NY Through the Lens - New York City Photography

Lower East Side at night. New York City.

At night, as the street lights guide urban wanderers home under a blanket of darkness,

the mist from the fog of millions of thoughts exhales at once into a sky heavy with dreams.

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This is a view looking down Rivington Street towards Suffolk Street on the Lower East Side in lower Manhattan. The building in the foreground with the colorful street art and graffiti is ABC No Rio, a center for art and activism that has been in this neighborhood since 1980.

This was taken with the Sony a99. It feels great to capture night scenes with this camera since it performs really well in low-light. During winter here in New York City, the nights seem endless so it’s nice to be able to capture what I experience and see on a daily basis after the sun goes down .

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Buy “Lower East Side - Night - New York City” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Urban decay and graffiti on Canal Street. Chinatown, New York City.

New York City changes and evolves at a rapid pace. In certain areas, changes occur faster than others. Lower Manhattan is one place that has changed the most in the last decade. Development happens fast and the current trends are extremely tall buildings constructed mostly of glass, chain stores and luxury boutiques. In neighborhoods that were once bohemian and home to artists and rebels, these current changes have been hard to swallow for long-time residents who run the risk of being out-priced out of the neighborhoods they have called home for decades.

Despite these changes, there are still parts of lower Manhattan that recall earlier decades. New York City suffered economically in the 1970s and it was during this decade that much of lower Manhattan was transformed into a danger zone full of abandoned lots and buildings and rampant crime. Having grown up in New York City in the 1980s and early 1990s, I have vivid memories of riding graffiti-covered trains from Queens into Manhattan. I was taught to ‘watch my back’ at all times since everyone seemed to know someone who had been mugged. Things were still different in those days prior to the initiatives by mayors Koch and Guiliani to ‘clean up’ the city (and discourse is still rampant regarding how they handled it).

When I came across this section of Canal Street initially, my heart almost leaped out of my chest. Here I was staring at a section of a spot in Chinatown that seemed as if it had been dipped in 1980s New York City and had become frozen in time (thankfully I had my camera). It’s hard to put into words how powerful this scene is for personally. It’s a bit like staring at something that once existed in a distant life.

A city may change rapidly discarding pieces of itself, but it’s the people who carry it’s broken pieces with them in their hearts who imbue the city with its memory.

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I also wanted to share a bit of current news regarding this image. A client contacted me a few weeks back regarding setting up a contract to use this photo as a full wall mural in their upcoming restaurant in the UK. Super excited to see how it turns out. I have seen the mock-ups and I can’t wait to see it when it is finished.

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

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Buy “In Another Place and Time - Chinatown - New York City” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Street art on a store gate. Lower East Side, New York City.

Store gates slumber in the folds of the day when the sun and clouds fall over the city like exhaled breath wrapping the cityscape in sleepy thoughts.

And on these slumbering store gates, dreamscapes unfold surrounded by the discarded remnants of every yesterday and every today.

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

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Buy “Every Yesterday - Lower East Side - New York City” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Instagram and photo sharing. ABC No Rio. Lower East Side, New York City.

Are any of you on Instagram? I finally broke down and started using Instagram a few days ago (before the big news yesterday) and I have to say I am really into it. My name there is newyorklens. It reminds me a lot of when I first started using Tumblr actually which was my very first foray into the world of photo sharing!

I have read so many rants against Instagram that cover all sorts of sociological, aesthetic and technological concerns regarding either the propensity for sharing and oversharing as well as dislike of the filters on Instagram.

I find Instagram freeing to some extent. As someone who has very little money and has had to work with the limitations of my own (lack of) fabulous camera equipment over the past few years, I have to say that I can understand the appeal of phone photography in general. I have never been a person to turn my nose up at phone photography because I understand that this is a way for people to express themselves with the tool(s) they have available. I even know photographers who own other cameras but choose to focus on phone photography because they love the challenge and immediate quality of it.

Is there perceived mediocrity with phone photography (and on Instagram and other photo sharing sites/apps)? Of course. But there is perceived mediocrity in the field of regular photography where “real” cameras are utilized (real in quotes for obvious reasons related to the context of this post) and on all of the photo-sharing sites and services that currently exist.

Something that I enjoy about Instagram is that I get to share the quirkier things I see in my everyday travels that may or may not end up in my traditional photography. This photo for example was taken quickly yesterday while on the way back to my apartment which is nearby. It’s one of my favorite facades on the Lower East Side and I loved how the sunlight was illuminating it.

