NY Through the Lens - New York City Photography

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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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 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.

New York by Gehry and the New York City skyline under storm clouds.

In very, very exciting news my photography was discussed on a live on-the-air show called “Great Google + Photographer Discoveries” on Monday night. To my surprise (and many other people’s surprise too), Sergey Brin stopped by during the recording (yes, this Sergey Brin). I think my jaw literally dropped when he ‘popped in’. I was super honored to be one of the photographers discussed but I can’t even describe how it felt to hear/see my photography discussed while Sergey Brin watched. It’s one of those moments I know I will cherish forever.

You can view the broadcast here. I highly recommend it if you are looking for some insanely awesome visual inspiration because the other photographers highlighted are truly phenomenal and gorgeous examples of their work are also displayed and discussed (all photographers are also linked in the link below in case you want to browse their work:

And if that wasn’t enough excitement to last for ages, I sat in as a panelist last night for a live on-the-air discussion with the one and only Thomas Hawk and the inimitable Lotus Carroll for their weekly video broadcast called Photo Talk Plus. If you have ever wanted to hear me talk or see me try to not completely die of stage-fright on another great show highlighting photography (the theme last night was New York!), feel free to watch here:

Photo Talk Plus Episode 8

What a week, right? I have no clue how anything could top it :).

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Buy “Against the Clouds - New York by Gehry and the New York City Skyline” Posters and Prints here, View my store, email me, or ask for help.

The New York City skyline in silhouette at sunset.

I used to refer to sunsets as sunfire.

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 sunfire.

I still do.

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

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

City street at night. Financial District, New York City.

At night after the multitudes have retreated to their homes away from the buildings and streets that hold them close during the day the city relaxes shaking the dust of the long day from its concrete limbs.

The street lights flicker like dream-heavy blinks of an eye while smokestacks exhale world-weary breaths of smoke into the yawning night air.

Re-posted as a request. It’s been a strange couple of days. To those who celebrate Thanksgiving, may you have a wonderful one and to those who don’t celebrate, may you have a fabulous few days of rest and relaxation.

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Buy “Smoke - Night - New York City” Posters and Prints here, View my store, email me, or ask for help.

13-15 South William Street also known as 57 Stone Street. Financial District, New York City.

Something I absolutely love about New York City is that tucked away between the towering monuments of modernity that populate the cityscape are streets that look as if they have been transported from another era and geographic location entirely. These streets are suspended in time like flies in amber.

This area is known as the Stone Street historic district in lower Manhattan. Bound by Stone Street, Pearl Street, and South William Streets and Mill Lane, it is a section that is unlike any of its surrounding blocks. This particular section is bound by South William street. Around the block from this part of the area are other historic buildings and the Stone Street area ‘proper’.

In 1903, the architect C.P.H. Gilbert designed new street facades on the buildings in this section of South William Street (57 Stone Street on the other side). Gilbert’s neo-Dutch Renaissance architecture features structural details like stepped gables and strapwork and was a nod to the early settlement of Manhattan .

This area which dates back to the 1600s when New York City was first colonized by Dutch settlers was sadly destroyed by the Great Fire of 1835. The surrounding section of Stone Street was rebuilt with granite bases of post-and-lintel construction and upper-additions of brick which were specifically erected for importers and merchants.

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Buy “A Step Back in Time - New York City” Posters and Prints here, View my store, email me, or ask for help.

Night and shadows in Lower Manhattan. Financial District, New York City

At night after the multitudes have retreated to their homes away from the buildings and streets that hold them close during the day the city relaxes shaking the dust of the long day from its concrete limbs.

The street lights flicker like dream-heavy blinks of an eye while smokestacks exhale world-weary breaths of smoke into the yawning night air.

This is a re-post from a few months ago. There was a mishap over at my Google Plus account which resulted in my post there being eaten up so I am re-posting to re-add the post plus the writing to my main album there.

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In memoriam. Tie a ribbon of remembrance - 10th anniversary of September 11 public art exhibit. St. Paul’s Chapel. Financial District, New York City.

I found myself in the vicinity of Ground Zero late last night. I hadn’t planned on going there and I didn’t intend to come back today to the same spot again. I certainly hadn’t intended to even post about 9-11. However, I was bombarded with many emotions I had repressed over these past 10 years that came flowing out like an overflowing dam when I sat across from where the World Trade Center had once stood.

I came across one of the most beautiful public memorial exhibits for 9-11 while in the area. Called Tie a Ribbon of Remembrance, it is a temporary public art exhibit curated by Trinity Wall Street where the public was encouraged to write out their personal sentiments about 9-11 on white ribbons which were then tied to the fence at St. Paul’s Chapel, a chapel that has been standing in the same spot since 1766. St. Paul’s Chapel is Manhattan’s oldest public building in continuous use and also a place where George Washington once worshiped. It sits directly across from ‘Ground Zero’.

I walked along the thousands of white ribbons trying to hold each written thought in my hand and my thoughts went back the thoughts that ran through my head a few months after 9-11 every morning when I arrived at work 3 blocks away from Ground Zero. It was a transitional time in my own life, in New York City and in the whole world. I would get out of the train, look around slowly, swallow the inevitable lump in my throat and think that those of us who were lucky enough to still be here should celebrate the life we have and embrace every single moment with clarity, love and hope.

