NY Through the Lens - New York City Photography

Bushwick. Street art. Brooklyn. New York City.

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The sky wavered in mood earlier today displaying an angsty mix of rage-puffed storm clouds and baby blues streaked by sunlight. It was the perfect backdrop for Bushwick’s incredible array of street art murals that pepper the industrial urban landscape.

I have been spending an inordinate amount of time in Brooklyn lately. My other half was born in Brooklyn (I like to refer to it as his “hatch-zone”) and is a great walking-off-steam companion. And so we keep ending up in interesting places on these long walks.

Bushwick was never really a friendly place when I was younger (this is a severe understatement). It’s fascinating to see the stage of evolution it seems to be in currently. The factories are all still there but there is also an amazing amount of art that seems to be thriving on the walls of Bushwick. Growing up in Queens ogling 5 Pointz, a large industrial space transformed into a premiere space for graffiti/street artists to cover in art, I was sad to hear that 5 Pointz will eventually be razed. However, Bushwick seems to have a blossoming 5 Pointz feel at this moment in time which is exhilarating to witness.

Who knows what the future holds for Bushwick? But, for now, it’s a perfect mix of grit and art.

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Williamsburg Bridge and the skylines of Manhattan and Brooklyn at sunset.

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Moments are vessels that contain: sparks, magic, effervescent happiness, lingering sadness, red-tinged anger, bittersweet joy all waiting to explode if and when that point in time is visited again.

There are moments that exist somewhere between the excited beat of the heart and a welled-up tear in the eye. They are the chills that run up the back of the neck and the small smile that can’t be contained when their memory is nudged by a sound, sight, scent, touch.

It’s the way the light was shining through the bridge as the boat pulled away under a sky blue with hope as the sun set and the lump in the throat subsided momentarily. It’s the way the water looked as it rocked the boat gently like a lullaby as it drifted away from the sunlight that poured its light onto the surface of the water.

And it’s the way everything seemed pointless in comparison to the way the clouds gathered over the city: hopeful tufts of smoke emanating from the sun’s extinguishing fire…

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This is a view of the Williamsburg Bridge and the Lower East Side as seen from a boat on the East River during sunset with the Sony A77. In the distance sits the skyline of Brooklyn in Dumbo and the Manhattan Bridge.

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Cherry blossoms. New York - Spring. Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

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Unexpected magic is some of the best kind of magic especially when it is found in the most unlikely of places.

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Spent an afternoon yesterday walking around Bay Ridge, Brooklyn while the temperatures dipped lower and lower (it’s been a brisk springtime here in New York City). And as the sun crept closer to the horizon, I came across a tiny opening near an overpass, next to a parkway where this gorgeous, fairy tale scene appeared just around the bend.

Sometimes there is nothing than better…

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The New York City skyline and the Empire State Building. Midtown.

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Being above the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan makes the mind and heart pause.

It’s hard to take in the immensity of the view especially after sunset when all of the city’s lights flicker like stars in a sky suspended upside down over an ocean full of clouds.

But, after a few moments, something else happens.

The mind reels, tipsy after taking its first, lingering sip of the cityscape.

And, with giddy eagerness, the eyes wander over every roof and into every window, past the fast moving traffic that zips across the city streets like shooting stars.

How many dreams are bursting forth, ready to propel themselves from the minds of urban dreamers: out from inside the walls, offices, apartments, and houses that contain them?

How many hopes are being uttered at the same time?

How many love songs are being sung?

How many hearts are being broken as other hearts are connecting?

And as the sun dips below the horizon letting the urban stars hang brightly in their own universe, the city speeds on at its own pace as someone else begins pondering variations on the same series of thoughts…

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This is a view of the Empire State Building and the New York City skyline as seen from Top of the Rock. It’s a 30 second long exposure taken with the Sony A99 and the view is looking south towards lower Manhattan. One World Trade Center (or 1 WTC - also known as the Freedom Tower) can be seen in the distance to the right of the Empire State Building.

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Under the Manhattan Bridge. Two Bridges - Chinatown. New York City.

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When winter shifts into spring, the light shifts too.

Stark, short afternoons that end too abruptly morph into vivid, warm afternoons that linger until the sky relents.

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This was taken on a stark, short afternoon that was only mildly flirting with spring a week or so ago before the city erupted into full-on springtime mode. This is one of my favorite parts of Chinatown: under the Manhattan Bridge.

