Xan Padron

Xan Padron (b. 1969) is a Spanish-born, New York-based photographer best known for his Time Lapse series, an ongoing exploration of urban life and the rhythms of public space. A self-taught photographer, Padrón’s passion for the medium began at age thirteen, when he received a darkroom set from his grandfather, a photojournalist. Though he has worked in editorial photography, it is through his deeply observational street photography that Padrón has established his signature voice.

The Time Lapse series emerged organically from Padrón’s former life as a professional touring musician. Inspired by the daily repetition and movement observed while traveling, Padrón began to document fixed urban backdrops—walls, storefronts, architectural facades—over extended periods of time. He then creates seamless composite images in which dozens, sometimes hundreds, of passersby appear layered in a single frame. The result is a visual symphony: individuals become notes in the larger score of city life, capturing not only movement but the character and cadence of entire communities. Though his subjects remain anonymous, each figure plays a role in revealing the social choreography of the street.

While formal parallels may be drawn to the photographic studies of Eadweard Muybridge, Padrón’s conceptual roots lie more firmly in the tradition of candid humanist photography. Influenced by Diane Arbus, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, Cristina García Rodero, Saul Leiter, and Helen Levitt, Padrón seeks not motion but meaning—capturing what he calls “the soul of a city” through the passing moments of everyday people.

Padrón’s Time Lapse series has been widely exhibited and recognized internationally. Notable presentations include installations at the United Nations Headquarters and the Pfizer Building in New York, and participation in major art fairs such as Photo LA, Art on Paper NYC, and The Other Art Fair (Saatchi Art) in London, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Chicago. His work has been featured in Die Zeit Magazine (Germany), Photo World Magazine (China), PRISM International (Canada), and the New England Review. In 2020, his photographs appeared across 1,700 digital kiosks throughout New York City as part of the Art on Link program, underscoring the democratic and accessible nature of his practice.

In addition to his exhibitions, Padrón’s photographs have been published on the cover of Race, Class and Gender in the United States (MacMillan, 11th ed., 2020) and Personal Networks (Cambridge University Press, 2021). His work continues to resonate across disciplines, offering a poetic and sociological lens on the quiet, everyday theater of public life.