NY Through the Lens - New York City Photography

Echinacea coneflowers in bloom along the High Line elevated...

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:55:00 -0400

Echinacea coneflowers in bloom along the High Line elevated park. Chelsea, New York City.

Where does the city’s memory imprint itself?

Is it imprinted on the concrete of sidewalks weathered by world-weary feet? Is it imprinted in the foundations of the skyscrapers that scratch the surface of the sky connecting the sidewalks below to loftier aspirations? Is it imprinted in the people whose lives unfold frenetically over the vast urban landscapes that stretch across the city like veins and arteries? Is it imprinted in the transportation systems that contract and expand like ligaments and tendons, flexing their way through the corporeal terrain?

Or is the city’s memory imprinted on elements that only peripherally stake their claim on such a grandiose landscape?

In the petals of flowers, freshly opened and unfettered by permanence, the city effortlessly makes an impression like pressing a hand into soft flesh or falling slowly into a cloud.

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The Brooklyn Bridge. New York City. When the clouds pull their...

Wed, 23 May 2012 13:21:00 -0400

The Brooklyn Bridge. New York City.

When the clouds pull their veils back from the sky’s face after a storm, the light hits the world at such an angle that even the most rigid man-made creations glimmer like the water’s surface in the sun.

If you could distill New York City down to an essence so pure that it glimmered in such a way, it would look like this: captured, cooled, magnificent in its indistinguishable hand-woven-steel beauty.

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Looking out over the tenements of East Broadway. Two Bridges,...

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:54:00 -0400

Looking out over the tenements of East Broadway. Two Bridges, Chinatown. New York City.

In my last post I wrote about streets that, for me, fill in the image of New York City that exists in my mind. These are streets that represent so much more than merely a geographical spot. These streets are the embodiment of a core concept that has defined New York City for many decades. The sheer density of people that grace these streets with their presence seem to imbue streets like these with the weight of their aspirations.

New York City has always been a destination for those seeking a generalized concept of a better life. As an economic lighthouse and representation of (the steadily crumbling concept of) the American Dream, New York City has attracted people from all over the world especially during the last century.

I grew up the child of an immigrant to the United States. My mother’s family fled Eastern Europe after World War II. They (including her) were victims of the war, concentration camp and labor camp survivors who carried with them mental scars so deep that it took years for them to gain even a small modicum of a foothold here.

I have always felt disconnected from her experience though. My mother who wanted her children to blend in rather than stick out as she did when she immigrated here, did her best to give me and my brothers a fairly normal American childhood where we grew up in Queens. It wasn’t until a decade ago when I started to ask her about her own immigration story after starting to delve into my own fascination with the history of New York City that I started to understand the gravity of what it means to come to a place like New York City with little more than a massive amount of dreams.

And so, shortly after moving to the Lower East Side from elsewhere in Manhattan I came across this street (the one in this photo) since it sits in a neighborhood that borders the Lower East Side and Chinatown and it felt as if I could finally understand what it must have been like for my mother and for all those who came here to America with eyes full of hope.

It’s not that my mother settled here in this neighborhood specifically. But rather that it’s as if this street has been steeped in a time when the world and New York City was a different place, one that held out vast amounts of heady fortune in its outstretched hands. The world has changed quite a bit since my mother first set foot here. It’s harder (dare I say almost completely difficult) to come here with next to nothing and make a decent life for yourself. The hands are still held out but they are no longer outstretched for everyone.

When I look at this street today, I see many of the original tenements that were standing one hundred years ago when waves of immigrants came to New York City following their own hazy image of what New York City embodied in their minds and those who traverse this street today are not so far removed from my mother who traversed the streets of New York City for many decades.

It’s as if, for the few minutes that I spend gazing at this street below (as I often do), I am connected in a deeper way to all of the dreamers that called and still call New York City their home.

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Buy “Density - Above Chinatown - New York City” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Over East Broadway on a busy, sunny afternoon. Two Bridges....

Sun, 20 May 2012 14:08:00 -0400

Over East Broadway on a busy, sunny afternoon. Two Bridges. Lower East Side, New York City.

There are streets that, for me, fill in the image of New York City that exists in my mind.

I have spoken about this before in older posts. Everyone seems to have their own image of New York City that, for them, represents so much more than just the geographical spot that New York City inhabits on any sort of map.

It took me about a year of thinking about my own approach to New York City with photography and via writing to figure out what I was trying to do every time I took a photo of this city I have called home since my birth. But now I know and it has changed my own view of my surroundings.

