NY Through the Lens - New York City Photography

Williamsburg Bridge pedestrian walkway. New York City.

I have been on a strange sort of journey lately when it comes to photography. And I have noticed a shift in my vision or rather a slight deepening of meaning that I am seeking when it comes to the imagery I have been consuming and capturing. I have been watching a tremendous amount of documentaries about photography and photographers trying to understand where my own peculiar sort of artistic unrest is originating from. I suspect the angst has to do with a visual tiredness and unease at the overwhelming amount of imagery that seems to be in circulation at any given moment online. I am pondering writing a series of essays on the rise of mass consumption and sharing and how it correlates to various trends in offline photography but the ideas are all still percolating.

A series that really, really touched me though is called Contacts. I devoured all of Contacts: Volume 2 - The Revival of Contemporary Photography and Contacts: Volume 3: Conceptual Photography over the course of two nights. It’s a collection of tiny vignettes that explore different photographer’s contact sheets and/or body of work while they explain or talk about their work. I think I have watched the vignette of Sarah Moon’s work set to her stream-of-consciousness description of her own inward photographic journey over a dozen times at this point (it even ended up on my “Scenes that have stuck to my ribs and clung to my heart” playlist on Youtube: the ultimate testament to it becoming a part of my consciousness permanently ;) ).

When I first watched it and listened, I could barely stop the tears from flowing because it was absolutely perfect (and even that would be an understatement):

Contacts: Volume 2 - Sarah Moon

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I had an entirely different set of thoughts I wanted to include with this image of the Williamsburg Bridge (taken with the trusty Sony A99) but I seem to have veered in a different direction perhaps because all of this has been on my mind for weeks. And that’s fine, now that I think of it, because in some ways, there couldn’t be a more fitting recent image to accompany this post.

“Time goes by. Light falls. I lose confidence. I don’t want to be a photographer anymore…

Then, all of a sudden, but not always, something changes, I can’t say why, maybe I’m just in the right place at the right time, or maybe I believe in it.

However, for a split second, I see a sparkle of beauty passing by, everything goes so quickly now within that stillness, and I’m carried away, and at last I like what I see, and I can’t stop finding it, then losing it, and all day long I keep on, because it once existed.” - Sarah Moon

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View “Willamsburg Bridge - New York City” in my photography portfolio here, email me, or ask for help.

Early Sunday morning on Orchard Street. Lower East Side. New York City.

On cold city mornings, birds pepper the bone-white sky with movement.

And through the haze left over by clouds caught in the scuffle between autumn and winter, the wind rushes through the streets like the ghosts of yesterday’s thoughts.

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Buy “Sunday Morning on Orchard Street - Lower East Side - New York City” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Rain. Greenwich Village, New York City.

Rain is the sky’s love song to the city.

The sky opens up revealing an other-worldly light that cloaks the city in effervescent splendor.

Sidewalks and streets, slick with promise, mirror the movement of urban explorers navigating the sleek concrete as taxi lights shine their refracted, blurred lights into the vast expanse of the rain-soaked landscape.

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Sharing this photo today since I talked about it (briefly) and a few other photos of mine on Trey Ratcliff’s Stuck in Customs Show last night. Trey was traveling and I was asked last minute if I would be on the show with a few other street photographers to discuss some of our work. It was a great time! The other photographers on the show were Eric Kim and Rinzi Ruiz and it was hosted by Karen Hutton and Dave Veffer. I am already a huge fan of Eric’s street photography but I wasn’t familiar with Rinzi’s work and it completely blew me away.

While the majority of my work tends to focus on New York City’s landscapes and architecture and is devoid of people, it was nice to discuss a few of my photos that do have people in them and talk a little bit about my philosophy on shooting people in the city and the narratives I tend to gravitate towards when dealing with people shots.

It’s always interesting to see how certain themes emerge with any art form and I seem to have a fondness for street photography in the rain. I blame New York City for that fondness. It’s just so incredibly moody and beautiful when it rains here :).

