28-JUL-2009
Alone in a crowd, New York City, New York, 2009
On the teeming streets of Manhattan, thousands of strangers walk its sidewalks together as another working day dawns. I exposed on the bright shirt of the man, which caused the women walking alongside and just behind him to fade into darkness. He moves alone in step with the crowd, lost in his own thoughts, as he strides toward his destination. And so does everyone else.
29-JUL-2009
Bagel cart, New York City, New York, 2009
A morning bagel is a ritual for many New Yorkers. In midtown Manhattan, there are carts full of them at most major intersections. This one is at 34th Street and Park Avenue – the man who operates it seems overwhelmed by customers at the moment. By using a 400mm telephoto lens, I make the crowd around him seem even more dense and frantic.
28-JUL-2009
Madison Avenue, New York City, New York, 2009
The advent of the cell phone brings the office to every bench along midtown Manhattan’s busy streets. As this man makes his calls, weary pedestrians pass him on their way to work, while headlines scream from their boxes only a few feet away. ( To put this man into a larger context, see my image of him at
http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/115697482 )
29-JUL-2009
In a hurry, New York City, New York, 2009
This man came flying by me as I was photographing the morning rush hour at 34th Street and Madison Avenue. He wears a uniform of some kind, and carries what appears to be a cell phone in his hand. I don’t know if he is late for work or if he just likes to run instead of walk, but to me he symbolizes the pace of the city itself. It is always running to beat the clock.
18-MAR-2009
Contrails at dawn, New York City, New York, 2009
Three major airports make the New York metropolitan area the busiest transportation hub on earth. As dawn breaks over the city, I symbolize this fact by abstracting a skyline draped in a maze of fading jet contrails.
24-MAR-2009
First light, New York City, New York, 2009
Dawn does not immediately bathe Manhattan in light. The first hints of sunlight appear as patches of gold, falling on the cornices of aging brownstones flanked by immense high rises still cloaked in darkness.
24-MAR-2009
Architectural contrasts, New York City, New York, 2009
As the sun rises, patterns of warm light and stark shadow reveal form and detail that span three centuries of architectural expression. This image was made in the Murray Hill section of the city. The gleaming golden cupola tops the headquarters of The New York Life Insurance Company. A National Historic Landmark, the building was completed in 1928 and was the last significant Cass Gilbert skyscraper in Manhattan. The old church in the foreground, as well as the silhouetted chimneys, dates back to the 19th century.
24-MAR-2009
Art in the shadows, New York City, New York, 2009
A life-sized sculpture of a painter at work, frozen in mid-stroke, can be found on 34th Street near Lexington Avenue. I imply its presence here by masking it in shadow, stressing instead a determined semi-frozen commuter walking to work on a bitterly cold morning.
24-MAR-2009
Shadow dance, New York City, New York, 2009
New Yorkers seldom look down as they hustle to work in the morning. But I do – and I find the intertwined shadows of man and tree etched on a 34th street sidewalk. The city may be built of concrete, glass, and steel, but nature often finds its place as well.
24-MAR-2009
Park Avenue, New York City, New York, 2009
Bands of light and shadow paint the wall of apartment buildings that line Park Avenue as it flows though the center of Manhattan. The street is called Park Avenue because it was built over the route of a railroad cut, which was gradually covered with grates and grass. Grand Central Terminal straddles Park Avenue only few blocks north of these buildings, and as the avenue flows north, it is lined by some of the most expensive real estate in the world.
24-MAR-2009
Divine light, New York City, New York, 2009
A bit of early sun strikes the façade of a small church in the Murray Hill section of Manhattan. It warms not only the church, but also the branches of a small tree that seems to yearn for light, as well as a man who gets a fleeting glimpse of it as he crosses the street. The rest of the scene, including another pedestrian, must endure the cold shadows a bit longer.
18-MAR-2009
Weather vane, St. Paul’s Chapel, New York City, New York, 2009
This church, which stands adjacent to the site of the World Trade Center, is the oldest public building in continuous use in New York City. On September 11, 2001, and for eight months thereafter, the church served as a place of rest and refuge for recovery workers at the WTC site. The church survived the collapse of the nearby twin towers without even a broken window. I abstract the church down to the golden vane that still swings with the wind atop the cupola. It points to the spot were the World Trade Center once stood.
