NY Through the Lens - New York City Photography

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

—-

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.

—-

View this photo with a comment thread on my Google Plus page

—-

View “New York City - Rain and Wet Sidewalks” in my photography portfolio here, email me, or ask for help.

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

—-

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.

—-

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.

—-

View this photo with a comment thread on my Google Plus page

—-

View “New York Night - Queensboro Bridge and the Manhattan Skyline” in my photography portfolio here, email me, or ask for help.

New York City Skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge. Night lights bokeh.

If you stop to squint long enough

all the dreams whispered on the wind during the day

flicker like fireflies when the evening

stretches out across the sky

and the rain washes the city’s despair away

so it can dream itself into another sunrise.

—-

This was taken on earlier this evening with the Sony A99 overlooking the New York City skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn. I was taking long exposures earlier this evening and as the sky filled with enormous clouds shortly after sunset as the city’s lights sprinkled themselves like glitter all over the evening cityscape and it was as if everything else melted away.

These are the moments I want to bottle up and save for later. And that’s why I absolutely love photography.

—-

View this photo with a comment thread on my Google Plus page

—-

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

New York Winter - Snowy night in midtown Manhattan

New York City resembles a snow-globe when snow first falls.

As the snow swirls, the trees reach over the city streets as if they are trying to catch snowflakes with their bare, graceful branches.

—-

This was taken at night during a winter storm in New York City that dropped enough snow to turn the city into a winter wonderland momentarily. This is the area on 42nd Street next to Bryant Park across from the Grace Building which can be seen partially on the left-hand side of the image.

It’s one of my favorite spots to snow-gaze at night.

—-

Taken with the Sony A99.

—-

View this photo with a comment thread on my Google Plus page

—-

Buy “New York Winter - Snow on 42nd Street ” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

New York City at night. St.Mark’s Place. East Village.

When the days concede to night in the winter, there is a certain comfort in the glow of neon city lights.

This particular view is of St. Mark’s Place in the East Village. The giant cow on the right belongs to the restaurant Mark (“We grind our own beef”) and the colorful neon signs belong to Andromeda - a tattoo and piercing establishment that merged with the West Village’s Cassioppia a few years back.

The sign that is partially concealed on the left under the tree branches (with shoes hanging off of them!) is Rockit Scientist Records which was a great records store that dated back to the mid 1990s when the East Village was home to far more records stores and had a more eclectic vibe.

There is a coldness to neon that is eclipsed by a peculiar sort of warmth when the windchill dips into the single digits. It’s a sign of life. People tend to huddle under the glow of the lights in the winter with a frequency that isn’t seen as much in warmer months as if they are city moths drawn to the glowing promise of warmth.

—-

Since people have asked, I am going to include the camera/lens combos I used for each photo on this blog from this point on (or at least I will try!). This was taken with the Sony a99 and my 35mm lens.

—-

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

—-

Buy “St. Mark’s Place at Night - East Village - New York City” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

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.

—-

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 .

—-

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

—-

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

New York City at night - Financial District street with a smoke stack.

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.

—-

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

—-

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

Buckyball by Leo Villareal- Madison Square Park Art. New York City.

This is a large-scale work by light installation artist Leo Villareal called Buckyball that is on display in Madison Square Park until February 1, 2013.

The work’s two nested geodesic spheres are comprised of 180 LED-tubes arranged in a series of pentagons and hexagons that contain thousands of individual pixels capable of displaying 16 million distinct colors. Controlled by custom software designed by the artist, the 30 foot tall illuminated sculpture animates Madison Square Park’s natural landscape with dynamic, random light sequences of varied color, opacity, speed, and scale.

Zero-gravity couches, are placed at the base of the sculpture to allow viewers to gather and contemplate the artwork. The couches and sculptural aspects of the installation reference elements of the park and add a physical and temporal dimension to the viewer’s multisensory experience of Buckyball.

—

I went for a little walk in the fog last night and ended up sitting on one of the zero-gravity couches in Madison Square Park (as mentioned above) and staring at this installation for quite a long time since it constantly changes. This installation is quite a sight to behold and is very mesmerizing. The fog was quite thick last night as well as you can see through the light next to the tower in the background which is the MetLife Tower. Not a bad way to spend a foggy evening in New York City!

—-

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

—-

View my photography portfolio and store here, email me, or ask for help.

Lower East Side alley at night. New York City.

I was recently interviewed by the New York City independent press called “great weather for media”. They used the photo in this post for their upcoming anthology called: It’s Animal But Merciful.

The interview is now published on their site. It was the result of an interesting conversation that I had with editor, poet, performer and writer: George Wallace. Here it is:

Through the Lens. An Interview with NYC photographer Vivienne Gucwa

—-

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

Washington Square Park fountain at night in the summer. New York City.

The inherent romance that pulses through the city at night grows stronger in the summer.

Lamp posts and surfaces weary from the noonday sun glisten in the moonlight while night breezes carry the whispers of lovers along slowly and deliberately.

—-

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

—-

Buy “Transience - Washington Square Fountain on a Summer Night” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Love Me. Hudson River Park Pier view of the New York City skline. West Village.

Under cover of darkness, the city lights flicker: stars and skyscraper constellations in a vast urban universe.

And when the night squints, small evocations come into focus: plaintive pleas and heart fluttering statements released into the city’s collective mind.

—-

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

—-

Buy “Night Evocations - Hudson River Park - New York City” Posters and Prints here, View my store, 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.

—-

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

—-

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

La Esquina Corner Deli at night. Soho, New York City

At night when the sun drops below the buildings, lights twinkle like urban constellations against the cool black backdrop of the sky as night wraps itself around the city.

Late night explorers speed past the city’s galactic projections like starships whizzing from one urban planet to another.

—-

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

—-

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

New York City street at night. Tribeca.

These city streets: at night they pulsate through our dreams branching out like dendrites sending their synaptic transmissions into our collective memory.

—-

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

—-

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

Night. East Village, New York City.

As the city moves furtively into shadows, buildings render themselves one by one in the cold glow of street lamps whose light burns brightly against the dark expanse of night: supernovas pushing against gravity and their inevitable collapse into themselves.

And we wait: unaware of the solemnity of the situation.

We wait under these man-made white dwarfs pushing our dreams to the skies beyond our grasps forever propelling ourselves forward while standing completely still.

—-

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

—-

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