OfMe

Book a photographer in New York City

OfMe sends a photographer to you. Drop a pin wherever you already are in NYC, pick a session from 5 minutes to an hour, and a nearby photographer heads your way. Every photo is taken inside the app and lands in your private album as it is shot. The photographer never keeps a copy. Sessions start at $9.99.

Straight answer on availability

OfMe is not open for bookings yet. New York City is one of the first areas we are opening, this page is up ahead of that, and we are not going to promise you a date or a photographer count we cannot back up. When it opens, this page will say so.

Coming soon to the App Store

How a New York session works

1

Request

Drop a pin where you already are and pick a length, from 5 minutes to a full hour.

2

Track

A nearby photographer accepts and heads your way. You watch them arrive on a live map.

3

Shoot and receive

Photos are taken in the app and land in your album as they are shot. Rate your photographer, tip if you loved it.

If nobody near your pin is available, the request expires on its own and you are not charged. One thing that is genuinely different here: distance on the map is not the same as distance in this city. Ten blocks is a walk, one stop on the wrong line is twenty minutes, and the river matters more than the mileage.

Where in New York

You set the spot, so a request can start anywhere in the five boroughs. In Manhattan that means Midtown, the Financial District, SoHo, the West Village, Chelsea, the Lower East Side, the Upper West Side, the Upper East Side, Harlem, and Washington Heights. In Brooklyn, DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Park Slope, Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, and out to Coney Island. In Queens, Long Island City, Astoria, Jackson Heights, and Flushing. Plus the Bronx and Staten Island.

New York spots that photograph well

The practical note, and it matters more here than anywhere: New York has real rules about photography in public space. They generally turn on equipment, crew and setup rather than on a person taking pictures, but Central Park, the High Line, the observation decks and the transit system each publish their own policy, and some spots are restricted regardless. Check the specific place before you plan around it.

What people shoot in New York

Proposals

This is the proposal capital and everybody already knows the spots: Bow Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge Park piers, Gapstow with the skyline behind it, the Hudson River rail at sunset. The advantage of an on-demand photographer is that nobody has to loiter with a long lens for twenty minutes first, which is what usually gives it away.

Visiting for a few days

You are standing somewhere famous with your whole group, and the choice is a selfie stick or handing a $1,200 phone to a stranger. Neither is good. A five or ten minute session at the spot you are already standing at is the entire pitch.

Content days

Creators shoot here because six blocks give you six looks. SoHo cast iron, a Chelsea corner, a Bushwick wall, the LIC waterfront. Book an hour and cover a neighborhood.

Headshots

Fifteen minutes outside your building beats a half day in a studio for a photo that is going on LinkedIn and nowhere else. North-facing shade on a side street is the whole trick.

Graduation

NYU, Columbia, Fordham, CUNY, and every high school in the boroughs. May is the crunch, campus rules vary, and the gates plus the nearest park usually get it done.

December

Rockefeller Center, Bryant Park, the windows on Fifth. The sun is gone before five, so the whole evening is usable, and the city does the lighting for you.

Birthdays and everything ordinary

The stoop, the block, the corner you have lived on for nine years. Some of the best photos of New York are not of the landmarks at all.

What it costs

SessionPrice
5 minutes$9.99
10 minutes$14.99
20 minutes$25.99
30 minutes$39.99
1 hour$64.99

Your photos are yours. Full stop.

OfMe photographers shoot inside the app, so every frame lands in your album as it is taken. Every photo is encrypted in transit and in storage. Photos are never saved to the photographer's camera roll, and the instant your session is delivered our servers revoke their access, so the photos stop being viewable in their app. No stranger walks away with pictures of your family. That is not a policy we wrote, it is how the system is built. More on that in our Privacy Policy.

Photographers in New York: if you shoot here and want paid work that fits around your own schedule, write to support@ofmephotos.com and tell us which borough and neighborhoods you cover. You take the jobs you want, and 100% of every tip is yours.

New York questions

Can I book an OfMe photographer in NYC today?

Not yet. OfMe is coming to the App Store and New York City is one of the first areas we are opening. We are not publishing a launch date until we can hold it.

Which parts of the city can I request from?

You set the pin, so anywhere in the five boroughs. Whether a photographer accepts depends on who is available near that pin, and here that means who can reach you on foot or by train quickly rather than who is closest as the crow flies.

Do I need a permit in Central Park or on the High Line?

The rules generally turn on equipment, crew and setup rather than on a person taking pictures, but each of those places publishes its own policy and some spots are restricted regardless. Check the specific place first.

How much does a session cost?

From $9.99 for 5 minutes to $64.99 for a full hour, the same as every other OfMe area. That is the standard price list. Requesting one specific photographer by name costs 1.5 times the list price, and extending at the end of your session is priced at 10 percent off the extra time.

I am visiting for three days. Is this useful?

It is one of the clearest cases for it. Nobody in your group wants to be the one holding the phone, and asking a passerby gets you a blurry frame with a head cut off.

Can I book at night?

There is no cutoff time in the app, and night here is often better than day. In December the sun is down before five, which makes the whole evening usable.

Does the photographer keep my photos?

No. Photos never reach their camera roll, and their access is revoked the moment your session is delivered. See Support for how delivery, refunds, and reporting work.

Other OfMe areas

Charlotte, NC · Charleston, SC · Palm Beach County, FL · see all six

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