After reviewing all of the photographs that I took last year, I selected 125 and share them with you in this posting. How to order them was a challenge. I photograph what the day and the place offer up; I rarely plan ahead and search for something specific. Thus, a chronological arrangement was out of the question, and so I clustered them into ten general topics.
Broadly speaking, my photographs document people, places and things. I use them to supplement my memory, and you might think of them as my personal “cabinet of curiosity.” Some capture the familiar, but I hope in some unfamiliar way. Others record new discoveries and encounters. All hold the potential for enhancing future blog posts, for mounting new photographic exhibitions, or inspiring my attempts at painting.
I hope that a few of these 125 photographic images contain something that appeals to your eye, offers you something new, and maybe even sparks your imagination.
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| Tuli on the Beach, Cape Cod, January 1, 2012 |
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| Tyko & Andrea, Lincoln Center to see Warhorse on 45th Anniversary, April1, 2012 |
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| “Big Rya” and Andrea, Toasting the end of the year in Watertown, MA |
These three are the only ones in chronological order: the new generation offering a stone to the ocean; the grandparents on their 45th anniversary (associated with the sapphire)–although no stone passed our hands–just a good time and our adherence to being “true blue,” the sapphire being the stone of loyalty and fidelity; and, thirdly, the old generation welcoming the year to come.
PEOPLE
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| Vic on the Horn, King of Mott Haven, Bronx, still doing business at 84 |
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| David, 3rd Avenue safe-keeper, Mott Haven, Bronx |
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| David & Vic, at art show, Lehman College, Bronx |
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| Clemetin, lookin’ cool on Exterior Street, Mott Haven, Bronx |
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| Sav Killz, Manhattan, Lafayette Street |
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| Harold, Memphis, TN, Beale Street |
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| Bob M, on pilgrimage to the Metropolitan Museum, Manhattan |
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| Jeff, leaving Gleason’s Gym, Dumbo, Brooklyn |
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| Tony, Surprise 60th birthday gathering, Brooklyn |
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| Judge Zobel Presenting Exhibit A, Dennis, MA |
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| Marcia, midtown Manhattan, anti-fracking demonstration |
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| Shoulder & Pearls |
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| Michiel, “Liam” on Nashville, Nashville, TN, in the make-up trailer |
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| Edward & Lev, Park Slope, Brooklyn |
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| Farmer Jim, Cape Cod, MA |
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| Starbucks Morning, Manhattan, Upper East Side |
ARCHITECTURE
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| Trumping AT&T, Mid-town, Manhattan |
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| The Brooklyn Pier, Dumbo, Brooklyn |
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| Cast Iron in Pastel, SoHo, Greene Street, Manhattan |
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| Cass Gilbert, dormer, Hunts Point Avenue Station, 1908, Bronx |
This needs some explanation. Gilbert is best known as the architect of the Woolworth Building on Broadway (1913), but he designed a series of railroad stations for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1908. This is one of the dormer windows (Gothic Revival in style) of the Mott Haven station: for me a magical discovery, if also sad, as it no longer serves its original purpose and is in poor shape. Open this link if interested.
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| Conservatory Reflections 1, Haupt Conservatory, Bronx Botanical Gardens |
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| Chelsea Modern: study in blue, Chelsea Modern condos, Audrey Matlock, 2006-8 |
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| 6 Windows over Gold, West 57th Street, Chickering Hall, 1924, Cross & Cross |
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| 6 Windows on a Plane, West 56th Street, Mid-town Manhattan |
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| Yawning Awning, Casement windows, Bronx Botanical Gardens |
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| Capital Cast, Composite Capital, 41 Union Square West. 1895 |
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| Lancets, Central Park, Reservoir (Gothic) Bridge, Calvert Vaux, 1864 |
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| St. Cecilia at the Organ, St. Cecilia’s Parish, East Harlem, Manhattan, 1883, Napoleon Le Brun |
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| Sol Rising on 96th, Upper East Side townhouse, East 96th Street, Manhattan |
This final photograph serves as a reminder for me to research the group of townhouses on East 96th Street, between Park Avenue and Lexington. Each contains unique exterior details that give this block unusual visual appeal: a possible blog topic this year.
