Since 1995, Leist has photographed the view from his apartment on the 26th floor of a commercial building on 8th Avenue in New York. Using a nineteenth century full-plate camera with 8×10 inch negatives he has captured the architecture and life of downtown Manhattan.

When in New York, Leist photographed daily, at no particular time, and in all weather conditions. He acquired a routine: placing the camera on the kitchen table, opening the window, focusing, measuring light, inserting the negatives and making the exposure. He also marked the date and time in a journal.

Over the decade, roughly 2,200 exposures were made in this way. They show the everyday, a breathing Manhattan, and the big historical censure, the destruction of the World Trade Center. None of the images are the same, demonstrating the ever-changing view from the window.