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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Summer on Perry Street. Greenwich Village, New York City

On summer days like this, the bright summer sun barely cuts through the branches of trees canopies that line the street while brownstones and bicycles revel in the cool shade.

Some people flee the city in the summer, preferring cooler climates free of hot cement. For me, there is nothing that comes close to summer in the city.

It’s true that often the air is held captive by the high heat and the sun scorches the pavement but when a breeze is allowed free rein to fly through the trees, something magical happens.

Streets breathe a sigh of relief and warm tones of muted sunlight cast upon buildings languishing in the shade inspire smiles of contentment.

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Man with a newspaper on Rivington Street. Lower East Side, New York City.

There are moments that seem as if they have been transported from an entirely different era right into the heart of today. This is one of them. The gentleman sitting here in his three piece suit and fedora was casually enjoying his newspaper while sitting next to a few closed storefronts on a rather moody, overcast day.

When I first moved to this neighborhood a few years ago, I noted the Botánica which was open for a few hours every day. A few of the neighbors in my apartment building who have lived here on the Lower East Side for decades would frequent the Botánica on a weekly basis. I have noticed that it no longer appears to be open which saddens me. I am unsure if the closure is permanent or merely temporary but I do still wonder where my older neighbors go for their Botánica needs.

A botánica is a retail store that sells folk medicine, religious candles and statuary, amulets, and other products regarded as magical or as alternative medicine. Some botánicas also carry incense, perfumes and oils. While these stores are common in many Hispanic American countries and communities of Latino people elsewhere botánicas can also be found in any United States city that has a sizable Latino/a population, particularly those with ties to the Caribbean.

The name botánica is Spanish and translates as “botany” or “plant” store, referring to these establishments’ function as dispensaries of medicinal herbs. Medicinal herbs may be sold dried or fresh, prepackaged or in bulk. The stores almost always feature a variety of implements endemic to Roman Catholic religious practice such as rosary beads, holy water, and images of saints. In addition, most have products associated with other spiritual practices such as candomblé, curanderismo, espiritismo, macumba and santería. Source

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This is my weekly mobile photography post. I am @newyorklens on Instagram (view my feed here). You can read about my thoughts on mobile photography and Instagram here and you can check out some of my Instagram photos on Flickr here. Additionally, you can view my phone photography for sale here.

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Crossing Lower Broadway. Greenwich Village, New York City.

In keeping with my promise to post a photo every week taken with my phone, here is this week’s mobile photography post. I am @newyorklens on Instagram (view my feed here). You can read about my thoughts on mobile photography and Instagram here and you can check out some of my Instagram photos on Flickr here.

As I experiment more and more with photo-editing apps for phone cameras, I find myself falling more and more in love with mobile photography. I branched out this past week and tried out Photoforge2 and VSCO and it was something of a revelation to me.

Photoforge2 has quickly become one of my core editing apps for my phone images. It has many of the same tools you would find in Photoshop and/or Lightroom and its features are staggering in their editing and creative capacities. I still also tinker around with Snapseed and Noir.

As my editing app arsenal has grown, I have found myself deeply interested in how the current crop of photo-sharing networks differ from each other. I really love Instagram. The community (or I suppose I should say ‘communities’) there is/are enthusiastic and very welcoming. I can’t remember the last time I had such a high response to things I have shared relative to the amount of people following me. People seem far more invested in the people they follow on Instagram than on other networks I have tried out so far. However, my trials are limited since I have literally only been dabbling in phone photography for a little over 3 weeks and I have only been using a few of the newer networks I have tried for 1 or 2 weeks

A few people I know via other photography communities online turned me on to the world of EyeEm (you can view my limited feed and my EyeEm account here) a few weeks ago and I have been on Streamzoo for as long as I have been on Instagram.

I came across this article last week: Is Instagram Defining, and Therefore Ruining, Mobile Photography? which made for interesting reading in light of my photo-sharing network dabbling. While I feel that some of the author’s points are a bit muddled, there are some interesting points made that could probably be applied to all networks online in terms of the democratization of all forms of photography, mobile or otherwise.

