When longtime Tribeca resident Margaret Dessau emailed me about photographing the neighborhood together, the first thing I said—after yes—was that I’d love to see her work, that maybe it would make a good photo essay. Does it ever: Her photos, which span a period of decades, capture Lower Manhattan in various styles. (Sometimes she uses filters to manipulate the image, while other times she lets nature do the work—the Staple Street photo directly below, for instance, was taken through a wet car window.) We met to walk around and shoot—I recognized her because she was taking photos of a woman walking by—but when it started raining, we headed to Sarabeth’s Tribeca for a coffee. I learned that she is proficient at tango, owns a kayak, recently explored Bushwick, and generally made me feel boring in the most charming way.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that Margaret has a book! See the comments (and thanks, Judith, for pointing it out!).