NY Through the Lens - New York City Photography

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 skyscrapers and rooftops from above. Midtown.

These are the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan from above as seen from the top of Rockefeller Center (Top of the Rock). Looking out over these time and weather-worn buildings, it’s almost incredible to think of the sheer amount of activity occurring behind each tiny-eyed window at any given time.

This is a scene that peaks in the teasing warmth of winter sunlight as the sun dips towards the horizon in the late afternoon. With rooftops covered with a light glaze of snow and with sultry exhales of smoke billowing out into the late afternoon sunlight, the city basks momentarily in distant memories of summer.

When I was younger, I used to imagine how incredible it would be to fly through the city like Batman. I would close my eyes and imagine dipping into the dark,narrow valleys created by tall skyscraper peaks. I would ascend up past the multitudes of water towers to distant rooftops where I would bide my time while seeking out other routes to glide through (in my imagination Batman took quite a few joyrides through the city during his off-time!).

I still like to imagine these things. It’s probably why I love views that take me above the hustle and bustle of the city. There is a peace that seems to come with viewing the cityscape from above.

—-

*Shot with the Sony a99.

—-

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

—-

Buy “New York City Rooftops - From Above - Midtown Skyscrapers” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Central Park winter path. Shakespeare Garden in the snow.

I think back to days spent wrapped in the cold silence of freshly fallen snow in Central Park.

The labyrinth-like path leading from Shakespeare Garden lined by a wooden fence twists and turns in the snow winding its way under trees whose branches reach out to each other like eager arms awaiting the warmth of an embrace.

It’s on days like this when the sun rests longer than usual and winter’s essence seeps through every crack and crevice that the earth quivers a ghost shiver that rests in summer’s memory.

—-

The rustic wooden fence rests on a four acre section of Central Park known as the Shakespeare Garden which is located in the west part of the park near 79th Street. On the 300th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death in 1916, this area was dedicated to Shakespeare and named. The plants and flowers that are found in this area are all mentioned in the works of the playwright and are also plants and flowers that are found in his garden in Starford-upon-Avon. There is even a white mulberry tree on this four acre plot of land that is said to have grown from a graft of a tree planted by Shakespeare himself in the 1600s.

While the paths that winds through Central Park’s Shakespeare Garden is gorgeous in the warmer months of the year, it’s absolutely stunning when snow has freshly fallen.

This photo was taken during one of the last major snowstorms (a blizzard) in New York City back in 2011. We haven’t seen snow like this, in this magnitude, since then. I have been going through my photos from the two blizzards we experienced that winter season wondering if we will ever see snow like this again. Who knows?

—-

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

—-

Buy “Central Park Winter Path” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

New York City winter. Snow in Soho on Mercer Street.

Soho is so beautiful in the snow especially right after snow has freshly fallen and still sits like icing on the fire escapes and street signs.

This part of Soho is part of the Soho Cast Iron District which consists of 500 buildings that feature distinct cast-iron architecture spanning over a 26 block radius. Many of the buildings date back to the 1870s when the area was primarily residential. However, most of the residences during the later part of the 20th century were converted for commercial use which allowed Soho to play an integral role in the commercial development of New York City.

This is a view looking north up Mercer Street in Soho towards midtown. The Chrysler Building can be seen in the distance. The snow-covered sign on the left belongs to Fanelli’s Cafe which has stood in this spot since the 1850s.

—-

—-

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

—-

Buy “New York Winter - Snow in Soho” 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.

Central Park winter landscape. Angel of the Waters. New York City.

The silence that engulfs the world after a snowfall is deafening.

All heartbeats, all footsteps, all meandering thoughts and evocations are wrapped in a heavy blanket of snow.

Trees cease reaching for the sky, weighed down by the weight of the sky’s tears of joy and there is scarcely a breath to be heard.

Winter muffles the earth silencing it’s yearnings,

and all at once there is peace.

—-

The definitive crown jewel of Central Park, Angel of the Waters is one of the most famous and universally loved fountains in the world. Also known as Bethesda Fountain, it was designed by Emma Stebbins.

This particular photo of a snow-covered Central Park was taken during a break in a bitter blizzard that hit New York City a few winters ago. The snowstorm dropped a few feet of snow on the city covering the trees and iconic sights in Central Park in a gorgeous coating of icy beauty.

—-

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

—-

Buy “The Sky’s Tears of Joy - Angel of the Waters - Winter - Central Park” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Central Park winter landscape. San Remo through snow-covered trees. New York City

Summer’s memories sit suspended like words caught in the throat of winter: stifled, muffled utterances barely able to escape in the form of speech.

But in the wide open expanse of dreams, words take flight as summer’s memories break through the shards of branches conjuring up the outline of buildings and cityscapes on the condensation of winter’s frozen breath.

—-

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

—-

Buy “Suspended - San Remo - Winter - Central Park- New York City” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Central Park winter - Poet’s Walk in the snow. New York City.

I love heavy snowfall and I found myself braving the super high wind gusts to wander around a mostly empty Central park during one particularly rambunctious blizzard. I don’t really recommend it and thinking back, it was a bit risky considering that the wind gusts were around 55 mph and higher. Wind gusts and trees don’t make for the safest of combinations. However, I have never seen Central Park in such a serene state.

