NY Through the Lens - New York City Photography

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.

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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?

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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.

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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! :)

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

In the silent stillness of winter the world stops rotating temporarily.

All sound, speech and thought is muffled as the earth slumbers briefly under a blanket of freshly fallen snow.

In each snowflake rest the hopes and dreams of all who have ever felt the warmth of an anticipatory heart-flutter: dream-sputters that wrap the earth in the weight of their desires.

Built between 1859 and 1862, Bow Bridge is one of Central Park’s most iconic structures. This image was taken during a snowstorm in Central Park, New York City.

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Bow Bridge in the winter. Central Park. New York City.

I miss the snow.

I miss the silence: deafening silence punctuated by small breaths signifying flutters of life in a world swallowed by the sinking, seductive embrace of serenity.

That type of serenity isn’t easy to come by in a city that moves faster than the speed of hope: it’s frenetic core blinked into existence by anxious dreamers.

If I hold still, very still, for just a moment and close my eyes, I can paint my serenity memory on the backs of my eyelids.

In this moment the world stops rotating long enough and my breath reverberates alongside the earth’s heartbeat.

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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.

Summer’s memories break through shards upon shards of branches making their way past the ice-kissed lips of winter conjuring up the outline of buildings and cityscapes on the condensation of winter’s frozen breath.

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

View from Belvedere Castle in the snow overlooking the San Remo. Winter. Central Park, New York City.

In the yawning hours of the morning, the earth stretches its snow-laden limbs skyward and the clouds leave a dissolving trail of heart-heavy whispers in their wake as all of the city’s structures deliquesce into nothingness.

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Bow Bridge and trees in the snow. Central Park winter. New York City.

I miss the snow.

I miss the silence: deafening silence punctuated by small breaths signifying flutters of life in a world swallowed by the sinking, seductive embrace of serenity.

That type of serenity isn’t easy to come by in a city that moves faster than the speed of hope: it’s frenetic core blinked into existence by anxious dreamers.

If I hold still, very still, for just a moment and close my eyes, I can paint my serenity memory on the backs of my eyelids.

In this moment the world stops rotating long enough and my breath reverberates alongside the earth’s heartbeat.

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

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Buy “Serenity Memory - Bow Bridge in the Snow - Central Park” Posters and Prints here, View my store, email me, or ask for help.

Bow Bridge covered in snow. Winter in Central Park. New York City.

In the silent stillness of winter the world stops rotating temporarily.

All sound, speech and thought is muffled as the earth slumbers briefly under a blanket of freshly fallen snow.

In each snowflake rest the hopes and dreams of all who have ever felt the warmth of an anticipatory heart-flutter: dream-sputters that wrap the earth in the weight of their desires.

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

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Buy “Dream Sputters - Bow Bridge Central Park Winter” Posters and Prints here, View my store, email me, or ask for help.