I stand by this sentiment 10 years later. We may never fully achieve the closure we seek in the wake of senseless atrocity but we can embrace the life we are lucky enough to experience every day and seek to find hope, peace and love through even the most trying moments.

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I have posted a series of 9 photos taken last night and today on my Google Plus profile here of you are interested (including the photo in this post):

In Memoriam - On the 10th Anniversary of 9-11

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City Hall Park fountain at dusk. Tribeca, New York City.

A few years ago when I went back to school (as a result of the economy), the school I first went to was located in this particular neighborhood. During long breaks between classes, I would sit in this park and stare at the fountain . It was very calming. The fountain is located in City Hall Park that sits next to New York City’s City Hall which is the oldest City Hall that still houses original government functions.

What I did not realize is that City Hall Park sits on a burial ground that was largely ignored until this past decade. I found a great resource of information about this in the article ‘Under City Hall Park’:

“Every now and then, when a water main breaks in Lower Manhattan or when ground is broken for a new building, the bones of those who lived and died in colonial New York resurface, and today’s New Yorkers get a quiet brush with a past they had literally walked over. This happened, though few people seem to know about it, during the recent renovations of City Hall Park, when the remains of more than 70 people were uncovered. Most of these bones are thought to belong to the residents of New York’s first almshouse. Opened in 1736, the almshouse was a homeless shelter, jail, and workhouse rolled into one. Next to it was a fenced-in cemetery, so that the poor could be near the almshouse, isolated in death as they were in life. The cemetery opened in 1757, and was filled by 1785. In 1803, construction work began on a new City Hall, which was erected on the site of the demolished almshouse. A new courthouse (known as the Tweed Courthouse) was later built, just north of City Hall, and the area was transformed into the pristine seat of city government. Walkways were groomed, trees were planted. For a centerpiece, an elaborate fountain was built. The forsaken graves of the have-nots vanished.” Source

Regarding the fountain: “In 1871 an ornate granite fountain designed by the noted park architect Jacob Wrey Mould was placed in front of City Hall. In 1920, the fountain was disassembled and shipped to Crotona Park in the Bronx. In 1939, the Post Office was demolished and the land returned to the city. Robert Moses started building in the park but was stopped by local protests. When Rudy Giuliani observed the unfinished status of the park upon taking his second oath of office as mayor, he decided to do something about it. City Hall Park was renovated in 1999 to return to its pre-Civil War splendor as part of his legacy. Jacob Wrey Mould Fountain was returned from the Bronx to the Park, with exact replicas of its centerpiece and lights reconstructed from Mould’s designs.” Source

There is now a marker that acknowledges the remains of some of the earliest New Yorker’s placed near City Hall in City Hall Park and last year there was a ceremony for the remains presided over by Christian, Jewish and Islamic clerics. City officials reburied the remains at that ceremony and unveiled the new marker. It was a quiet and solemn ceremony to acknowledge the early New Yorkers who were placed in this spot centuries ago.

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‘New York by Gehry’ at 8 Spruce Street and the new Financial District New York City skyline. View from Chinatown, New York City.

Buy “Financial District Skyline Cityscape Posters and Prints here, View my store, email me, or ask for help.

The skyscraper formerly known as the Beekman Tower by Frank Gehry which graces this skyline shot taken from Chinatown overlooking the Financial District is one of my favorite newer skyscrapers. It is the tallest residential skyscraper in the Western hemisphere and it recently went through a name change.

It is now known as New York by Gehry incorporating the name of the architect. I have seen it referred to as New York by Gehry at 8 Spruce Street as well. Either way, it’s an intriguing addition to the skyline and a nice new companion for it’s neighboring buildings :).

Skyscrapers illuminated by the sun. Financial District, New York City.

“Manhattan has no choice but the skyward extrusion of the Grid itself; only the Skyscraper offers business the wide-open spaces of a man-made Wild West, a frontier in the sky.” - Rem Koolhaas

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New York City Skyscrapers And Clouds Posters and Prints are available for purchase by clicking here

13-15 South William Street/57 Stone Street, a slice of history. Financial District, New York City.

This area is known as the Stone Street historic district in lower Manhattan. Bound by Stone Street, Pearl Street, and South William Streets and Mill Lane, it is a section that is unlike any of its surrounding blocks. This particular section is bound by South William street. Around the block from this part of the area are other historic buildings and the Stone Street area ‘proper’.

In 1903, the architect C.P.H. Gilbert designed new street facades on the buildings in this section of South William Street (57 Stone Street on the other side). Gilbert’s neo-Dutch Renaissance architecture features structural details like stepped gables and strapwork and was a nod to the early settlement of Manhattan .

This area which dates back to the 1600s when New York City was first colonized by Dutch settlers was sadly destroyed by the Great Fire of 1835. The surrounding section of Stone Street was rebuilt with granite bases of post-and-lintel construction and upper-additions of brick which were specifically erected for importers and merchants.

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Buy “A Step Back in Time - New York City” Posters and Prints here, View my store, email me, or ask for help.

Delmonico’s in a sliver of sunlight. Financial District, New York City.

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