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Thursday August 5, 2010
PARATY, BRAZIL – We’re in Paraty to attend the most important annual literary festival in Brazil: FLIP. The real reason we’re here is to catch up with our old friend Luiz and Lili Schwarcz – Luiz heads Companhia das Letras, a prominent Brazilian publishing house. Here’s a link to Companhia’s blog, which has a piece on the first FLIP (in Portuguese, but you can use one of the “translate this page” services if your Portuguese is rusty): Companhia das Letras blog. Luiz launched the first four titles in a Companhia – Penguin joint venture today – here is Salman Rushdie and his son at the launch event.
Salman
Nikon D700
Tuesday July 20, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I walked back through Central Park from lunch on 59th Street with a friend. It was absolutely late-July frying hot. Here’s The Mall (sometimes called Poets’ Walk).
Poets' Walk
Leica M9 with 28mm Summicron lens.
Thursday July 15, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Had lunch with an old friend at Savoy on Prince Street. Here’s a link: Savoy. We had heard that Savoy has a fabulous burger, which turned out to be true. The patty was perfect aged, grass fed beef, not overworked; the brioche bun was just right; it was cooked to perfection. After lunch I spent an hour in Washington Square exploring some of the same themes that I explored in Ecuador.
Washington Square
Leica M9 with 28mm Summicron lens.
Posted in Icon, Landscape, Monuments, Urban
Tagged New York, Parks, Washington Square
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Tuesday July 6, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – A truly beastly day. We’re suffering under a record heat wave in the Northeast. I sought refuge in the shade of the plaza of Lever House and shot passers by against the backdrop of Hello Kitty. Not a good day to be outdoors.
Leica M9 with 28mm Summicon lens.
Saturday July 3, 2010
NEW MILFORD CONNECTICUT – I went to Clamps, a roadside burger stand on route 202, for a burger for lunch, arriving just before the 2:00 PM closing, in time to place an order. By the time that I got my wits together to reach for camera the closed sign had gone up.
Clamps is a dying breed: a roadside hamburger stand that’s seasonal, has limited hours and isn’t part of a chain. The following is from Roadfood: ”The business card of Clamp’s Hamburger stand says, NO SIGN, NO ADDRESS, NO PHONE, JUST GOOD FOOD. In fact, there is a sign about the size of a license plate on the side of the wood-frame hut: “Clamp’s Est. 1939.” Despite the lack of a billboard and a street address, you will have no trouble finding this place because there are cars and people crowded around any time it’s open … which is late April to early September every day from 11am to 2pm and from 5pm to 8pm.
“Edwin and Sylvia Clamp started the business sixty-six years ago, and now their great-nephew, Tom Mendell, is the boss. Tom told us that since 1939 Clamp’s has never advertised and never had a phone (and therefore was never in the phone book), and while it did have a prominent sign, when the sign blew down in a windstorm back in the 1960s, it was not replaced.”
Clamps
Thursday June 17, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Midday found me in midtown on my way to a lunch date. Here’s one of my favorite spots, the plaza in front of the Seagram Building.
Seagram Building New York
Leica M9 and 35mm Summicron Asph.
Posted in Icon, Landscape, Urban
Tagged Flags, New York, Park Avenue, Seagram building
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Monday June 14, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Back home. The Lipstick building.
Lipstick building
Leica M9 and 35mm Summicron Asph.
Monday June 7, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – A very busy day as I prepare to go to Mustique tomorrow. I caught this view of Citicorp with my Leica on my way to a lunch date.
Citicorp Center
Leica M9 and 35mm Summicron Asph.
Tuesday June 1, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – This from the very early evening on Park Avenue. The sculpture is newly-installed. I don’t have any information on it but I’ll keep looking and revise this post accordingly. Of course the background is Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram Building, one of the icons that I stalk. The perspective is from the front door of the Racquet and Tennis Club.
Park Avenue Island
Shot with a Hasselblad H3D 39 and an HC 100 lens. Three exposures stitched. This produces a very large file.
