NY Through the Lens - New York City Photography

Cherry blossoms in Central Park. New York City in the springtime.

We dream of springtime

with our eyes closed in winter

as snow turns from white to pink

cascading down on the backs of our eyelids

in a slideshow of a moment

that is hard to grasp onto

but difficult to forget.

—-

There is nothing quite like springtime in New York City. This is a view of the cherry trees that line the Bridle Path in Central Park. Like autumn, spring is barely a lingering whisper that brushes up against our faces for what seems like a second.

—-

Taken with the Sony A55.

—-

View this photo with a comment thread on my Google Plus page

—-

Buy “Central Park Spring - Cherry Blossoms Along the Bridle Path” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

The New York City Skyline and Central Park from above during sunset.

Summer evenings are when the city smolders

as the sun paints the clouds

and the night sky waits just another hour longer

to dance with the last remnants of the day.

—-

This is a view of the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan and Central Park from above looking north towards upper Manhattan. I took this at the end of August on a gorgeous, sweltering evening. I made it up to the top deck of Top of the Rock (30 Rock) just as this spectacular sunset was making its way across the sky.

It’s hard not to feel overcome with emotion when the summer sky puts on one of its late summer sunset shows. When it happens, the city is bathed in an other-worldly glow as the lights in the buildings twinkle on like stars and the sky and the impossible all seem to melt away into an infinite horizon full of endless possibility.

—-

View this photo with a comment thread on my Google Plus page

—-

Buy “New York City Skyline and Central Park - Sunset” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

White cherry blossoms against a white sky. Springtime. New York City

You exist, this I am sure of with only slightly wavering certainty that vibrates with nothing but the tiny memory of a breeze.

You, a whisper in the night on lips that mouth your name swollen with hope.

You, a whisper that launches forth dreams on the backs of my eyelids.

And I exist too, this I am sure of with quivering certainty that holds steady in the presence of the strongest of wind gusts.

I, the whisper your lips haven’t yet come across.

I, the branch that sways in the warm embrace of possibility.

I, the whisper that dances delicately in the night

—-

Taken with the Sony A55.

—-

View this photo with a comment thread on my Google Plus page

—-

Buy “Whisper - White Spring Blossoms - Central Park” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Central Park winter path. Shakespeare Garden in the snow.

I think back to days spent wrapped in the cold silence of freshly fallen snow in Central Park.

The labyrinth-like path leading from Shakespeare Garden lined by a wooden fence twists and turns in the snow winding its way under trees whose branches reach out to each other like eager arms awaiting the warmth of an embrace.

It’s on days like this when the sun rests longer than usual and winter’s essence seeps through every crack and crevice that the earth quivers a ghost shiver that rests in summer’s memory.

—-

The rustic wooden fence rests on a four acre section of Central Park known as the Shakespeare Garden which is located in the west part of the park near 79th Street. On the 300th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death in 1916, this area was dedicated to Shakespeare and named. The plants and flowers that are found in this area are all mentioned in the works of the playwright and are also plants and flowers that are found in his garden in Starford-upon-Avon. There is even a white mulberry tree on this four acre plot of land that is said to have grown from a graft of a tree planted by Shakespeare himself in the 1600s.

While the paths that winds through Central Park’s Shakespeare Garden is gorgeous in the warmer months of the year, it’s absolutely stunning when snow has freshly fallen.

This photo was taken during one of the last major snowstorms (a blizzard) in New York City back in 2011. We haven’t seen snow like this, in this magnitude, since then. I have been going through my photos from the two blizzards we experienced that winter season wondering if we will ever see snow like this again. Who knows?

—-

View this photo with a comment thread on my Google Plus page

—-

Buy “Central Park Winter Path” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

New York City in the snow. Central Park winter landscape at Bow Bridge.

There is something undeniably magical that occurs as the snow falls

swirling and twirling in the air

until it hits the ground heavy with the weight of a thousand promises:

exultations and dreams held close to the earth

in the stillness between wintry pauses

as the city lays in wait

like a snow-globe resting between giddy shakes of joy.

——

Bow Bridge is one of Central Park’s most iconic structures. It was built between 1859 and 1862 and is shaped like an archer’s bow. This particular image was taken during a snowstorm in Central Park, New York City. Bow Bridge sits covered by a beautiful layer of freshly fallen snow as the buildings that line Central Park West sit in the distance just past the snow-laden trees.

I am a bit giddy because it appears that New York City may actually get some snow tomorrow. I read this highly entertaining piece of writing by Andy Newman in the NY Times earlier: “Tomorrow, It Will Snow, Perfectly” which had me at hello with its opening paragraph:

“The ideal city snowstorm, meteorological Platonists say, blankets the landscape without burying it, beautifies but does not burden, transforms and cocoons without paralyzing or even particularly inconveniencing.”

