During Doren's NYC years, he worked as a commercial photographer for Alan Vogel, Arnold T. Rosenberg, Irving Penn and Erwin Blumenthal while living in a one-room apartment and frequenting jazz clubs, poetry readings and art openings. Doren wrote extensively about his years in NYC with and without his first wife, Elizabeth Knox, a painter. He committed to several personal projects such as photographing the same NYC street for one hour per day for several years. The NYC street project was partly inspired by his neighbor, Berenice Abbott. Doren's series on the Woodstock Festival resulted in his well-known photograph of Jimi Hendrix.