It’s not easy to attempt to distill something as enormous a concept or location as New York City into visual and tangible emotion but that is what I try to do with every photo I feel proud enough to post, whether it is taken with my phone (like the photo in this post) or with my regular camera.

I will post a few companion photos to this one later this week (that I took with my regular camera) and expand further about what this street means to me currently.

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This is my weekly mobile photography post. I am @newyorklens on Instagram (view my feed here). You can read about my thoughts on mobile photography and Instagram here and you can check out some of my Instagram photos on Flickr here. Additionally, you can view my phone photography for sale here.

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Buy ” Over East Broadway - Lower East Side - New York City” Prints here, My mobile photography for sale here, My regular photography for sale here, email me, or ask for help.

The New York City skyline at sunset in silhouette under dramatic...

Sat, 19 May 2012 14:40:00 -0400

The New York City skyline at sunset in silhouette under dramatic storm clouds.

Clouds, which once covered the sky like a thick, dark purple blanket open slowly to reveal the blue hues that breathe life into the day.

And as the sun’s flame dips closer to the horizon, its scintillating luster reaches up to the clouds.

For, you see, the sun only disappears temporarily to make way for the moon and stars that blush white-hot in thoughts of its splendor.

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Buy “There Is a Hole in the Clouds Where Light Shines Through - New York City Skyline at Sunset” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Some Other Places That You Can Find Me Online As the title states, here are the places I can be...

Wed, 16 May 2012 19:54:00 -0400

Some Other Places That You Can Find Me Online

As the title states, here are the places I can be found online (in addition to here, of course). It’s a vast online ocean with a lot of islands! :)

Main places that I frequent :

Facebook (Includes photography and sometimes I post videos and/or links to things that catch my eye)

Twitter (Includes some inner monologue, funny news, astronomy facts and photos)

Google Plus (Includes a lot of interaction, I probably interact the most there!)

Instagram (Includes all of my mobile photography): I am newyorklens there.

Pinterest (Includes my growing surrealist art collection board and other visual boards)

SmugMug (My online photography store)

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Sites I am on that I visit enough to warrant a mention:

Flickr

500px

Behance

Klout

EyeEm: I am newyorkphotos there.

StreamZoo: I am nycphoto there.

And there you go, with links and everything!

Train station in black and white. York Street Station. Dumbo....

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:16:00 -0400

Train station in black and white. York Street Station. Dumbo. Brooklyn, New York City.

We wait.

We wait for the city to move beneath our feet.

We wait for the universe to rise up from under the weight of our own gravitas; the movement of our world spinning on its axis.

And while we wait, the plaster crumbles, the paint peels, the train tracks rust; all suspended in their own decay like flies in amber.

We wait because it’s the only way to slow down as time pushes us forward further and further into the vast expanse of eternity.

We wait for the train to come.

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Summer on Perry Street. Greenwich Village, New York City On...

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:06:00 -0400

Summer on Perry Street. Greenwich Village, New York City

On summer days like this, the bright summer sun barely cuts through the branches of trees canopies that line the street while brownstones and bicycles revel in the cool shade.

Some people flee the city in the summer, preferring cooler climates free of hot cement. For me, there is nothing that comes close to summer in the city.

It’s true that often the air is held captive by the high heat and the sun scorches the pavement but when a breeze is allowed free rein to fly through the trees, something magical happens.

Streets breathe a sigh of relief and warm tones of muted sunlight cast upon buildings languishing in the shade inspire smiles of contentment.

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Buy “Summer in the City - Perry Street - Greenwich Village - New York City” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Soho street in bright afternoon sunlight. New York City. In the...

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:11:00 -0400

Soho street in bright afternoon sunlight. New York City.

In the bright afternoon light of the sun, the city squints its eyes momentarily.

Buildings emerge from their slumbering shadows and streets glisten.

It’s during this momentary squint that every sun gleam and distant figure on each sun-kissed street flicker in and out of view: urban mirages filtered through the eyes of the city.

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I just wanted to share that this past weekend for the first time ever I had a request for and sold a visual print of one of my pieces of writing to accompany a print (this poem) . I have never been so happy!

I get really excited every time I sell a print but to sell a piece of writing is something I consider really special because my words are so intrinsically linked to my photography (and vice versa). Many thanks to the wonderful customer!

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Buy “Urban Mirages - Soho Street - New York City” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Man with a newspaper on Rivington Street. Lower East Side, New...