Of course, I always feel a bit like Winona Ryder in one of the best scenes from Edward Scissorhands (the music from that scene = awesome) during the first real snow of the winter season here.

Here’s hoping! :)

—-

P.S. Edited to add that yes, this is the same bridge that Dr. Who ran over in the Angels take Manhattan episode.

—-

View this photo larger and on black on my Google Plus page

—-

Buy “New York Winter - Central Park Snow” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Central Park winter landscape. Angel of the Waters. New York City.

The silence that engulfs the world after a snowfall is deafening.

All heartbeats, all footsteps, all meandering thoughts and evocations are wrapped in a heavy blanket of snow.

Trees cease reaching for the sky, weighed down by the weight of the sky’s tears of joy and there is scarcely a breath to be heard.

Winter muffles the earth silencing it’s yearnings,

and all at once there is peace.

—-

The definitive crown jewel of Central Park, Angel of the Waters is one of the most famous and universally loved fountains in the world. Also known as Bethesda Fountain, it was designed by Emma Stebbins.

This particular photo of a snow-covered Central Park was taken during a break in a bitter blizzard that hit New York City a few winters ago. The snowstorm dropped a few feet of snow on the city covering the trees and iconic sights in Central Park in a gorgeous coating of icy beauty.

—-

View this photo larger and on black on my Google Plus page

—-

Buy “The Sky’s Tears of Joy - Angel of the Waters - Winter - Central Park” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Central Park winter landscape. San Remo through snow-covered trees. New York City

Summer’s memories sit suspended like words caught in the throat of winter: stifled, muffled utterances barely able to escape in the form of speech.

But in the wide open expanse of dreams, words take flight as summer’s memories break through the shards of branches conjuring up the outline of buildings and cityscapes on the condensation of winter’s frozen breath.

—-

View this photo larger and on black on my Google Plus page

—-

Buy “Suspended - San Remo - Winter - Central Park- New York City” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Central Park winter - Poet’s Walk in the snow. New York City.

I love heavy snowfall and I found myself braving the super high wind gusts to wander around a mostly empty Central park during one particularly rambunctious blizzard. I don’t really recommend it and thinking back, it was a bit risky considering that the wind gusts were around 55 mph and higher. Wind gusts and trees don’t make for the safest of combinations. However, I have never seen Central Park in such a serene state.

The only people who were in the park that day were small amounts of people who lived in the surrounding neighborhoods, brave tourists and intrepid photographers with giddy expressions on their faces. I could probably count on both hands the number of people I encountered and I ended up covering most of the park on foot that day (I was never so happy to get home and drink hot chocolate that evening).

This part of Central Park is known as The Poet’s Walk or Literary Walk. The reason why this part of the park is known as Poet’s Walk and/or Literary Walk is because at the very end of this section, several statues of famous writers line the path. It’s at the southern end of a section called The Mall.

The Mall is only straight line in Central Park and the trees that line it are its crowning and most distinctive feature. They are American elm trees and are the largest and last remaining stands in all of North America. Over the years, other large grouping of American Elm trees have been destroyed by Dutch Elm disease but Central Park’s conservancy has saved a majority of the remaining trees in the park despite losing around 40 trees in the last few years to this contagious fungus. The recent Hurricane (Superstorm Sandy) also directly impacted the amount of elm trees in Central Park in a negative way.

The Poet’s Walk is one of my favorite spots in the autumn and winter because the trees look their most graceful and beautiful during these seasons. The leaves turn a beautiful golden yellow in the autumn and the elegant branches seem to reach out to each other when covered by freshly fallen snow in the winter.

—-

View this photo larger and on black on my Google Plus page

—-

Buy “Serenity - Central Park Winter - Poet’s Walk - New York City” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Central Park winter trees covered in snow. New York City.

Winter crunches underfoot yielding to the heavy enormity of the sheer weight of souls in transition. Trees laden with snow frozen in thought stand dormant until the springtime.

It’s on these sorts of days that the earth feels as if it is caught in a trance somewhere between dreaming and opening its frozen eyelids.

—-

I love when the snow first falls in New York City - especially in Central Park. The quiet muffled stillness and icy warmth combine to pause the city’s frenetic energy for a few hours.

This was taken the last time we had major snowfall in Manhattan during a blizzard. In truth, it probably wasn’t the safest idea to be walking around Central Park when the wind gusts were so terrifyingly high but during the moments when the winds stopped, it was eerily beautiful.