The only people who were in the park that day were small amounts of people who lived in the surrounding neighborhoods, brave tourists and intrepid photographers with giddy expressions on their faces. I could probably count on both hands the number of people I encountered and I ended up covering most of the park on foot that day (I was never so happy to get home and drink hot chocolate that evening).

This part of Central Park is known as The Poet’s Walk or Literary Walk. The reason why this part of the park is known as Poet’s Walk and/or Literary Walk is because at the very end of this section, several statues of famous writers line the path. It’s at the southern end of a section called The Mall.

The Mall is only straight line in Central Park and the trees that line it are its crowning and most distinctive feature. They are American elm trees and are the largest and last remaining stands in all of North America. Over the years, other large grouping of American Elm trees have been destroyed by Dutch Elm disease but Central Park’s conservancy has saved a majority of the remaining trees in the park despite losing around 40 trees in the last few years to this contagious fungus. The recent Hurricane (Superstorm Sandy) also directly impacted the amount of elm trees in Central Park in a negative way.

The Poet’s Walk is one of my favorite spots in the autumn and winter because the trees look their most graceful and beautiful during these seasons. The leaves turn a beautiful golden yellow in the autumn and the elegant branches seem to reach out to each other when covered by freshly fallen snow in the winter.

—-

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

—-

Buy “Serenity - Central Park Winter - Poet’s Walk - New York City” Posters and Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Central Park winter trees covered in snow. New York City.

Winter crunches underfoot yielding to the heavy enormity of the sheer weight of souls in transition. Trees laden with snow frozen in thought stand dormant until the springtime.

It’s on these sorts of days that the earth feels as if it is caught in a trance somewhere between dreaming and opening its frozen eyelids.

—-

I love when the snow first falls in New York City - especially in Central Park. The quiet muffled stillness and icy warmth combine to pause the city’s frenetic energy for a few hours.

This was taken the last time we had major snowfall in Manhattan during a blizzard. In truth, it probably wasn’t the safest idea to be walking around Central Park when the wind gusts were so terrifyingly high but during the moments when the winds stopped, it was eerily beautiful.

—-

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

—-

Buy “In a trance - Central Park Winter Trees” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

New York Winter - The New York City skyline in the snow.

Snowflakes swirl over the skyscrapers and buildings: confetti from the sky blanketing the buildings and streets.

And the world transforms into a giant snow-globe, if only for a brief moment.

—-

What’s more magical than New York City in the snow (when it first falls, of course)? This winter cityscape view is of the skyscrapers of the New York City skyline in midtown Manhattan including the Chrysler Building, the MetLife Building and a barely visible 59th Street Bridge (also known as the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge).

—-

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

—-

Buy “New York Winter - Snow Over the New York City Skyline” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Bare branches against a winter sky. Socrates Sculpture Park. Astoria, Queens. New York City.

Stuck somewhere between the heart and lips pushed down by the echoes of memory echoes loss: the mirror reflection of connection.

We spend our lives shedding pieces of ourselves: molted hopes and dreams that slough off into the thoughts of everyone we meet like stardust falling to the Earth from distant stars.

These are the pieces we hold on to: the pieces that are part of us that can never be put back into the same place again after they dissolve into nothing.

—-

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

—-

Buy “Winter’s Bare Branches - Holding On” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Winter in Tompkins Square Park. East Village, New York City.

The clouds squeeze the last bit of light from the sun onto the city below.

It falls over trees and buildings: liquid promise spreading onto a landscape de-saturated by winter’s icy breath.

In the wake of winter’s gasping utterances, the sun uncovers the world that hides behind boisterous trees in summer.

And a smile spreads across the city’s face for a moment: warm and golden hope spreading itself over the remains of the day.

—-

I have been going through older photos taken back when it snowed with great conviction two winters ago. This was taken in Tompkins Square Park in the East Village the morning after a blizzard.

—-

In case you missed it, I posted a video this past weekend of me talking about photography and New York City. If you ever wondered what it is like to see me talk about these sorts of things, you can view the video here:

Art:Seen: Vivienne Gucwa

—-

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

—-

Buy “New York Winter - Tompkins Square Park - East Village” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Bow Bridge in the snow. Central Park winter. New York City.

In the silent stillness of winter the world stops rotating temporarily.

All sound, speech and thought is muffled as the earth slumbers briefly under a blanket of freshly fallen snow.

In each snowflake rest the hopes and dreams of all who have ever felt the warmth of an anticipatory heart-flutter: dream-sputters that wrap the earth in the weight of their desires.

Built between 1859 and 1862, Bow Bridge is one of Central Park’s most iconic structures. This image was taken during a snowstorm in Central Park, New York City.

—-

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

—-

Buy “Dream Sputters - Bow Bridge Central Park Winter” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.

Bow Bridge in the winter. Central Park. New York City.

I miss the snow.

I miss the silence: deafening silence punctuated by small breaths signifying flutters of life in a world swallowed by the sinking, seductive embrace of serenity.

That type of serenity isn’t easy to come by in a city that moves faster than the speed of hope: it’s frenetic core blinked into existence by anxious dreamers.

If I hold still, very still, for just a moment and close my eyes, I can paint my serenity memory on the backs of my eyelids.

In this moment the world stops rotating long enough and my breath reverberates alongside the earth’s heartbeat.

—-

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

—-

Buy “Serenity Memory - Bow Bridge in the Snow - Central Park” Prints here, email me, or ask for help.