One thing that I think the author may have wrong is that there are some very vibrant, serious mobile photography communities on Instagram that are focused on the art of mobile photography. Instagram is the most popular out of all of the photo-sharing mobile networks though and with multitudes of users comes an increase in noise. I think this is where EyeEm shines for people who are interested in viewing and sharing mobile photography that transcends snapshot-status. I find the talent on EyeEm to be staggering. However, I think that the interface design (specifically for iPhones) is a bit lacking and in some cases non-intuitive. The community is also very small in comparison to a service like Instagram and it can be hard to break through and find other people to interact with.

I will continue to post to all 3 networks though for now. I find that each network has its own strengths and weaknesses. I do enjoy the random spontaneity of my Instagram feed and slipping in a cat photo (or two, or three…or ten :) ) doesn’t feel like an assault to the people following me versus on EyeEm where the level of photography is higher and I feel compelled to post more serious photos!

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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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Afternoon sunlight on fire escapes. Greenwich Village, New York City.

The afternoon yawns with its mouth full of sunlight before it slips into the shadows of evening.

Fire escapes catch the sun’s gleam: staircases for dreamers propelling dreams skyward.

And the trees bow graciously in the lingering glow of sweet sunlight: courteous hosts beckoning wanderers to bask in the shared glow and warmth of the city.

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Late afternoon in Little Italy, New York City.

I haven’t forgotten about my promise to post one phone photography image a week! This was taken yesterday in Little Italy during some of my adventures. Little Italy is a small area in downtown Manhattan. Currently inhabiting a tiny section of Mulberry Street between Broome and Canal Streets the area recalls a rich history of immigration. Many original tenements still line the streets and what is left of the area emanates a tremendous amount of history.

I am @newyorklens on Instagram. You can read about my thoughts on mobile photography and Instagram here and you can check out some of my Instagram photos here. Most of my phone photos are now processed in Snapseed and/or Noir first and then tinkered with in Instagram depending on my mood.

I am still on the fence about how I feel when I see photos posted to Instagram that aren’t taken with a phone. I see more and more dSLR (and other) camera photos in my stream there and it is a bit jarring. I prefer to stick to posting photos of New York City to Instagram taken only with my iPhone 4s because it’s my own personal challenge to translate what I am seeing with only my phone camera and the few phone camera editing apps I use on my phone. I feel like I have all sorts of other sites to post my regular New York City photography to and the spirit of Instagram seems to be primarily for mobile photography (in my own mind anyway). I am sure my feelings on this may change over time but for now, I am all about using Instagram as an outlet purely for phone photography.

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Chinatown on a rainy evening. New York City.

I used to imagine that I could stop time in tiny increments by blinking my eyes. Each blink had the potential to open up an entirely new narrative and universe. It wasn’t until I fell in love with photography that I realized that every photo also opens up an entirely new narrative and universe of possibility.

On evenings when rain washes over the city each moment becomes a solitary frame broken ever so slightly by the movement of umbrellas, the blink of an eye and the click of a camera.

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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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Corner restaurant on a sunlit evening. Tribeca, New York City.

There are certain colors that dominate memory mixed on the palette of the mind’s eye with the hues from dreams and tones of nostalgia.

But it’s the tones of nostalgia that stand out the most: the penetrating longing for places and moments we have or have not experienced that creates a void in our beings so deep that its echo is felt in every moment and heard in every thought.

There are words for this type of nostalgia: sensucht and saudade. Sensucht is a German word that describes the emotional state of longing and yearning and saudade is a Galician- Portuguese word that describes a similar intense state of longing for something or someone. They can both be experienced as a longing for a place that is unidentifiable but somehow familiar and indicative of what we would most closely identify as home. Sometimes the yearning is so intense that only the emotional state is what we are aware of and it’s not always easy to tell that there is a deep yearning for something or someone at that moment.