Posted in -Woody's Picks, Icon, Landscape, Urban
Tagged New York, Park Avenue, Seagram building
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Wednesday May 26, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Back in New York. While walking back from the west side (where I had left my car for service) a came across Carnegie Hall in dappled light. This is a side-on view from Sixth Avenue. From the Wikipedia entry on Carnegie Hall:
“Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1891, it is one of the most famous venues in the United States for classical music and popular music, renowned for its beauty, history and acoustics. . . . Carnegie Hall is one of the last large buildings in New York built entirely of masonry, without a steel frame; however, when several flights of studio spaces were added to the building near the turn of the 20th century, a steel framework was erected around segments of the building. . . . A venerable story has become part of the folklore of the hall: A New Yorker (or in some versions Arthur Rubinstein) is approached in the street near Carnegie Hall, and asked, “Pardon me sir, how do I get to Carnegie Hall?” He replies, “Practice, practice, practice.”"
Carnegie Hall
Leica M9 and 35mm Summicron Asph. Three images stitched.
Friday May 14, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Late afternoon on East 56th Street – a reflection of the AT&T building off of the facade of the Trump Tower. Shot with my Leica M9 (it found its way back to me) and a 24mm Summilux.
AT&T Building
Thursday May 13, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Fabulous late afternoon light in midtown, with light reflected from buildings adding nuance. I’m shooting with my backup Leica, and M8.2, because I left my M9 at Gary and Diana’s the previous evening (symptomatic of wine consumption). I had a number of good images to choose among. This is Mies van der Rohe’s iconic Seagram building – part of my effort to do a new take on iconic structures. I have an ongoing project on the Seagram building and the plaza formed by it and the Racquet and Tennis Club (McKim Mead and White) and Lever House to the northwest (the “Hello Kitty’s” come from there). Image taken with my M8.2 and a 90mm lens – three images stitched in Photoshop.
Seagram Building
Posted in -Woody's Picks, Icon, Landscape, Urban
Tagged New York, Park Avenue, Seagram building
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Tuesday May 11, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – My meetings are at Park Avenue and 53rd Street so I managed to commune with my old friend Hello Kitty for a few minutes. You will remember from previous posts that Hello Kitty is Tom Sach’s statue in the sculpture garden at Lever House. See March 19 blog entry and April 20 blog entry. There may be enough going on at Lever House to make a project out of it.
Hello Kitty
Posted in -Woody's Picks, Icon, Landscape, Urban
Tagged Hello Kitty, Lever House, New York, Park Avenue
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Thursday April 29, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Once again I’m stalking the Chrysler Building. This time from behind the UN Secretariat Building, in color, shooting with medium format.
Chrysler Building and UN Secretariat Building
Posted in -Woody's Picks, Icon, Landscape, Urban
Tagged Chrysler Building, UN Secretariat
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Tuesday April 13, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Once again stalking the Chrysler Building.
Chrysler Building
Tuesday March 30, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Another day of terrible weather, so back to Grand Central Terminal to work inside.
Grand Central Terminal
Posted in -Woody's Picks, Icon, Urban
Tagged Grand Central Termianl, New York, Urban
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Monday March 29, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Grand Central Terminal. My new favorite rainy day place to photograph. I’ll be studying this over the next few months. Another icon.
Grand Central Terminal
Posted in -Woody's Picks, Icon, Landscape, Urban
Tagged Grand Central Termianl, New York, Urban
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Sunday March 28. 2010
WARREN, CONNECTICUT – Emmet Gowan, Nancy, Danville Virginia, 1969. Nancy is now 47 or so – probably just starting to experience hot flashes. The physics of how photos freeze time is well understood, but odd, nonetheless.
Emmet Gowan, Nancy, Granville Virginia, 1969
Thursday March 25, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – In the morning at Lever House on Park Avenue.
Lever House
Tuesday March 23, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Back home. Once again the weather is cold and wet. This is my second try of a post for this date. The first was a personal memorial for a 24-year-old woman who was evidently killed when her bicycle was hit by a car – it was moving in person but not a good photograph. On March 26 I took it down and replaced it with this image, also taken on March 23, of the Chrysler Building from a long ways away (just north of the UN), which I think is more interesting.
Chrysler Building from the far East Side
Posted in -Woody's Picks, Icon, Landscape, Urban
Tagged Chrysler Building, New York, Urban
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Friday March 19, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Tom Sach’s statue Hello Kitty in the sculpture garden at Lever House. Hello Kitty is a Japanese toy character owned by Sanrio. Here’s a link: Sanrio
Tom Sach's Hello Kitty
Thursday March 18, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Citicorp Center from Lexington Avenue.
