NY Through the Lens - New York City Photography

New York City alley. Lower East Side.

When I was younger, I thought that New York City was teeming with alleys and narrow streets fueled by an over-active imagination and a predilection for film noir cityscapes. I wanted to believe that New York City harbored the best and brightest of in-between places and worn out spaces. The truth is that while New York City does have alleys, they are a pretty rare sight. Perhaps that is why I am so drawn to the ones that do exist.

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

Autumn. New York City. Above Union Square.

On cloudy days in autumn, the trees stick out from the ground below like paintbrushes heavy with memories of the sun’s embrace.

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I love this view of Union Square Park looking towards the Empire State Building and the beautiful skyscrapers in midtown Manhattan. It’s particularly gorgeous in the autumn when the trees change color before descending gracefully to the ground.

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Buy “Autumn - New York City - Overlooking Union Square” Posters and Prints here, View my store, email me, or ask for help.

The New York City skyline and the Flatiron Building from above. Midtown.

From above, the Flatiron Building (in the middle of this photo) looks like a tiny little lego piece: one piece in a set of thousands that make up all the toy buildings in midtown Manhattan.

Still going through the hundreds of photos I took a few weeks back from the top of the Empire State Building. It was such a beautiful day and the sun created the most beautiful shadows that lined the streets below. Hopefully, in a few weeks I will start posting my regular photography from that day but for now here is a phone photo. :)

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I am @newyorklens on Instagram (view my feed here). Check out my other phone photography posts made to this blog, and my mobile photography photos on Flickr.

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Buy “Flatiron Building From Above - New York City” Prints here, My mobile photography for sale here, My regular photography for sale here, email me, or ask for help.

New York by Gehry in black and white. Financial District, New York City.

This is one of my favorite ‘newer’ New York City skyscrapers. It is located in the Financial District at 8 Spruce Street. There is just something extraordinarily grandiose about New York by Gehry (designed by Frank Gehry). It’s the tallest residential skyscraper in North America currently standing at 76 stories high.

When you stand at its base, it’s as if its top scrapes delicately across the surface of the sky.

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This photo was taken with my phone. I am @newyorklens on Instagram (view my feed here). Check out my other Instagram posts made to this blog here. You can check out all of my Instagram photos on Flickr here. Additionally, you can view my phone photography for sale here.

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

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My mobile photography for sale here, My regular photography for sale here, email me, or ask for help.

Sunset over the Brooklyn Bridge and the New York City skyline.

I love it when the sun touches the tops of the buildings in New York City on its evening descent. Its light spreads through every part of the city casting the most beautiful glow.

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This photo was taken with my phone. I am @newyorklens on Instagram (view my feed here). Check out my other Instagram posts made to this blog here. You can check out all of my Instagram photos on Flickr here. Additionally, you can view my phone photography for sale here.

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

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Buy “Sunset over New York City” Prints here, My mobile photography for sale here, My regular photography for sale here, email me, or ask for help.

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge in the late afternoon. New York City.

In the light of the afternoon, the city stretches out across its bridges into the promise of evening’s suggestion of night.

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This photo was taken with my phone. I am @newyorklens on Instagram (view my feed here). Check out my other Instagram posts made to this blog here. You can check out all of my Instagram photos on Flickr here. Additionally, you can view my phone photography for sale here.

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

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Buy “Walking Over the Brooklyn Bridge - New York City” Prints here, My mobile photography for sale here, My regular photography for sale here, email me, or ask for help.

Summer sunlight on the Lower East Side. New York City.

It’s a gorgeous, hot summer day today. This was taken a little less than an hour ago here on the Lower East Side. The sunlight was so intense on what are some of my favorite buildings here in the neighborhood.

For everyone celebrating, have a very happy and safe Fourth of July!

This was taken with my phone. I am @newyorklens on Instagram (view my feed here). Check out my other Instagram posts made to this blog here. You can check out all of my Instagram photos on Flickr here. Additionally, you can view my phone photography for sale here.

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Buy “Summer Sunlight - Lower East Side - New York City” Prints here, My mobile photography for sale here, My regular photography for sale here, email me, or ask for help.

NYC eats its young. Chomp, chomp! Street art. East Village, New York City.

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This is my weekly mobile photography post. I hit my one month anniversary of when I first started using Instagram and dabbling in the world of mobile photography a week or so ago. I really never expected to have so much fun with mobile photography!

The community(ies) on Instagram is/are wonderful if you know where to look. I have found so many truly talented artists on there (lots of people involved in surrealism which has blown my mind) and it’s probably one of the most interactive and engaging photography hubs currently (aside from some of the other larger traditional social networks). If you stay away from the popular page (although there are some gems to be found there at times), and really explore, you can find real treasures there.

Prior to a month or so ago, I didn’t really understand mobile photography. I thought that people were just taking photos and applying the pre-made Instagram filters and that was that. However, I have learned that there are so many quality photo-editing mobile apps out there and an infinite amount of ways you can add your own style to mobile photography just like ‘regular’ photography. I have also noticed that there is a rather active and stunning world of street photography and documentary photography out there that I would have never come across had I not ventured into mobile photography. And it’s so much more than just Instagram. With other photo-sharing networks like EyeEm, StreamZoo and Facebook’s venture into its own camera app, the future seems bright for mobile photography.

I am @newyorklens on Instagram (view my feed here). 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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View this photo larger and on black on my Google Plus page

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Buy “NYC Eats Its Young - East Village - New York City” Prints here, My mobile photography for sale here, My regular photography for sale here, email me, or ask for help.

Over East Broadway on a busy, sunny afternoon. Two Bridges. Lower East Side, New York City.

There are streets that, for me, fill in the image of New York City that exists in my mind.

I have spoken about this before in older posts. Everyone seems to have their own image of New York City that, for them, represents so much more than just the geographical spot that New York City inhabits on any sort of map.

It took me about a year of thinking about my own approach to New York City with photography and via writing to figure out what I was trying to do every time I took a photo of this city I have called home since my birth. But now I know and it has changed my own view of my surroundings.

It’s not easy to attempt to distill something as enormous a concept or location as New York City into visual and tangible emotion but that is what I try to do with every photo I feel proud enough to post, whether it is taken with my phone (like the photo in this post) or with my regular camera.

I will post a few companion photos to this one later this week (that I took with my regular camera) and expand further about what this street means to me currently.

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

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Buy ” Over East Broadway - Lower East Side - New York City” Prints here, My mobile photography for sale here, My regular photography for sale here, email me, or ask for help.

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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Buy ” New York City - Lower East Side” Prints here, My mobile photography for sale here, My regular photography for sale 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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