You can view the show from last night here: Trey’s Variety Hour #53: Street Photography

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Buy “Rain - Greenwich Village - New York City” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Doyers Street on a rainy summer afternoon. Chinatown, New York City.

When the sky seduces the city with its tears of happiness, the streets swoon illuminated by the glow of nearby lights.

Broken-hearted alleys fill up: lovers with empty recesses in their hearts soak in the warm afterglow of what the sky has wrought.

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Buy “The Seduction of the Sky - Doyers Street - Chinatown - New York City” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Lower East Side alley. New York City.

In the darkest canals of the city where light seeps through slowly, wanderers emerge bleary-eyed into the sun: birthed explorers carrying darkness into the light.

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There is a solitary aspect to living in such a highly populated city such as New York City.

It’s easier to sink into the shadows.

People pass in stairways and on sidewalks with vigorous abandon : ghosts brushing shoulders in a daily anonymous tango.

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Buy “In the Shadows - Lower East Side Alley - New York City” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Cherry blossoms against a dramatic sky. Brooklyn, New York City.

The sun burned bright like a fiery orb as the churning storm clouds in the sky sought to extinguish it: their tufts of purple and grey gathering round in consensus before a final engulfing embrace.

As the sky determined its own fate, the sun’s fire burned a fiery trail through teh delicate spring blossoms and leaves.

And in the sun’s wake, each blossom twinkled: luminescent stars in an earthly sky.

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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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Buy “Stars in an Earthly Sky - Cherry Blossoms in the Sun” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

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

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Buy “The Gleam in the Eye of the Clouds - Chinatown - New York City” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Rain in Greenwich Village, New York City.

In dreams memories take on the hues of nostalgia: faded hues made rich with meaning that are etched into the dreamscapes that play themselves against our eyelids each night.

Memory-tones diffused by the tear-in-the eye and lump-in-the throat feeling of familiarity synthesize with overwhelming feelings of connection with the past as it dilutes itself into the present.

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Buy “The Color of Rain - Greenwich Village - New York City” Posters and 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.

Rainy Doyers street in Chinatown. New York City.

When the sky seduces the city with its tears of happiness, the streets swoon illuminated by the glow of nearby lights.

Broken-hearted alleys fill up: lovers with empty recesses in their hearts soak in the warm afterglow of what the sky has wrought.

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

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Buy “The Seduction of the Sky - Doyers Street - Chinatown - NYC” Posters and Prints here, View my store, email me, or ask for help.

Pell Street, Chinatown in the rain. New York City.

Under the weight of the sky’s tears streets glisten reflecting the gleam in the eye of the clouds overhead. The day washes away slowly: its sorrows and joys melt into puddles under-foot.

It’s on these sorts of evenings that all of the cares in the world pale in comparison to the momentary haze that engulfs the city: a sultry, sorrowful, sedate embrace.

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

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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Buy “In-Between Moments - Soho - New York City” Posters and Prints here, View my store, email me, or ask for help.

Skybridge and fire escapes. Tribeca, New York City.

Parts of the city entwine itself around my thoughts nestling deep into my memory making visual imprints I can’t ignore. It’s this scenery that makes me fall in love with this city over and over again. I fall in love with different streets furiously and often. Each one charms me in a completely different way. It’s in the way the light falls on fire escapes, the windows that cast a warm glow onto the street, the architecture that holds the ghosts of decades past deeply in its arms.

A very visceral reaction occurs when I come across scenery that moves me. It’s an emotional feeling which I can only compare to the feeling of listening to music that inspires me. I have been a musician since I was four years old. Music was my first passion. I would frequently lose myself in hours of piano playing; time froze in those moments. The world spun around me in a dizzying circle while I remained perfectly still. It’s the same feeling I get when I listen to certain music: an overwhelming sense that my heart could leap out of my chest at any minute.

I get this same exact feeling with photography. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

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