NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Today I worked on a long-running project – photographing iconic structures. I’ve been putting off the Brooklyn Bridge 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.
WARREN, CONNECTICUT – We’re having our first snow storm of the season. We’re on a high point, a few hundred feet above Lake Waramaug. The difference in elevation is enough that we have much more snow over the winter season than the lake. There are many, many more churches to photograph in Litchfield County but I felt that I should give you a break.
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.
LITCHFIELD, CONNECTICUT – Back to Litchfield to photograph the First Congregational Church at sunrise. The congregation first met in 1721. The story of the building is a bit complex. Here’s a quote from “Historic Buildings of Connecticut”:
“Litchfield’s first meeting house was built on the Green in 1723, the second in 1761 and the third in 1829. In 1873, a fourth church, in the High Victorian Gothic style, was built and the 1829 Federal-style structure, with its steeple removed as was typically done with deconsecrated churches, was moved around the corner. In the coming years it would serve as a community center and theater, known as Amory Hall or Colonial Hall. In the early twentieth century, tastes had shifted back from favoring the Gothic to an interest in the Colonial Revival. In 1929, the Gothic church was demolished and the 1828 church returned to its original site on Torrington Road and restored, complete with a new steeple (1929-30). Reconsecrated, it continues today as the First Congregational Church of Litchfield.”
I’ve taken the liberty of presenting this image in both color and black and white. The black and white version demonstrates the power of abstraction of this medium.
This images was captured with a Leica M9 digital camera, and a fifty-year old Leitz lens, a 50mm dual range Summicron modified to mount on the M9. The finished image was stitched together from four overlapping frames, which provides resolution similar to a medium format digital camera or 4×5 film.
The time on the clock on the steeple could either be an hour slow or perpetually 6:30 – it’s actually the latter.
First Congregational Church Litchfield ConnecticutBlack and white version