New York City, for me, fills me with constant yearning with its colors and the way that light casts its glow on streets, brick, and the structures that fill in the image of New York City in my own mind. In the reds of the bricks I feel a longing for other cities I have not yet experienced and in the light that falls onto the street early in the evening I see the same light casting its glow on the spaces I wish to walk thousands of miles away.

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Soho cobblestone street at night. New York City.

There is a certain serenity that can found when wandering New York City streets at night. These moments pause the forward motion and flow of city life. Street lights flicker against wet cobblestone and glass windows stare back languidly. Remnants of previous signs of life sit on curbs while bicycles lean against stoops resting briefly in the calm embrace of the night.

Someone suggested a few months ago that a common theme to my photography was loneliness. I recounted to him how in the earlier days of my website, people would message me asking if I deliberately removed people from my shots. They couldn’t believe that in a city as densely populated as New York City, moments like the ones I am fond of capturing exist in reality. I can definitely say that I have never removed anyone from my shots.

The truth is that even in a city of a little over 8 million people, the city often pauses and takes a breath. The in-between moments where life empties from the streets, when the city becomes a private sanctuary are captivating.

These moments are fleeting and short-lived but they breathe life into the same streets that boast activity in the moments that tend to define them.

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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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Vesuvio Bakery - a quaint bakery storefront kept intact in Soho, New York City.

This is one of my favorite storefronts in Soho. A little over 90 years old, Vesuvio Bakery still looks as it did for decades. A tiny bit about the original owners of the bakery is found in a newspaper article from 2003 :

“Dapolito, 83, worked as a boy in the bakery on Prince St., decades before the neighborhood came to be known as Soho. His father and mother, Nunzio and Jennie, immigrants from Naples, opened it in 1920 and Tony went on to own it after they died.” - Source

What is interesting about this beautiful old bakery storefront is that the bakery is no longer in the Dapolito family and has changed ownership several times since the article cited above was written. However, it is currently still operating as a bakery and the owners have kept the storefront intact.

In early October, an article was making the rounds on local lower Manhattan blogs about a recent trend that involves new shop owners paying homage to the history of a neighborhood via their store facades. The article is called: In Which We Mark Graves Like Birthplaces . It calls this process “authentrification”, a term I really love but a term that definitely stirs up conflict. This process of authentrification has been happening quite a bit on the Bowery and in the East Village but the article does cite Vesuvio Bakery as being an example of this process as well. Part of me is thrilled that new businesses are looking to capture the feel of a neigborhood by zeroing in on feelings of nostalgia related to older versions of New York City but part of me also feels that some of the authentrification that is going on is a bit hollow in overall intent.

My angst seems to be mostly directed at the authentrification taking place on the Bowery (especially with Daniel Bolud’s high-priced restaurant DBGB whose storefront is modeled on the kitchen supplier stores that line the Bowery). I have tossed around the reasons in my mind why I find the situation with Vesuvio Bakery more palatable than Bolud’s authentrification on the Bowery but I still need to think about it more. I am mostly pleased that the nearly 100 year old facade of Vesuvio Bakery has been maintained by the completely different bakery that operates on the inside of Vesuvio Bakery.

I will say that I never thought I would be contemplating something like the various nuances of authentrification! Interesting times we live in…

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Romance in the rain. Chinatown, New York City.

Stolen moments are the sweetest moments. When the rest of the city has escaped for the day, the world melts away with a lingering kiss under an umbrella.

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Prior to a few months ago, I never took photos in the rain. However, once I started taking photos in the rain, I could barely remember why I never wanted to do such a thing. It’s become one of my favorite things to do. New York City on a rainy day is an entirely different city than New York City on a pleasant day.

It has been rainy here in New York City recently and there is a lot of tension in the air in lower Manhattan with the news of the decision regarding Zuccotti Park. I spent the afternoon dealing with getting an MRI done of my knee. The healing process hasn’t been fun and it’s been very slow. Between the weather, the Occupy Wall Street situation and my knee situation, things seem rather ominous. I have been going through rain photos (like the one in this post) to cheer myself up.

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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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