Is this photo any less than a photo I may have taken with my regular camera? What if I post-processed a traditional digital photo to look exactly like this (I happen to actually love the effect). Would that make it anymore worthwhile to the people who make protestations about the filters used in phone photography?

I won’t be posting my Instagram photos all that much because I enjoy the process of revealing them on Instagram and interacting with them there and later on Flickr where I end up sharing them (my folder of my recent Instagram photos is here: New York City Instagram Photos) but I wanted to open up a discourse regarding the broader implications of mobile photo sharing.

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For reference, ABC No Rio is a collectively-run center for art and activism on the Lower East Side. It was founded in 1980 by artists committed to political and social engagement with the goal to facilitate cross-pollination between artists and activists.

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If you didn’t see my initial contest entry post for the current Artists Wanted photography contest, you can still help me out by going to my contest entry page and clicking collect me

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

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Urban decay on Canal Street. Chinatown, New York City.

New York City changes and evolves at a rapid pace. In certain areas, changes occur faster than others. Lower Manhattan is one place that has changed the most in the last decade. Development happens fast and the current trends are extremely tall buildings constructed mostly of glass, chain stores and luxury boutiques. In neighborhoods that were once bohemian and home to artists and rebels, these current changes have been hard to swallow for long-time residents who run the risk of being out-priced out of the neighborhoods they have called home for decades.

Despite these changes, there are still parts of lower Manhattan that recall earlier decades. New York City suffered economically in the 1970s and it was during this decade that much of lower Manhattan was transformed into a danger zone full of abandoned lots and buildings and rampant crime. Having grown up in New York City in the 1980s and early 1990s, I have vivid memories of riding graffiti-covered trains from Queens into Manhattan. I was taught to ‘watch my back’ at all times since everyone seemed to know someone who had been mugged. Things were still different in those days prior to the initiatives by mayors Koch and Guiliani to ‘clean up’ the city (and discourse is still rampant regarding how they handled it).

When I came across this section of Canal Street initially, my heart almost leaped out of my chest. Here I was staring at a section of a spot in Chinatown that seemed as if it had been dipped in 1980s New York City and had become frozen in time (thankfully I had my camera). It’s hard to put into words how powerful this scene is for personally. It’s a bit like staring at something that once existed in a distant life.

A city may change rapidly discarding pieces of itself, but it’s the people who carry it’s broken pieces with them in their hearts who imbue the city with its memory.

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

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Buy “In Another Place and Time - Chinatown - New York City” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Chinatown rooftop graffiti. Two Bridges, New York City.

New York City is an urban layer cake.

This is another one of my favorite views in lower Manhattan. It’s a small segment of an entire universe that exists above millions of New Yorkers.

Layers of colorful graffiti cover the rooftops of these Chinatown apartment buildings as rooftop doors blow open in the wind and colorful clothing sways on clotheslines high above the city below.

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

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Buy “Chinatown Rooftop Graffiti - New York City” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

FAILE street art. Houston and Bowery. East Village, New York City.

FAILE is a street art collaboration between Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller. This wheat-paste masterpiece is the current project of theirs that graces the iconic wall at the corner of Houston Street and the Bowery.

When I was really young I used to imagine that at night when the majority of people went to sleep in New York City, all of the graffiti and street art on the walls would come to life. I still like to think this is the case.

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

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Buy “Night Visions - Street Art - East Village - New York City ” Posters and Prints here, View my store, email me, or ask for help.

Freeman Alley on a bitterly cold night. Lower East Side, New York City.

The winter gives New York City a more clearly defined edge. It’s an edge that can be found off the beaten path during nights when the windchill dips into the negative. The lights flicker like icy cold stars leading the way down alleys and streets not well traversed late at night.

Monotonous rushes of wind rhythmically pulse through these stark pathways lined by the frozen tears of winter that cling desperately to the ground and in the distance the warm glow of a distant sun penetrates winter’s frigid grasp.

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

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Buy “Warm Glow of the Sun on a Winter City Night” Posters and Prints here, View my store, email me, or ask for help.

Street art on a store gate. Lower East Side, New York City.

Layers of paint, grit, decay and meaning make me fall in love with New York City over and over again.

Elaborate painted dreamscapes unfold on slumbering store gates surrounded by the discarded remnants of every yesterday and today.

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

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Buy “Every Yesterday - Lower East Side - New York City” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Vivienne Gucwa’s photography in a gallery showing at Plush NYC on October 6th 2011. Mars Bar Retrospective.

