“Street photography is a way of life,” Jamel Shabazz says, a sentiment he’s embodied and shared with the public for the past half century. The legendary photographer is best known for documenting the style, culture, and political landscape of his native Brooklyn from the 1980s onward, part of which is now collected in a new book published by Prestel.
Prospect Park: Photographs of a Brooklyn Oasis, 1980 to 2025 contains 120 color and black-and-white images captured within the urban enclave. At 585 acres, the public park offers a vast area for gathering, exercising, and engaging with nature, and for Shabazz, it’s always been a refuge from life’s realities.
He began taking the photos in this collection after returning to New York following a 36-month service in the U.S. Army and while he worked for the Department of Corrections at the notorious Riker’s Island facility. For Shabazz, Prospect Park became a site of joy and community and a small escape from these everyday horrors.
Included in the monograph are several portraits that show what a fixture the photographer has been in the park. Warm, easy smiles and confident poses abound, and while the popular fashions and technology may change, so much of life depicted stays the same. The images glimpse how vital the outdoor space has remained over the years, as several generations climb trees, gather to look out over one of the lakes, or simply find joy in each other’s company.
Find more of Shabazz’s archive on Instagram, and pick up a copy of Prospect Park on Bookshop.