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Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Hewes Street.

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With layers of dirt and paint under our nails from constantly peeling back the layers of this city, it’s not the stars we seek.

It’s the light that seeps through…

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New York City night. Rain. Bryant Park. Midtown.

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Through eyelashes wet with rain,

a thousand thoughts fall

to the ground

and through the raindrops

the city lights blur together

as shadows make their way

into the night -

impermanence

registered with

every blink.

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New York City. Night skyline.

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Night slides across the sky

like a trumpet’s note falling over a syncopated rhythm

and the stars swoon and sway

mesmerized by the city lights

that pulsate to their own time signature.

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I have been traipsing all over the city for the last few months trying to capture a large majority of New York City’s skyline views. I think everyone has a particular skyline view they immediately think of when they think of the city. And yet, it’s still incredible to me after all this time that I come across different skyline angles that I hadn’t previously come across or had the time to explore before from certain vantage points.

New York City has several prominent skyline views that are popular. One is in lower Manhattan and usually includes the skyscrapers of the Financial District along with the one or more of the bridges that serve the lower part of Manhattan. The other series of skyline views can be found from the top of a few popular skyscrapers in midtown Manhattan. Another series of skyline views involves the midtown Manhattan skyline as seen from different vantage points across (or in some cases directly from) the East River. This particular view is taken from one of the latter vantage points. It’s a 30 second long exposure taken with the Sony A99 on a gorgeously clear and cold night in the beginning of March from Roosevelt Island.

Prominent skyscrapers in this view are the Chrysler Building and the United Nations building (all the way to the left). The lights of other famous midtown skyscrapers can also be seen even if those skyscrapers (looking at you Empire State Building) are hidden in this view. The lights directly in front of the skyscrapers that line the East River belong to the FDR Drive, a major traffic route that lines New York City’s east side.

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New York City skyscrapers and streets from above. Midtown.

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When you find yourself above New York City (or perhaps any city), what really stands out are all of the layers of activity. It’s hard to completely grasp the layers when you are among them everyday. But when you change your perspective, it really shifts your understanding of the complexities of urban life.

This is a view of the entrance to the Queensboro Bridge (also known as the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, 59th Street Bridge, and Queens Bridge) and the skyscrapers of the New York City skyline in midtown Manhattan close to 59th Street on the east side. It was taken with the Sony A99 from the vantage point of the Roosevelt Island Tram, a tram that crosses over the East River from midtown Manhattan to Roosevelt Island a around 100 times a day.

Aside from the cross-section of a part of the midtown Manhattan skyline, you can also make out the pedestrian walkway of the bridge which runs alongside the busy traffic-laden vehicular section of the bridge. Above the traffic and pedestrians is the beginnings of the grand architecture that makes up the bridge itself and midtown streets and traffic snake their way through the city below the bridge.

The variety of architecture in this area of midtown is also striking when viewed from above. The lower-slung buildings sit alongside newer skyscrapers of varying heights and structure. It would be interesting to take this section and label each building according to its completion date to note the ever-evolving skyline throughout the years in relation to the bridge.

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Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge and the New York City skyline at night. Roosevelt Island view.

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When the night falls hard onto the city’s shoulders and the sky drapes a dark blanket over the skyscrapers and buildings, it’s hard to contain the effervescent charm that bursts forth after the sun has retreated.

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This is the Queensboro Bridge which is known by a few other names depending on where you are from and how long you have lived in New York City. Despite growing up in Queens, I will always think of this bridge as the 59th Street Bridge because I think I belonged to one of the few families in Queens that for whatever reason associated the bridge more with 59th Street in Manhattan. It’s also known as Queens Bridge which is a shortened form of Queensboro Bridge. Its current official name is the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, named after the now deceased former mayor of New York City who held office from the late 70s to the early 80s. He was definitely a “character” (as we say :) ).

The vantage point is from Roosevelt Island and this is the result of a 30 second exposure taken with the Sony A99. It was taken on a bitterly cold night in the beginning of March while I was having a spirited conversation with one of the Roosevelt Island security guards regarding the abandoned smallpox hospital further down the island. I tend to love to shoot long exposures alone but it was great to have the company (and quirky conversation) that night. It’s those type of moments that make me love the city: little bursts of spontaneity and brevity while watching the lights sparkle in the city’s eyes.

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New York City - Roosevelt Island Tram view. Midtown.