Last night I got to attend a gallery showing event where seven of my photos along with photos from four other photographers were displayed. It was a Mars Bar Retrospective featuring photos of the interior, exterior and personalities that haunted this legendary and now closed bar in the East Village. The gallery showing was hosted by Plush NYC who also handled all of the planning, promoting and curation. It was a spectacular night and I am pretty sure I couldn’t stop smiling the entire time I was there. I am extremely grateful for Plush NYC who not only found me and contacted me about doing this showing but also for putting together a wonderfully curated and inspiring gallery event.

If you are interested in seeing quite a few photos of me smiling like crazy in front of my photos last night as well as the seven photos that were on display, go here:

Vivienne Gucwa’s photography at the Plush NYC Gallery Show on October 6th 2011

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I have written many times about Mars Bar and what its closing meant to many people. The upset over its closing represented the loss of something greater for lower Manhattan. You can read an article I wrote about Mars Bar last winter which features (more journalistic style) photos along with all of my thoughts about its closing here: A Look Inside Mars Bar - the EV’s Legendary Dive Bar . I also did a photo-essay for the NY Times - East Village section about the art of Mars Bar which you can view here: Viewfinder | The Art of Mars Bar.

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View my store, email me, or ask for help.

Old and new on a cobblestone street at night. Soho, New York City

The city is composed of many layers. Each layer wraps around the previous layer as the years pass preserved only in fading memory. Under the soft flicker of street lamps you can sometimes catch these battle-scarred battered remains. These transient pieces of the urban landscape are but a pause in the forward momentum of the city; a tattered sigh and a ragged exhale at the end of an excited phrase

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

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Buy “A Tale of Two Cities - Soho” Posters and Prints here, View my store, email me, or ask for help.

Urban decay. Chinatown, New York City.

New York City changes and evolves at a rapid pace. In certain areas, changes occur faster than others. Lower Manhattan is one place that has changed the most in the last decade. Development happens fast and the current trends are extremely tall buildings constructed mostly of glass, chain stores and luxury boutiques. In neighborhoods that were once bohemian and home to artists and rebels, these current changes have been hard to swallow for long-time residents who run the risk of being out-priced out of the neighborhoods they have called home for decades.

Despite these changes, there are still parts of lower Manhattan that recall earlier decades. New York City suffered economically in the 1970s and it was during this decade that much of lower Manhattan was transformed into a danger zone full of abandoned lots and buildings and rampant crime. Having grown up in New York City in the 1980s and early 1990s, I have vivid memories of riding graffiti-covered trains from Queens into Manhattan. I was taught to ‘watch my back’ at all times since everyone seemed to know someone who had been mugged. Things were still different in those days prior to the initiatives by mayors Koch and Guiliani to ‘clean up’ the city (and discourse is still rampant regarding how they handled it).

When I came across this section of Canal Street while walking home from getting groceries a few months back, my heart almost leaped out of my chest. Here I was staring at a section of a spot in Chinatown that seemed as if it had been dipped in 1980s New York City and had become frozen in time (thankfully I had my camera). It’s hard to put into words how powerful this scene is for personally. It’s a bit like staring at something that once existed in a distant life.

A city may change rapidly discarding pieces of itself, but it’s the people who carry it’s broken pieces with them in their hearts who imbue the city with its memory.

—-

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

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Buy “Decay” Posters and Prints here, View my store, email me, or ask for help.

Mars Bar interior. We are watching you. East Village, New York City.

Mars Bar closed its doors for the last time yesterday. I guess I should say it was closed down by the DOH even though it was going to close for good by the end of the summer in preparation of demolition to make way for yet another boring luxury glass condo.

I have already written extensively about Mars Bar in my article for NearSay here: A Look Inside Mars Bar - The East Village’s Legendary Dive Bar, for the NY Times - East Village Local section here: Viewfinder - The Art of Mars Bar and on this site.

This particular image is from a visit this past February when I took a ton of interior shots of the infamous bathrooms and art covering the walls. I love this one the best.

It was a cold winter day and Mars Bar was dimly lit with the exception of the reddish light in this image and some daylight streaming through the graffiti-strewn windows. The jukebox was loud and the few regulars who were there were happily talking to each other. It’s my favorite way to remember Mars Bar as the last holdout of grit in a lower Manhattan that is being bulldozed and changing at the speed of light. In retrospect, it was the calm before the storm.

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

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Buy “Mars Bar - New York City” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.