Fri, 11 May 2012 14:38:00 -0400

Man with a newspaper on Rivington Street. Lower East Side, New York City.

There are moments that seem as if they have been transported from an entirely different era right into the heart of today. This is one of them. The gentleman sitting here in his three piece suit and fedora was casually enjoying his newspaper while sitting next to a few closed storefronts on a rather moody, overcast day.

When I first moved to this neighborhood a few years ago, I noted the Botánica which was open for a few hours every day. A few of the neighbors in my apartment building who have lived here on the Lower East Side for decades would frequent the Botánica on a weekly basis. I have noticed that it no longer appears to be open which saddens me. I am unsure if the closure is permanent or merely temporary but I do still wonder where my older neighbors go for their Botánica needs.

A botánica is a retail store that sells folk medicine, religious candles and statuary, amulets, and other products regarded as magical or as alternative medicine. Some botánicas also carry incense, perfumes and oils. While these stores are common in many Hispanic American countries and communities of Latino people elsewhere botánicas can also be found in any United States city that has a sizable Latino/a population, particularly those with ties to the Caribbean.

The name botánica is Spanish and translates as “botany” or “plant” store, referring to these establishments’ function as dispensaries of medicinal herbs. Medicinal herbs may be sold dried or fresh, prepackaged or in bulk. The stores almost always feature a variety of implements endemic to Roman Catholic religious practice such as rosary beads, holy water, and images of saints. In addition, most have products associated with other spiritual practices such as candomblé, curanderismo, espiritismo, macumba and santería. Source

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View my photography for sale here, View my phone photography for sale here, email me, or ask for help.

Street art mural. Soho, New York City. Just a small...

Thu, 10 May 2012 18:57:00 -0400

Street art mural. Soho, New York City.

Just a small announcement that my Instacanvas store finally went live this evening! It’s basically a place to purchase my Instagram photos on canvas and thus will only ever contain the snippets of New York City that I capture with my phone. Here it is:

New York City Photography on Instacanvas

My regular photography store is still over on SmugMug where you can find my more formal photography:

New York City Photography Store

That is all! :)

I hope that everyone is having a splendid evening (or morning/afternoon depending on where you are in the world).

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** The Instagram photo in this post was taken with my phone and is of a street art mural in Soho.

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View my photography for sale here, email me, or ask for help.

Above a street in the Two Bridges neighborhood. New York...

Thu, 10 May 2012 10:50:00 -0400

Above a street in the Two Bridges neighborhood. New York City.

There are areas in lower Manhattan where fragments of the city’s history have settled like fine dust, fragile and prone to the whims of time.

Around these hallowed enclaves, newer history reaches higher towards the sky and rises from the ground borne from the dust of the city’s past.

This particular spot is known as Two Bridges and sits along the East River. It borders Chinatown and the Lower East Side and has long been a dwelling spot for many different immigrant communities over the years. It sits alongside the infamous and historic Five Points area where Irish, Jewish and Italian gangs battled to the death in the mid-19th century. It is currently home to a large community of Chinese immigrants and many of the buildings are tenements dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

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Buy “Fragments - Overlooking Two Bridges - New York City” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Street art and a bicycle. Soho, New York City Through each...

Wed, 09 May 2012 11:46:00 -0400

Street art and a bicycle. Soho, New York City

Through each scattered urban landscape every sidewalk dream unfolds periphally as daily adventurers traverse the city full of promise and silent giddy trepidation.

It’s in the quiet still moments marked by emptiness, vast loneliness and encroaching solitude that these peripheral dreamscapes come into focus.

These moments, suspended in time, marinate in the severity of their potential to eventually etch themselves into the eternity of the mind.

The rest of time moves with the rapid ebb and flow of life like bits and pieces of paint on a wall chipping and peeling off, finally scattering like a discarded lover’s flower petals in the wind.

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Buy “Sidewalk Dream - Street Art - New York City” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Manhattanhenge overlooking 42nd Street and Tudor City Overpass....

Mon, 07 May 2012 11:33:00 -0400

Manhattanhenge overlooking 42nd Street and Tudor City Overpass. New York City.

This was taken during last year’s Manhattanhenge sunset.The experience was rather intense. Even though I got to the overpass an hour and a half before sunset, I was told that many photographers had set up their equipment as early as 3 pm. When the sun started its very dramatic descent all that could be heard was the sound of cameras clicking away. It’s definitely a phenomenon I don’t plan to ever skip now that I have experienced it.

