NY Through the Lens - New York City Photography

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:

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Autumn leaves. Central Park, New York City.

Autumn is the start of something new. It’s the promise of briskness followed by warmth. It’s an inviting whisper that lingers in the air and brushes past the skin with its transient presence.

We inhale the earth’s transition deeply into our lungs and exhale hopeful utterances on the condensation of our warm exhaled breaths.

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I love Central Park on overcast autumn days. When the elm trees are at their peak and have shed their leaves creating beautiful trails of foliage and the air is crisp, there is nothing better.

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Central Park autumn landscape overlooking the lake and San Remo.

There are days in Central Park during the autumn when the weather is deliciously ominous. These are the sorts of days when grey clouds do their best to compete with the sunlight for the spotlight. I love the quality of this sort of contrasting light. During moments when the sun does manage to peek through the gray blanket of clouds, the foliage seems to reel in the bits of scattered sunlight.

This is a vista that seems to come alive in the autumn and winter due in part to Central Park’s beautiful willow trees. There is a quality to the placement of the branches that is reminiscent of theatrical stage curtains in a persistent state of dramatically opening to reveal the landscapes that are just beyond their grasp as if they are revealing a show that comes alive in the final two acts of a performance that spans a year.

In the autumn, these sorrow-soaked branches frame the sprawling autumn landscape that surrounds the lake and in the winter when the lake is covered in snow, the same branches hold multitudes of icy tears framing the towers of San Remo perfectly.

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Autumn. Central Park, New York City.

The graceful limbs of Autumn’s trees cling to all of Summer’s sunsets searing their leaves yellow, orange and red with the sun’s heat.

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Autumn - Central Park, New York City.

That chill in the air wrapping itself around trees like an overflowing scarf , the crispness on the breeze chilling faces with its autumn kisses, trees displaying their decorated limbs in golden shades of serenity: Autumn.

Cinnamon sticks resting languidly in steaming mugs of hot apple cider, pumpkin-orange colored wishes carried on the scent of firewood, frosted sighs of contentment exhaled in long cool breaths, leaves sounding their crackled whispers of surrender, earth reeling from summer preparing for its long engagement with the snow-covered proclamations of winter: Autumn.

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Sun rays pouring over Bow Bridge in the late summer. Central Park, New York City.

There are moments that remain etched into time: moments that aren’t easily forgotten no matter how much time passes between the yawning gaps in between memory and dreaming.

The ability to capture uniquely experienced moments is at the core of photography. Cameras become jars with which to capture moments that flicker like fireflies.

Photographers are moment collectors and dream catchers.

Every collected moment and every captured dreamscape is the result of the tiny flicker that catches the photographer’s eye in such a profound way that it becomes an impossible feat to deny the urge to embrace the moment by capturing it in a photo.

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After my awesome interview last week for Photo Talk Plus (here: http://goo.gl/nrLj7 ), a few people messaged me privately about this photo since I talked about it on the show. Since it is an earlier photo of mine and it is positively gorgeous outside today in NYC, it felt like a good time to re-share it. Enjoy! :)

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Autumn in full swing. Central Park, New York City.

After nearly 6 weeks of dealing with a fairly intense leg injury, I was finally able to go out for the first time yesterday and walk around the way I normally do. I think I walked something like three miles in total! It felt incredible to not be limited in the way I was limited previously while dealing with the slow healing process. I ended up going to Central Park to soak in the remaining bits of autumn since autumn is so fleeting here in New York City.

I met up with a few other photographers from Google Plus later in the afternoon. Prior to meeting up with them I got to the park several hours earlier to go to my favorite sections of the park. I was still a little timid and apprehensive about doing a lot of walking even though I got the go-ahead from my doctor this past week to engage in my normal level of activity. Thankfully, I realized an hour into climbing around in piles of leaves (sometimes it’s fun to abandon the paved paths in Central Park especially when leaves are involved) that I was going to be just fine! The foliage was a bit past peak foliage but there were some genuinely magical landscapes.

It’s no secret that autumn is my favorite time of year. A while back I mentioned to people on Google Plus that I am saddened that autumn’s finest foliage only seems to grace us with its presence for a few weeks out of the year. Someone commented back to me that the short-lived nature of autumn is what makes it so special. Perhaps there is some truth to that notion. The fleeting transient nature of autumn does make it memorable.

There is a bittersweet quality to the action of capturing it in full splendor; giddy delight at experiencing something so magical mixed with sorrowful anxiety knowing that in a short time all of it will be only a preserved memory.

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Wisteria pergola in autumn. Central Park, New York City

In the stillness of well-worn paths, autumn stretches its well-adorned limbs exhaling brisk, cool breaths that kiss the faces of wanderers.

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Autumn elm trees in Central Park. New York City

Autumn is one of my favorite seasons to experience in New York City. The city comes alive with color. One of the most beautiful spots to take in some truly outstanding autumn landscapes is in Central Park. At the peak of autumn, the leaves of the elm trees turn from green to different shades of gold, yellow and orange. As the leaves shed from the trees, the grass becomes almost entirely carpeted with the colorful foliage. Some of the trees in this particular photo are the original elms which were planted by one of the original landscape designers of Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted.

Dutch elm disease, a fungal disease of elm trees which is spread by the elm bark beetle has been a major threat to the elm trees in New York City. The disease was accidentally introduced into America and Europe, where it has devastated native populations of elms which had not had the opportunity to evolve resistance to the disease. Thankfully, only a few elm trees in Central Park have been afflicted by the disease. It is believed that the majority of Central Park’s elm trees have survived because of their isolation from neighboring areas in New York where the disease was more predominant and widespread. Source

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In really awesome news, I found out that I was listed on this list that popped up on Business Insider today of photographers on Google Plus: Top 104 Amazing Photographers To Circle on Google Plus. I am #103 (Vivienne Gucwa). How exciting is that? I did a little dance when I found out!

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Buy “Autumn in Central Park” Posters and Prints here, Other versions of this print with writing and various borders can be viewed here (any of them can be customized to have whatever background you desire): “Autumn in Central Park” with Black Border, “Autumn in Central Park” with White Border, “Autumn in Central Park” with Grey Border, View my store, email me, or ask for help.