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I have been afraid of heights since I can remember. Even stepping on a tall foot stool would send me into a frenzied panic. It’s partially a control issue and partially an irrational fear of the eternal “what if” quandary related to my own mortality. And yet, I have discovered as I get older that there is something supremely thrilling about being high up above things especially being high up above New York City. It’s the same scattered sense of adrenaline-fueled excitement I get when I consider the vastness of the ocean. And in some ways, I think both vantage points offer the same sense of displaced wonder.

A month or so ago, I watched an absolutely incredible video called Overview which examined something called the Overview Effect. The Overview Effect is “a cognitive shift in awareness reported by some astronauts and cosmonauts during spaceflight, often while viewing the Earth from orbit or from the lunar surface.” I can’t recommend the video highly enough. It’s a 15 minute short film that explores different astronaut’s life-altering experiences viewing the earth from above for the first time. The footage of earth from above in the film is overwhelming. It’s an emotional journey of a film that definitely has lodged its way into my consciousness. Here it is:

Overview

A few years back, when I went to the top of a skyscraper I had never been to the top of before, I had such an incredibly visceral reaction when I experienced seeing the city from above. It was rough for me to even take the elevator up 70 floors to the observation deck. I clenched my sweaty fists and closed my eyes the whole time deep breathing probably much to the amusement (or dread) of the fellow elevator passengers. Once I stepped out and onto the upper deck, I was hooked. It was as if I was seeing the city for the first time. Once you take yourself out and away from the streets that surround you, it’s as if the city opens up its arms to you. It’s fascinating to consider all of the activity and stories that are contained in any one part of such a view.

In the short film I linked above, one of the astronauts describes the Overview Effect saying that common features include a feeling of awe for the planet, and a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life among other perspective-shifting feelings. And I really think that anytime we take ourselves high above or deep below the reality we experience every day, it produces different (subtler when it comes to standing on the top of a skyscraper and perhaps more overwhelming in regards to being deep in the ocean) versions of the Overview Effect.

Since experiencing that amazing feeling when I pushed past my fear of heights to take myself high above my own every-day reality, I have actively pushed myself to seek out as many high vantage points as I can. This particular image (taken with the Sony A99) was taken high above the 59th Street Bridge (also known as the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge) entrance overlooking the buildings and skyscrapers that make up the New York City skyline in midtown Manhattan.

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New York City skyscrapers and rooftops from above. Midtown.

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This New York City skyline view was taken from the top of the Empire State Building on an absolutely gorgeous summer morning with the Sony A77. The light from the sun in the summertime is un-matched in some respects. It seems to take on a distinct golden quality as it shines through the heavy summer air that hangs languidly over the city’s rooftops.

This particular view is of the tops of the skyscrapers and buildings of midtown Manhattan facing east.

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New York City sunset over the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan.

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I never really get tired of this view.

I know I have expressed that sentiment many times but it’s absolutely true. There’s something incredibly breathtaking that occurs when you are above the rooftops of the city. It’s as if the city shrinks below a vast sky in a huge universe and everything that once seemed impossible seems effortless and within the realm of possibility.

It’s so easy to forget that sort of thing when you live in a large city like New York City. When you are in the thick of it all, it can feel like the you are alone in a never-ending maze of cavernous streets as everyone else’s dreams and hopes fly past you at the speed of light. But when you take yourself out from the middle of everything and change your perspective, it’s as if the city holds its arms out to you beckoning you to come back and put your own dreams out there so they can spread their wings and fly up to the sky towards the horizon leaving a trail of hope in their path.

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This was taken from the top of Rockefeller Center (also known as Top of the Rock) with the Sony A99 and it’s probably one of the most popular views of the New York City skyline since it includes the Empire State Building and the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan. The view is looking south towards One World Trade Center (also known as the Freedom Tower and 1 WTC) and the skyscrapers of the Financial District.

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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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New York City skyline and the Chrysler Building on a hazy day. Midtown.

Late summer light

hangs over the city:

humid-laden heartache

tinged with heavy hope

and hazy promises.

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Where the winter brings a crystal sharp clarity to New York City, the summer seems to bring with it a gorgeous, bittersweet gauze-like haze.

Summers in New York City cling to the ribs and heart like ethereal remnants of distant thoughts peeking their heads out of the sea of heat and humidity.

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Taken with the Sony A77.

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