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For more than a decade Caleb Stein has been photographing a communal swimming creek in Poughkeepsie, New York. Returning every summer, he documented the community at a timeless spot. He talks about the people he has met
Down by the Hudson is published by Palo Press with an accompanying exhibition opening in New York on 10 September
Shamus in Embryo Pose. The Watering Hole, 2022.
Photograph: Caleb SteinThu 3 Sep 2026 08.00 CEST
Sanjay and Sherika, 2020
‘They were visiting family from Jamaica. Her T-shirt, submerged here, says “Queen”’
Rain Storm, 2024
‘I took this image during a torrential downpour, even though my camera isn’t waterproof. Photographs are silent, but the rain’s noise made people move with joy. I tore a plastic bag to use as a camera cover, capturing the way the water frothed at the surface. When I’d finished, my camera was broken, but I had created this photograph’
Hunter with Eye-Shaped Shadow, 2025
‘Hunter was back at the creek after being in the marines. He had two-tone hair, split right down the middle. I noticed that his necklace cast an eye-shaped shadow on his torso. While I was taking his picture, he talked about cars’
Anthony, Adam and Nick, 2022
‘Late in the summer, with the creek running dry, Anthony, Adam and Nick pulled a small crawfish from the water and gathered around it. I saw light coming from the centre of the circle they formed while the creek and the forest fell into shadow’
Forest Portal, 2022
‘I found a circular mirror with a landscape painted on it and brought it to the creek’s banks. I then saw a tree scratched bare by a bear, balanced the mirror on the bark, and photographed it from the bank so the image combined the painted landscape, the reflected landscape and the landscape behind the tree’
Andrea’s Hand with Light Rays, 2023
‘Andrea introduced me to the creek when we were students at Vassar. She has been crucial to my project, whether through her crops, edits, or general counsel. The work documents how my relationship to this creek changed my life. This is the only photograph of Andrea in the book, but I hope the love I feel for her comes through’
Shamus in Embryo Pose, 2022
‘Shamus moved a boulder and sat in its place along the wall we build each summer to deepen the water for jumping. Water surged over him. He kept curled up. Later, I asked his friends if he was OK, because he seemed quieter than usual. They told me his mother had died in a motorcycle accident. It was the same day that Roe v Wade was overturned’
Leo, Lexi, Lily and Willa 2022
‘I photographed Leo, Lexi, Lily and Willa in late May on one of the first days people could swim at the creek. They were friends at Vassar, here for an end-of-term swim. I was struck by how close they seemed and the energy they exuded. I took a lot of photographs of them, but this one stayed with me because of the softness and strength of Lily’s gaze, and how they lean on each other with such ease and grace’
Nate Balancing a Log, 2022
‘I have known Nate and his father Nathan for more than a decade. After heavy rain, logs were running downstream, and Nate hoisted one on to his shoulders and pushed upstream against the current. He looked like Christ’
Matthew and His Dogs 2024
’During this rainstorm, I photographed Matthew with his dogs, leaning into each other, looking for warmth, until I couldn’t tell where one ended and the next began. I had photographed Matthew with his dogs, and with his two lovers before, but this is the image I felt most drawn to. Later, I showed it to Matthew and I asked what the “DNR” tattoo on his heart means. He replied: “Do not resuscitate.”’
Water Mirror, 2025
‘Down by the Hudson is a personal document of a space where the country goes quiet, for a while. Water has always been healing here. Wappinger Creek is the creek’s name – it’s Native American, an old name. I think about all the people who have rested here over the millennia, all those who have fallen in love here over the centuries’
Boy in Black with Roots, 2023
‘Many boys and men come to swim at this creek fully clothed, shoes and socks still on. Maybe it’s armour’
Matthew, Jackson, and Oden, 2018
‘The turning point for Down by the Hudson was the day I brought the camera into the water. Andrea was working with Esther Williams’s synchronised swimmers in a video piece and the footage was in my head. Three brothers, Matthew, Jackson and Oden, were there. We restaged it in front of the tree’Explore more on these topics
