Egyptians were well known for their profile art. They seemed to only be able to draw faces from a sideways perspective. We have found kings, gods, cats and everything in between, but only ever in their right or left incarnation. Never two eyes at a time, no complete smiles, nor a full display of anger. Centuries passed, civilizations rose and fell, but the face of Egyptians deities remained one-sided.

Sailing up the East River on a ferry recently after leaving behind a spring-bloomed mob to besiege the Brooklyn Bridge Park, I flipped my hat around and sat on the upper deck camera in hand like a tourist. To the west, Manhattan was showing us her left face – which is on the right when looking at a map.

I had to reflect on the very Egyptian nature of this view. Incomplete, stylized, undecipherable. But then again, I thought, one never gets the full picture in New York City.

So here are one-side snapshots of shorelines and skylines, the buildings seemingly exaggerated but trying to tell a story. And we need more cats.