17-OCT-2013
At Liberty, Times Square, New York, 2013
This street performer, a living version of New York’s iconic Statue of Liberty, incongruously shows off a pair of sunglasses in one of the Times Square pedestrian plazas. Although nobody seems to notice the performance at the moment, this "living statue" may still be turning a profit. While one hand holds both a mini-torch and an American flag, the other hand may be pocketing dollars, euros, and yen.
17-OCT-2013
Lunch at Lindy’s, New York City, New York, 2013
Lindy’s was originally a famous New York deli, opening in 1921 and nationally known for its cheesecake. It closed in 1957, and reopened about twenty years later under a new management in two Manhattan locations. These diners prefer to ignore the window ad promoting Lindy’s abundant Sunday Brunch, and instead concentrate their attention on whatever might be flying overhead at this moment.
17-OCT-2013
Lunch outdoors, New York City, New York, 2013
Highlighted by bright yellow umbrellas against a green background of polished marble, this image compares and contrasts simultaneous dining activity from table to table. While the three people in the foreground may either be waiting for service or are finished eating, most of the customers in the background seem to be actively pursuing a drink or meal. Two of the tables in the background feature interaction as well. The yellow umbrellas add a festive touch to the scene, while the marble wall brings a sense of quality to an urban dining experience. Even the empty chairs in the middle of the picture play a role. They can symbolize loneliness within a crowd, a common theme in urban scenes such as this one.
18-OCT-2013
Trump Tower, Fifth Avenue, New York City, New York, 2013
The façade of this 58-story skyscraper offers a cubistic pattern of gold and copper reflections, clad in blue shadows. Much depends on the height and angle of the sun itself here. It is the color of the sun-splashed building on the opposite side of Fifth Avenue that creates the colors. The Trump Tower, built in the 1980s, symbolizes wealth, power, and glitz. These reflections do justice to its reputation.
18-OCT-2013
Grooming the Rolls, New York City, New York, 2013
I abstract the front end of a parked Rolls Royce by exposing for the colored reflections on the window, plunging the hood, grill, and wheel of this luxury automobile into deep shadow. Only the highlights survive. The shadowy figure of a man can be seen working on the other side of the car, readying it for its next assignment. The striking triangular highlight in the background acts as an arrow, pointing directly to the spot where the driver will sit. Rolls Royce and Bentley automobiles are powerful symbols of extreme wealth and power. They are expensive to buy, own, rent, maintain, groom, and garage. There are many such cars on the streets of Manhattan. This image, full of shadows and mystery, expresses the mystique inherent in such symbols.
19-OCT-2013
Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York, 2013
One of America’s first rural cemeteries, Green-Wood was founded in 1838. Today it is in the middle of Brooklyn -- 478 acres of tombs, hills, valleys, sculpture, greenery, and history. Its 560,000 permanent residents include Leonard Bernstein, Boss Tweed, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and Horace Greeley. In 1776, Battle of Long Island was fought among its hills. I made this image just as the overhead branches were turning color. The orange canopy of dying leaves provides both a colorful and symbolic context to the ornate splendor of the Victorian tombs arrayed below it.
19-OCT-2013
A brace of angels, Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York, 2013
Green-Wood Cemetery offers one of the most important collections of funerary art in the United States. This mausoleum is just one of the exquisite examples. I cropped the top of the tomb to draw the eye of the viewer towards the door. The colors change from green to gold to gray and blue as the eye moves through the image. The scene is rich in symbolism. A brace of angels guards the intricately designed doorway to eternity. While the elegant metalwork symbolizes wealth, it also suggests the hope of eternal rest, while the gradual browning of the surrounding landscape symbolizes mortality.
30-JUL-2011
Chaos, Midtown, New York City, New York, 2011
I shot this image from a taxicab window as it moved slowly through the midtown Manhattan traffic. A jumble of advertisements and buildings, the scene is surreal. It is difficult to see where the advertising ends and reality begins, an apt metaphor for the chaos that often seems to characterize Manhattan.
31-JUL-2011
Daily News Garage, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, 2011
The former Brooklyn Garage of the New York Daily News appears as a relic from another age. Its peeling façade is streaked with rust, gradually enveloping the newspapers logo, which features an archaic Speed Graphic camera. Built in 1900, and closed in 1994, the former delivery truck garage was recently reborn as an 18,000 square foot rock climbing gym. Is owners purposely retained the newspapers rusting logo, hoping its provenance would help draw customers.
02-AUG-2011
Water Mural, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, 2011
A towering four-story mural, telling the story of how New York City gets its water, looms over Brooklyn’s Fourth Avenue. The mural, completed in 2008, was sponsored by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and produced by the Groundswell Community Mural project. My image of this mural expresses two different aspects of protection – the mural itself urges viewers to protect and conserve water, while the chain link, barbed-wire fence that diagonally slashes through it protects the mural itself and expresses the nature of urban life.
02-AUG-2011
Pause, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, 2011
This delivery truck had stopped in heavy traffic on Brooklyn’s Fourth Avenue. I photographed the driver’s body language as he waited out the delay, abstracting him through backlighting, and filling the background with the urban landscape itself. His gesture speaks of patience and thought.
01-AUG-2011
Breaking the chains, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, 2011
Part of massive mural known as “Great Walls: Justice Everywhere,” these huge fists dwarf pedestrians walking by them on Park Slope’s DeGraw Street. They symbolize a job-training program for ex-prison inmates. The mural, created by New York City’ Groundswell Community Mural Projects, salutes the program, an effort of South Brooklyn’s Fifth Avenue Committee – an economic and social justice community organization. The symbolic fists dominate the image and the wall itself. Incongruously, the pedestrians in my image seem utterly oblivious to them.