, the motion of a wave at our family seaside haven in Croatia, the intimate, living moments of raising two children… and for that it has served me well.

However, the longer I have lived in New York, facing the rigid, chaotic geometry of its urban structures, I realized a photograph simply wasn't enough to define them. Capturing the intricate details of the inanimate city required a completely different approach. I discovered that the deliberate patience of urban sketching alongside vivid splashes of watercolor was exactly what I needed to make concrete landscapes come to life.

Today, I love pursuing the duality of my mediums for all the different purposes they serve. For example, I'm currently collaborating with a children's-book publisher on a small line of personalized stories. I do personalized photoshoots for big moments, like when my best friends got engaged. I commission some sketches based on people's favorite New York haunts, or recent travels in my travel sketch book. Whether I am looking through a lens or holding a pen, my goal is simply to translate the world around me, finding the perfect language for every story.

Available for personalized photoshoots, commissioned New York sketches, and travel sketchbook work. Project inquiries here.