While the sun’s dramatic dip only lasts for a few minutes, it’s enough to take one’s breath away for the entire duration. The city is bathed in the light from the sun and the most beautiful red glow is cast through the streets.

Manhattanhenge is a semiannual occurrence in which the setting sun aligns with the east–west streets of the main street grid in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The term is derived from Stonehenge, at which the sun aligns with the stones on the solstices. It was coined in 2002 by Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist who is the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History.

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Buy “Manhattanhenge, 42nd Street and Tudor City Place Overpass, Midtown New York City” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Crossing Lower Broadway. Greenwich Village, New York City. In...

Sun, 06 May 2012 14:34:00 -0400

Crossing Lower Broadway. Greenwich Village, New York City.

In keeping with my promise to post a photo every week taken with my phone, here is this week’s mobile photography post. I am @newyorklens on Instagram (view my feed here). You can read about my thoughts on mobile photography and Instagram here and you can check out some of my Instagram photos on Flickr here.

As I experiment more and more with photo-editing apps for phone cameras, I find myself falling more and more in love with mobile photography. I branched out this past week and tried out Photoforge2 and VSCO and it was something of a revelation to me.

Photoforge2 has quickly become one of my core editing apps for my phone images. It has many of the same tools you would find in Photoshop and/or Lightroom and its features are staggering in their editing and creative capacities. I still also tinker around with Snapseed and Noir.

As my editing app arsenal has grown, I have found myself deeply interested in how the current crop of photo-sharing networks differ from each other. I really love Instagram. The community (or I suppose I should say ‘communities’) there is/are enthusiastic and very welcoming. I can’t remember the last time I had such a high response to things I have shared relative to the amount of people following me. People seem far more invested in the people they follow on Instagram than on other networks I have tried out so far. However, my trials are limited since I have literally only been dabbling in phone photography for a little over 3 weeks and I have only been using a few of the newer networks I have tried for 1 or 2 weeks

A few people I know via other photography communities online turned me on to the world of EyeEm (you can view my limited feed and my EyeEm account here) a few weeks ago and I have been on Streamzoo for as long as I have been on Instagram.

I came across this article last week: Is Instagram Defining, and Therefore Ruining, Mobile Photography? which made for interesting reading in light of my photo-sharing network dabbling. While I feel that some of the author’s points are a bit muddled, there are some interesting points made that could probably be applied to all networks online in terms of the democratization of all forms of photography, mobile or otherwise.

One thing that I think the author may have wrong is that there are some very vibrant, serious mobile photography communities on Instagram that are focused on the art of mobile photography. Instagram is the most popular out of all of the photo-sharing mobile networks though and with multitudes of users comes an increase in noise. I think this is where EyeEm shines for people who are interested in viewing and sharing mobile photography that transcends snapshot-status. I find the talent on EyeEm to be staggering. However, I think that the interface design (specifically for iPhones) is a bit lacking and in some cases non-intuitive. The community is also very small in comparison to a service like Instagram and it can be hard to break through and find other people to interact with.

I will continue to post to all 3 networks though for now. I find that each network has its own strengths and weaknesses. I do enjoy the random spontaneity of my Instagram feed and slipping in a cat photo (or two, or three…or ten :) ) doesn’t feel like an assault to the people following me versus on EyeEm where the level of photography is higher and I feel compelled to post more serious photos!

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View my photography for sale here, email me, or ask for help.

The New York City skyline at sunset under clouds in silhouette....

Sat, 05 May 2012 12:14:00 -0400

The New York City skyline at sunset under clouds in silhouette.

I used to refer to sunsets as sun-fire.

Those first sunsets burned through my retinas into the innermost recesses of my mind.

Clouds poured over the smoldering sparks of orange like thick plumes of smoke and before the sun extinguished itself, it burned the brightest of any flame in existence.

When the sun sets over New York City, it’s as if a thousand flames dance across the sky, leaving embers scattered across the skyline in the wake of it’s burning: like a fevered dream scattering its remnants across the mind before the deepest of slumbers.

I used to refer to sunsets as sun-fire.

I still do.

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Buy “Sun Fire - The New York City Sunline in Silhouette at Sunset” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Skyscrapers. Financial District, New York City. When I was...

Thu, 03 May 2012 12:25:00 -0400

Skyscrapers. Financial District, New York City.

When I was very young, I remember learning about vast mountain ranges that existed in what seemed like universes beyond New York City. I would regale myself with images of these towering feats of nature trying to imagine what it was like to come in contact with such powerful natural wonders. I used to think to myself “There is nothing like this here in the city, all we have are buildings.”

