NY Through the Lens - New York City Photography

New York City townhouses. Grove Court. Greenwich Village.

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There are so many hidden architectural treasures that are scattered throughout New York City. This is one that I had never seen until recently. This is Grove Court. Grove Court is a row of townhouses that are nestled in far from the street in Greenwich Village (or the West Village depending on who you talk to). The space is tucked away and marked by an iron gate. In fact, it’s easy to miss due to its distance from the rest of the neighboring buildings that line the street it is on.

The houses that sit in this beautiful alley were first built in the 1840s and Grove Court spent the majority of the 19th century as a spot for the economically challenged lower classes. The story goes that the poor who inhabited these houses were so poor that they were unable to enjoy a typical spot of ale and instead had to drink the leftover remnants of the local pub’s beer barrel (the proverbial “bottom of the barrel”). So, for a short period of time, this spot was often referred to as “Mixed Ale Alley”.

The townhouses were sold to realty company in the 1920s who re-vamped the look of Grove Court hoping that its newer, more charming incarnation would attract a newer crop of artists and writers who were flocking to the West Village.Grove Court is currently a treasured hidden enclave and the townhouses that sit at the end of this ivy-covered alley are worth millions of dollars.

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This image was taken with the Sony NEX-6. All historic information gathered from: The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation

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New York City. Above the skyscrapers of midtown.

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When you view New York City from above, it’s hard not to get caught up in the head-rush that almost instantaneously occurs the moment your eyes attempt to account for the grandiose sense of scale of the city.

How do you make sense of that split-second that your heart beats in time to the rhythm of the streets below?

How do you keep your feet on the ground while your soul attempts to soar above and throughout the city, swooping between the cavernous buildings?

New York City is a study in contradictions and confirmations.

It’s a city that either inspires flight or plants you firmly in its primordial schist formations like the skyscrapers that rise up from such depths.

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This was taken on an impossibly beautiful summer afternoon with the Sony A77. The view is from the top of the Empire State Building looking down at the streets and skyscrapers of midtown. Its definitely one of my favorite views from above in midtown.

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New York City skyline. City lights at dusk.

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Dusk dances on the water

every evening

as the city hangs

brightly in a night sky

illuminated by the lights

of skyscrapers that

climb their way up

to the surface of

dreams.

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The moments between day and night are some of my favorite moments. The sky seems to linger and dwell in the hues of the day while the city’s lights mix with the colors of the recent sunset on the surface of the water.

This image was taken with the Sony A99 on a brisk night while standing in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The view is of the skyscrapers of lower Manhattan including 1 WTC (also known as the Freedom Tower, the Woolworth Building, and New York by Gehry.

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New York City skyline. Financial District skyscrapers at sunset.

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There’s a series of moments that linger between day and night

that linger a little longer in the summer.

The sun slides down through the clouds towards the city

pouring its soft light onto the water.

The skyscrapers soften their time-worn facades

as they lean in towards the last fragments of the day.

And the spray from the wake of a boat

dances with the sun’s light.

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This was taken on an absolutely stunning summer evening with the A77 while on a boat in the East River. This is the skyline of lower Manhattan featuring the skyscrapers of the Financial District. To the right (out of this scene) sits the Brooklyn Bridge.

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New York City townhouses. Midtown.

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On days like this, it’s as if the rest of the world has slipped away with the winter somewhere past the visible horizon into the realm of distant memories.

On days like this, the sun exhales through the trees that spread their newly adorned limbs out in a welcoming embrace.

On days like this, the city lingers in a promise whispered on a warm breeze.

On days like this, the light is a dream that makes its way into reality.

On days like this, there is nothing else that matters.

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This image was taken this past weekend as I walked around Manhattan for hours soaking in the gorgeous weather. I have mentioned my severe brownstone envy in other posts before. I believe that townhouses fall under this same category. To re-iterate, I grew up in Queens (another borough of New York City), and the brownstones in Manhattan and Brooklyn tugged at my heart constantly. Their enormous doorways always seemed to be flanked by extravagant stairways and every window seemed to be a frame encapsulating an enticing painting.

There wasn’t anything that came close to these beautiful works of architecture where I grew up in Flushing, Queens. And don’t even get me started on the Cosby Show which added to my angsty brownstone envy on a weekly basis. I still stop in my tracks and swoon when I come across a particularly beautiful set of brownstones or townhouses. I imagine all of the narratives that could have possibly occurred in these fantastical works of architecture and it’s enough to take me right back to feeling exactly how I did when I was growing up in Queens.

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I was super fortunate to get my hands on the Sony NEX-6 recently (which I used for this image). For those who don’t know, the NEX series is quite popular right now. They are part of a newer breed of mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras. This means that they are super compact and light (around 12 oz!). It felt odd carrying around a camera that weighed significantly less than most dSLRs and dSLTs and yet seems to rival the image quality. Is the future mirrorless? Maybe. I can say I am having a bit of a love affair with the NEX-6 (don’t tell my other camera). I will post more images taken with this camera peppered in with my other photos from time to time, for sure.

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New York City skyline. Hudson River view.

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The city rises out of the water

proud, elegant

adorned in its colorful,

man-made suit of armor.

And all of the hopes and dreams

billow up to meet the sky

propelling themselves past

the places and spaces that

hold them.

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This was taken recently while on a boat to New Jersey with the Sony A99. As I have mentioned before in other posts, one of the many reasons I love living in New York City is that the shifts in perspective can be so incredibly jarring and thought provoking. When you are in the midst of it all, you don’t fully realize that Manhattan (in particular) is an island. And yet, once you get on any of the boats that traverse the rivers that surround the city, it’s really overwhelming to see Manhattan’s skyline shrink into the distance under a vast sky.