URBAN DETAILS
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| Library Walk, Gregg Lefevre, 1998, East 40th Street; Isak Dinesen plaque with quotation: “People work much in order to secure the future; I gave my mind much work and trouble, trying to secure the past.” |
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| Library Walk, Gregg Lefevre, 1998, East 40th Street; John Ruskin plaque with quotation: “For all books are divisible into two classes: the books of the hour and the books of all time….It is a distinction of species. There are good books for the hour, and good ones for all time; bad books for the hour, and bad ones for all time.” |
The walk from Grand Central Station to the New York Public Library ought to be a saunter, but it seldom is for the hurried pedestrians. These few blocks might easily take 40 minutes, were one to read and consider the selected wisdom of world literature (including art and science).
Urban details may well lie under ones feet, not only at eye level or neck-craning height. Below are two temporary, eye-level examples to brighten the darkening canyons of mid-town Manhattan in December.
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| Crown Building, 5th Avenue, Christmas decoration |
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| Crown Building, 5th Avenue, Christmas decoration |
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| Owl, Herald Square, Manhattan, Mid-town south |
Owls were the symbol of the New York Herald. Its building (by McKim, Mead and White) had been a block north, and this is one of several owls that once graced its roofline. Try this link, if curious.
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| Ram and Lily, Bryant Park, Mid-town Manhattan |
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| Que Bonita Bandera, Lexington Avenue, East Harlem, Manhattan |
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| Huddling in the Dark, Bronx County Courthouse, Grand Concourse, Bronx |
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| Cheim & Read gallery, West 25th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan, 2001, Richard Gluckman |
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| Woodman’s Gate, Central Park, 5th Avenue at 96th Street, |
How fortunate that Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux prevailed in the battle of the gates some 160 years ago and gave Central Park open entrances of simple, un-ornamented design; then named them for the common people for whom they meant this park. Here is one link to start you off.
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| Graffiti, East 17th Street, Flatiron District, Manhattan |
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| Graffiti, West 22nd Street, Chelsea, Manhattan |
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| Benetton Akroterion, United Colors of Benetton store, Crosby Street, SoHo, Manhattan |
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| Atlantid, nu New York store, 827 Broadway, Greenwich Village, Manhattan |
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| Almighty Tree, East 142nd Street, Mott Haven, Bronx |
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| Plastic Complements, Central Park, fencing material |
PLANTS/NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
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| Storm Clouds, Chelsea, Manhattan |
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| Rock, Sunset, Tide Pool, Corporation Beach, Dennis, MA |
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| Ice Glen, Stockbridge, MA, 1891, David Dudley Field |
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| Platanus x acerifolia, Bronx Botanical Gardens, Bronx |
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| Elephant Ears, et. al., Bronx Botanical Gardens, Bronx |
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| Hendersonii, Bronx Botanical Gardens, Bronx |
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| Nelumbo nucifera, Bronx Botanical Gardens, Bronx
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| Nymphaea, Bronx Botanical Gardens, Bronx |
EVENTS/DEMONSTRATIONS
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| Stars, Anti-War Demonstration, Times Square, Manhattan |
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| Sparring, Gleason’s Gym, Dumbo, Brooklyn |
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| Ginny Myers Lee as “Viola,” Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare, New York Classical Theater, Battery Park, Lower Manhattan |
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| Bottom Heavy, Marika Hughes with Fred Cash, Kyle Sanna, JT Lewis, at Barbès, Park Slope, Brooklyn |
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| Maritime Rites, The Lake, Central Park, Alvin Curran (composer) |
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| Maritime Rites, The Lake, Central Park, Alvin Curran (composer) |
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| Alvin Curran (center), Maritime Rites, The Lake, Central Park |
A mid-June day off Bethesda Terrace in Central Park found a healthy crowd on dry land as musicians from Montclair State and West Point boarded rowboats and performed Alvin Curran’s Maritime Rites. In this third photograph, Curran–already seated in the bow–wisely omits a bow to the audience at the conclusion of his 50-minute composition.