It wasn’t until my teens when I lived in New Mexico for a little over a year and more specifically when I got to experience the majesty of Taos that I was able to understand how infinitely small everything seems in comparison to the vastness of the world.

And yet, while I was in school there in Albuquerque, other students would ask me daily to tell them what it was like to live amongst buildings that soared to the sky.

It never occurred to me before that time that the man-made feats of architecture that I viewed on a regular basis were for these students what the images of mountain ranges were to me before I had the experience of seeing mountains with my own eyes.

When I moved back to New York City, I carried that new knowledge with me like a precious gift, tucking it away for safe-keeping.

And it wasn’t until I discovered photography, that I took that knowledge out from where I tucked it away for many years and started to view my own city with new eyes.

There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t recall the time when I realized that New York City is its own man-made land of enchantment.

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Buy “Enchantment - Skyscrapers - Financial District - New York City” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

My photos on the cover and inside of the inaugural issue of The...

Wed, 02 May 2012 16:51:00 -0400

Delancey Street looking south...

The cover (with my photo!)

Photo used for the cover...

I made it into the credits...

SPURA article inside with my photo...

Photo in the previous image..

Shout-out on the bottom right :)

Bottom photo...

Photo from the same set...

Looking west down Delancey...

My photos on the cover and inside of the inaugural issue of The Lo-Down Magazine. Lower East Side, New York City.

I was thrilled when I was asked by one of my favorite neighborhood news blogs, The Lo-Down, to take photos for their inaugural issue of their new print magazine. As a Lower East Side resident who is invested in the community, I can definitely say that being asked to take photos for such a venture is one of the proudest recent moments in memory regarding my photography.

The task was to capture the area South of Delancey Street at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge which is known as SPURA (Seward Park Urban Renewal Area). Currently, and for many, many years as far back as I can remember, the area consists mainly of city-owned parking lots usually filled with trucks in various stages of wear and tear. It’s an area I pass by daily since I live very, very close to it and for many community residents it is now an extremely hot topic due to the development plans and proposals. You can read a bit about SPURA here on the Lo-Down if you are interested.

I am really proud of the Lo-Down for launching their new magazine which is being sent out to thousands of Lower East Side residents this week as well as many of the local stores, cafes and retail establishments in the area and happy that I could contribute to their venture with photos of the neighborhood I love so dearly, the Lower East Side.

You can view the photos used in the magazine (and a few more that are part of the same set that I just love) larger either on my Flickr here:

SPURA - Lower East Side

… or you can view all of the photos including scans of my photos in the Lo-Down Magazine on my Google Plus profile here:

The Lo-Down Magazine - Photos of SPURA - Lower East Side

Enjoy!

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View my photography for sale here, email me, or ask for help.

The Chrysler Building. Midtown, New York City. If you are...

Tue, 01 May 2012 12:14:00 -0400

The Chrysler Building. Midtown, New York City.

If you are fortunate enough to look up at exactly the right time, you can catch the sun dancing along the top of the Chrysler Building.

As the sun glides across the iconic spire, it leaves glimmering trails: shimmering footsteps connecting the sky to the city.

The Chrysler Building is a classic example of Art Deco architecture. Designed by architect William Van Alen for a project of Walter P. Chrysler, it was the headquarters of the Chrysler Corporation from 1930 until the mid 1950’s. Even though the building was built and designed specifically for the car manufacturer, the corporation did not pay for the construction of it and never owned it, as Walter P. Chrysler decided to pay for it himself, so that his children could inherit it.

Upon its completion on May 20, 1930, the added height of the spire allowed the Chrysler Building to surpass 40 Wall Street as the tallest building in the world and the Eiffel Tower as the tallest structure. It was the first man-made structure to stand taller than 1,000 feet.

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Buy “Touching the Sky - The Chrysler Building - New York City” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Afternoon sunlight on fire escapes. Greenwich Village, New York...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:43:00 -0400

Afternoon sunlight on fire escapes. Greenwich Village, New York City.

The afternoon yawns with its mouth full of sunlight before it slips into the shadows of evening.

Fire escapes catch the sun’s gleam: staircases for dreamers propelling dreams skyward.

And the trees bow graciously in the lingering glow of sweet sunlight: courteous hosts beckoning wanderers to bask in the shared glow and warmth of the city.

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Buy “Afternoon Sunlight on a Greenwich Village Street - New York City” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.