In 1974, after completing his photography studies in New Mexico, Nicholas Nixon moved to Brookline, near Boston, with his wife Bebe Brown. After previously experimenting with different formats Nixon settled on an 8-x-10-inch view camera. One of the reasons for choosing a large format camera, which was cumbersome and somewhat anachronistic, was the extraordinary clarity it offered. Due to the large dimensions of the negative the image does not require further magnification, resulting in an exceptionally clear picture with a rich range of tones, as can be appreciated in the mass that emerges from the geometrical volumes in View of Battery Plaza, New York City.

The image belongs to one of his first photographic series dedicated to cityscapes. Working in series, and on subjects he could return to over long periods of time became characteristic of his working method. Some of these photographs were included in New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-altered Landscape, curated by William Jenkins in 1975 and organized by the George Eastman House, considered one of the medium’s most influential exhibitions in recent history.