The Giants On These Enormous Billboards Make Real People Look Like Ants

Israeli photographer Natan Dvir describes the advertising in New York City as a "kaleidoscopic commercial net" that covers and brands the city.

Those larger-than-life billboards are the focus of Dvir's current exhibition, in New York, titled "Coming Soon."

What is likely to be a foreigner's first impression of billboard-plastered New York City has become a facet of the cityscape that goes "virtually unnoticed" to New Yorkers, says Dvir.

The ads in this slideshow are photographed to show their relationship to the city's residents, who are miniaturized by the sheer size of the billboards that tower above them.

"People inhabiting the space underneath are pulled, unaware, into a staged set," says Dvir. He describes it as "the only medium that cannot be turned off" — an intriguing concept for the city that never sleeps.