Photography is having a moment in New York's galleries. Once treated as a lesser cousin to painting, the medium is now the main event in a wave of ambitious exhibitions spanning documentary work, staged portraiture, and experimental images.

The shows reflect both renewed critical interest and a booming market for photographic prints. The fictional photographer Jonah Reyes's series on the city's overnight workers has become a surprise sensation, its images lining a downtown gallery to consistent crowds.

Curators say the medium's versatility suits a visual culture saturated with images, offering ways to slow down and look closely. As more galleries devote their walls to photography, the form is claiming a central place in the city's artistic conversation.