I've never met Stephen personally but knew of his work through my son Tom. In 2008, at my son's recommendation, Stephen put me on his mailing list and every few days I would receive a night time photo from somewhere in NYC. I would relive my days living in the city vicariously through Steve's pictures. His shots were always taken at night with his wanderings taking him to all the boroughs. It wasn't long before I fell in love with his work and started a collection of my own favorites which totals well over 300, only a fraction of what he sent. Included in these pages are most of those.

On January 08, 2013, I sent Steve the following e-mail:
Hi Stephen,
We all get lots of mail from the same folks. When one person stops sending, it can be a while without realizing it.
Tonight looking at a TV show I saw a mural painted on a NYC building. I immediately thought of you and realized it's been a while since I've received one of your pictures.
Hoping all is well.
Sandy

The Last photo I received was, the "Four Old Chairs" December 01, 2012 then a I received notice of Steve's passing on an e-mail dated January 28 noting: "Stephen P. Andrus: Photographic Exhibition & Remembrance". The date given of his passing was only that of "early January". His facebook page implies he was 67. Not being able to attend and so moved by his work, my commemoration will be these webpages of many of my personal favorites. Descriptions given are Stephen's. Ironically Pages 7 & 8, Stephen's earlier shots, wern't added till Sept. 2014. Sadly, his titles we've lost. Be sure to click to enlarge.

Sandy Estabrook, one time NYC dweller 32 W 76. 1966 - 1973                            Stephens Facebook Page


UPDATE: Then by complete surprise, almost a decade later, on August 8th, 2021 I received the following email:

    Your name and email were among those in a file that my friend, Steve Andrus, backed up and entrusted to me along with his photos. Steve used the list to distribute a nightly photo through 2012. I'm writing to share a column about him that I recently posted on Medium.

Death of a Photographer

There's a URL at the end of the story to Steve's gallery on Flickr where he uploaded his pictures over a 5-year period. It might bring back some memories.            Regards,            Michael Antonoff


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