—-

View this photo larger and on black on my Google Plus page

—-

Buy “In a trance - Central Park Winter Trees” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Autumn light. Central Park, New York City

On this day last year, someone who I was close with in my early 20s died and I am still trying to make sense of such a tragic loss. I don’t think I ever will. I made a a lengthy post about Jen and my memories of her (with videos of her amazing performances) here last year:

Jeniviva

A few days later, I wrote this poem and posted it with this photo I am posting right now. It was raw and it’s the only thing I can think of posting today that sums up what I am (still) feeling:

—-

View this photo larger and on black on my Google Plus page

—-

Buy “Adagio - Light Through Autumn Trees - Central Park” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Autumn leaves under elm trees. Central Park, New York City.

Under a canopy of elm trees, nothing is quite as beautiful as the warmth that emanates from fallen autumn leaves.

Scattered like fiery embers, they are strewn about only suspended in motion for a short time before the wind stirs them from their molten slumber.

If winter had but one dream, it would be of this.

—-

—-

A few people commented elsewhere that they missed both parts of the documentary series that I posted earlier this week. It was part of a docu-series filmed this past summer about my photography. So, if you missed it and are curious about my early influences and thoughts about New York City, here are both segments:

Art Seen: Vivienne Gucwa

Art Seen: Vivienne Gucwa, Part 2

—-

View this photo larger and on black on my Google Plus page

—-

Buy “Winter’s Dream - Autumn - Central Park - New York City” Posters and Prints here, View my store, email me, or ask for help.

Autumn sunset. Central Park, New York City.

In autumn, sun drips down like melted gold on tree limbs decorated in the finest foliage.

The earth, chilled by the memory of winter, holds onto the sun’s light with hands outstretched as each ray slips through its fingers like fine sand.

As bitingly cool air brushes past flushed faces, every bit of sunlight clings to the earth like embers fallen from a powerful fire.

—-

I love the brisk quality of light in the autumn especially in the evenings. It’s as if the sun is trying to penetrate through past winter all the way forward into spring.

—-

View this photo larger and on black on my Google Plus page

—-

Buy “Autumn Light Through Trees - Central Park - New York City” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Bow Bridge in autumn. Central Park, New York City.

The sun’s light dances on the tops of leaves blushing red in autumn’s embrace.

And the earth glows remembering summer’s long days and endless promises of warmth.

—-

This is one of the first round of photos I took back when I started to seriously take photos. I go back to this photo every year around this time and think a lot about that day, almost exactly two years ago to this date.

The air was bitingly crisp and the leaves had barely started to fall from the trees. I didn’t really know what I was trying to capture. In reality, I remember thinking that I would be happy if I could just get the colors of the leaves right with my humble camera (it was a point and shoot that barely had any controls), I would be over the moon.

This image has gone on quite a few journeys: as prints to many people (it still remains, to this day, one of my most popular), to clients for commercial work in ads, and on various websites.

I used to beat myself up about this photo since it feels like I have traveled a large distance in photography since I first took it and I can obviously see in my mind how the scene would look if I had taken the photo now.

I didn’t know it back then but what I have found to be most valuable element of photography is the ability to capture unique moments and distill their essence into something that resonates in some way with even as little as one person (which could just be yourself).

And you know what? I have gone back to this spot hundreds of times since then and I have never once seen it look exactly like this again.

——

Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux designed Central Park in 1858. Bow Bridge, shaped like an archer’s bow, was built between 1859 and 1862. It spans more than 60 feet of the Lake. The ornamental iron railing incorporates elements of Gothic, Neo-Classical, and Renaissance design.

—-

View this photo larger and on black on my Google Plus page

—-

Buy “Bow Bridge - Autumn - Central Park - New York City” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Autumn in Central Park, New York City - on ABC News!

ABC News contacted me to ask if they could use one of my autumn photos in an autumn photo feature on the official ABC News website and I said yes. The feature just went up here:

When Autumn Comes To…

Pretty sweet! Super excited to share this (and re-post this photo in light of this news). It’s one of my favorite photos that I have ever taken here in Central Park in the autumn. I actually posted about it a week or so ago here:

Autumn Leaves - New York City

This all has me craving pumpkin pie or pumpkin spice hot chocolate! :)

—-

Buy “Autumn Leaves - Central Park - New York City” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Piles of autumn leaves under trees during autumn in Central Park, New York City.

All I can think about at this point is anything and everything that has to do with autumn: piles of leaves to jump in, hot apple cider with cinnamon sticks, pumpkin in just about everything, cute scarves and socks, ducking into cozy places to warm up briefly before heading back out to enjoy the kiss of brisk autumn breezes.

Summer, we can always fall in love again next year.

For now, I have a huge crush on autumn.

—-

View this photo larger and on black on my Google Plus page

—-

Buy “Central Park - Autumn Trees and Leaves - New York City” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.