in 1981, moore returned to new york city, where he began a three-year project documenting the rapid changes to the urban landscape, specifically at the south street seaport and fulton fish market in lower manhattan. at the start of his project, demolition for the present marketplace and shopping pier was just getting under way. moore returned many times over the following months, often photographing at night to portray the architecture and ambiance of the surrounding neighborhood amidst massive, rapid transformation. for this work, moore and two other photographers, barbara mensch and jeff perkell, were awarded grants from the jm kaplan foundation, and the new york state council on the arts, which enabled the completed project, “south street survey” to be shown at the municipal art society in 1985.