Citicorp
Posted in Icon, Landscape, Urban
Tagged Citicorp Center, Lexington Avenue, New York, Urban
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Thursday February 18. 2010
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In Washington for a food policy conference. I spent the morning exploring the Lincoln Memorial end of the Mall, including an emotional hour at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Captured in infrared.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Posted in -Woody's Picks, Icon, Infrared, Monuments
Tagged Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington D.C.
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Tuesday February 16, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Madison Square at night.
Madison Square and the Shake Shack
Posted in -Woody's Picks, Food, Icon, Landscape, Urban
Tagged Madison Square, New York, Night, Night phography
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Monday February 8, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Back to a favorite subject: New York in infrared. There were many interesting images from today. Here’s a sample.
Racquet and Tennis Club
Posted in -Woody's Picks, Icon, Infrared, Landscape, Urban
Tagged Park Avenue, Racquet and Tennis Club, Seagram building, Urban
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Monday February 1, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – A perfect winter day. I spent a good part of the day in the 30s and 40s in Manhattan with my Leica M8 and infrared filters. This was an opportunity to stalk one of my favorite subjects: the Chrylser Building. A very productive day with some interesting experiments with out of focus images. I’ve taken the liberty of posting two outtakes in a comment.
Chrysler Building
Posted in -Woody's Picks, Icon, Infrared, Landscape, Urban
Tagged Chrysler Building, New York, Urban
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Wednesday January 6, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Here we are stalking the Empire State Building. This fits into my ongoing project of photographing iconic places and things, trying to capture the surprise of coming upon them for the first time. Click on Landscape Galleries on the right and then the “Manhattan I” gallery for more examples of stalking the Empire State and Chrysler buildings.
Empire State
Tuesday December 15, 2009
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – I drove to Brooklyn Heights this afternoon to drop a print off with a friend and client. While there I retraced my steps from last week but this time shot infrared as is my style in capturing icons. (Shooting with a Leica M8.2 which is suffers from infrared sensitivity, but this is an advantage if you are shooting with an infrared filter.)
This is my two month anniversary of this blog.
Brooklyn Bridge
Friday December 11, 2009
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Today I went to Brooklyn to explore the Brooklyn Bridge from the east. The Brooklyn Bridge is an icon. My objective in my icons work is to sneak up on the subject from an unusual angle, approaching it as if it had never been seen before. This isn’t always successful, but here’s today’s attempt. This was at mid-day – it would be far more interesting in early morning light. To be explored further.
Yesterday and today I had a rare moment of self-doubt. Why am I doing this? In the end I’m a landscape photographer – some of my work looks architectural because I live (for most of the week) in an urban landscape. My formal portraits are fine but I don’t seek that work out. My street work is pedestrian. I was really struggling last night a Lincoln Center – finally settling on the fountain centered on the Metropolitan Opera.
You’ve heard of Rembrandt and Vermeer and probably Frans Hals. They painted people (primarily in historical settings) in 17th Century Holland – the “golden era of Dutch painting”. It’s less likely that you’ve heard of Aelbert Cuyp or Jacob van Ruisdael. They painted landscape in the same era. The Wikipedia entry on the golden era says “landscapists were the ‘common Infantry foottmen in the Army of Art’” citing Samuel van Hoogstraten for the quote. Citiscapes ranked even lower.
Anyway, here’s today’s view of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Brooklyn
Monday December 7, 2009
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Today I worked on a long-running project – photographing iconic structures. I’ve been putting off the Brooklyn Bride for some time – John Roebling’s masterpiece is a truly intimidating subject. The light was dull so this is not a day for great art, but for exploring angles and pedestrian approaches in a part of Manhattan that is dominated by on and off ramps. The plan as always is to sneak up on on the icon, rather than confront it frontally. I plan on exploring the Brooklyn side later in the week. If we have a decent sunrise or sunset in the next week I’ll try it in infrared.
Brooklyn Bridge
Wednesday December 2, 2009
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – This is a favorite subject of mine: Mies van der Rohe’s iconic Seagram building. You’ll see this building again on this blog. The space defined by the Seagram building, its plaza and the Racquet and Tennis Club across Park Avenue is one of the outstanding urban spaces in New York. This is from the balcony of the Racquet and Tennis Club. It’s about 5:30 PM so most offices are still illuminated.
Technically this image was stitched from four separate images shot with my Leica M9 and a 35 mm Summicron Asph. lens. Images were stitched with PTGui Pro software.
Seagram building
Posted in Icon, Landscape, Urban
Tagged Mies van der Rohe, New York, Park Avenue, Seagram building, Skyscraper, Urban
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