The Hudson River is all that sits between parts of New Jersey and Manhattan. This view includes the Empire State Building and the midtown Manhattan skyline that sits on the west side of the island.

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New York City skyline and the Empire State Building. Midtown.

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Late afternoon light is a ghost.

It grazes eyelashes

and pours its stark light

over skyscrapers

like a battle-worn soul

asserting its presence

over the shadows.

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This was taken on a late afternoon in the winter with the Sony A99 on the top of Rockefeller Center overlooking the Empire State Building and the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan.

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New York City skyline. Fog. Midtown.

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There is nothing quite like a foggy day in New York City.

The sky slinks down seductively towards the city

sending its clouds on a romantic stroll through the streets.

And the skyscrapers,

lost in the moment,

appear weightless as they bubble over in a heady rush from all of the attention.

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This was taken on a moody day in Manhattan while on top of the Empire State Building with the Sony A77. The low visibility is always interesting to observe from great heights. The view is looking out towards the east looking out over the skyscrapers and roof tops of midtown Manhattan. You can almost make out the three lower Manhattan bridges in the distance.

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New York City Skyline. Night. Midtown.

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In the blink of an eye the city’s lights twinkle like stars in a universe that rises up from the ground to the surface of a darkening sky.

And all at once, everything else seems to fade away.

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This was taken on a frigid evening with the Sony A99 at Gantry Plaza State Park in Queens with wind gusts roaring across the river to the rocks I was teetering on with nothing more than my tripod and utterances of hope that the wind would let up for just a few seconds.

It didn’t.

But as I stood there frozen in place for what seemed like the longest 30 seconds of the night, the city’s glow rivaled that of a roaring fire and everything else seemed to pale in comparison.

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Manhattan Bridge. Night. New York City.

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The world stops spinning on its axis

as the city’s lights search through the night

for hearts that flutter to the

syncopation of its pulsating lights.

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This was taken on a stormy night in Brooklyn with the Sony A99 as the waves in the East River pounded the piers and the wind whipped against the faces of the few brave souls who were still standing at the edge of Brooklyn Bridge Park hoping to catch a first glimpse of the city’s lights as they flickered into view.

I am always amazed at the power of long exposure photography to calm the chaos in a landscape, especially in a cityscape.

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New York City skyline and Central Park from above.

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When the day stretches out

leaving a trail of sighs

in its wake,

the sky

and the infinite

slowly implode

folding themselves into one another

until all that is left

is a never-ending horizon

reaching out towards

the rest of forever.

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This is a view of Central Park and the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan as seen from above. It was taken with the Sony A77 from the top of the Empire State Building on an impossibly perfect morning. Upper Manhattan sits in the distance with the Chrysler Building and Queens to the right. The trees of Bryant Park are peeking out in the bottom-left part of this image.

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Bushwick. Street art. Brooklyn. New York City.

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The sky wavered in mood earlier today displaying an angsty mix of rage-puffed storm clouds and baby blues streaked by sunlight. It was the perfect backdrop for Bushwick’s incredible array of street art murals that pepper the industrial urban landscape.

I have been spending an inordinate amount of time in Brooklyn lately. My other half was born in Brooklyn (I like to refer to it as his “hatch-zone”) and is a great walking-off-steam companion. And so we keep ending up in interesting places on these long walks.

Bushwick was never really a friendly place when I was younger (this is a severe understatement). It’s fascinating to see the stage of evolution it seems to be in currently. The factories are all still there but there is also an amazing amount of art that seems to be thriving on the walls of Bushwick. Growing up in Queens ogling 5 Pointz, a large industrial space transformed into a premiere space for graffiti/street artists to cover in art, I was sad to hear that 5 Pointz will eventually be razed. However, Bushwick seems to have a blossoming 5 Pointz feel at this moment in time which is exhilarating to witness.

Who knows what the future holds for Bushwick? But, for now, it’s a perfect mix of grit and art.

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Williamsburg Bridge and the skylines of Manhattan and Brooklyn at sunset.

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Moments are vessels that contain: sparks, magic, effervescent happiness, lingering sadness, red-tinged anger, bittersweet joy all waiting to explode if and when that point in time is visited again.

There are moments that exist somewhere between the excited beat of the heart and a welled-up tear in the eye. They are the chills that run up the back of the neck and the small smile that can’t be contained when their memory is nudged by a sound, sight, scent, touch.

It’s the way the light was shining through the bridge as the boat pulled away under a sky blue with hope as the sun set and the lump in the throat subsided momentarily. It’s the way the water looked as it rocked the boat gently like a lullaby as it drifted away from the sunlight that poured its light onto the surface of the water.

And it’s the way everything seemed pointless in comparison to the way the clouds gathered over the city: hopeful tufts of smoke emanating from the sun’s extinguishing fire…

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This is a view of the Williamsburg Bridge and the Lower East Side as seen from a boat on the East River during sunset with the Sony A77. In the distance sits the skyline of Brooklyn in Dumbo and the Manhattan Bridge.

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Cherry blossoms. New York - Spring. Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

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Unexpected magic is some of the best kind of magic especially when it is found in the most unlikely of places.

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Spent an afternoon yesterday walking around Bay Ridge, Brooklyn while the temperatures dipped lower and lower (it’s been a brisk springtime here in New York City). And as the sun crept closer to the horizon, I came across a tiny opening near an overpass, next to a parkway where this gorgeous, fairy tale scene appeared just around the bend.

Sometimes there is nothing than better…

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