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| Anti-Fracking Demonstration, 53rd Street & 7th Avenue, Midtown Manhattan |
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| Million Hoodie March, Demonstration against murder of Trayvon Martin, Union Square, Manhattan |
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| OWS (Occupy Wall Street), Anniversary gathering, Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village, Manhattan: “The Revolution Is Wheelchair Accessible” |
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| OWS (Occupy Wall Street), Anniversary gathering, Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village, Manhattan, Deby (from Brooklyn): “Last Generation Retiree?” |
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| OWS (Occupy Wall Street), Anniversary gathering, Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village, Manhattan: “Occupy Vision;” “Robber Barons teabagged America” |
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| Anti-Fracking Demonstration, 53rd Street & 7th Avenue, Midtown Manhattan: Banner hanging from Sheraton Hotel Ballroom: “Cuomo Don’t Frack N. Y.” |
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| Harlem Halloween, Madison & East 117th Street, Manhattan |
THE SUBWAY
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| Track Alchemy, 14th Street, Manhattan |
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| Peel, 138th Street/3rd Avenue Station, Bronx |
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| Guitar at Fulton, Fulton Street Station, Manhattan |
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| Leaning In, 23rd Street Station, Lexington Line, Manhattan |
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| Caught Me, Lexington Line, Manhattan |
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| On the 2 Train, Manhattan |
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| Untitled (for the moment), 86th Street Platform, Manhattan |
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| Orchid & Braids, 96th Street Platform, Manhattan |
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| Union Square, Union Square Platform, Lexington Line, Manhattan |
STREET/SIDEWALK
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| On the BX2, Bronx |
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| Strand Bookworm, Strand Bookstore, 12th & Broadway, Greenwich Village, Manhattan |
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| A (NY) Dog’s Life, Eleventh Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan |
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| SoHo Smoker, West Broadway, SoHo, Manhattan |
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| They Still Have Souls, Lexington & 59th Street, Manhattan |
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| Anything Helps, East 14th Street, Manhattan |
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| As Piercing as Gimlets, East 14th Street, Manhattan |
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| In Search of Poetry, West 56th Street, Midtown Manhattan |
ALTERED ENVIRONMENTS/OBJECTS
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| Breakdown, Abandoned storefront, 2nd Street, Memphis, TN |
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| Nosm’s Room, Freedman Home, Grand Concourse, Bronx |
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| Left Behind, Freedman Home, Grand Concourse, Bronx |
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| A Male Menopause, Freedman Home, Grand Concourse, Bronx |
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| Lure of Lost Memory, Historic Cemetery, Foster, Rhode Island |
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| Contrapposto, 18th century gravestone, Old North, Truro, Cape Cod, MA |
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| Natural Abstraction, Lichen and gravestone, Quivet Creek cemetery, Cape Cod, MA |
ART/ARTISTS
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| Cope2 at Work, Fernando Carlo (Cope2), Freedman Home, Grand Concourse, Bronx |
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| Cynthia in Her Studio, Cynthia Packard, Dumbo, Brooklyn |
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| Robert at Work, Robert Seyffert, Bank Note Building, Hunt’s Point, Bronx |
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| Plein Air, High Line, Steve Cosentino, Chelsea, Manhattan |
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| We Can Disappear You, 2001, Leon Golub, Armory Show (Pier 94) |
Four of these small but strong grisaille works were displayed by the Ronald Feldman Gallery, and they clearly are meant to evoke Goya’s Disasters of War.
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| Atalanta and Meleager, 1616, Peter Paul Rubens, detail, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Paradise Lost/Regained…, 2012, detail, Linda Cunningham, This Side of Paradise show, Andrew Freedman Home, Grand Concourse, Bronx |
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| Paradise Lost/Regained…, 2012, detail, Linda Cunningham, This Side of Paradise show, Andrew Freedman Home, Grand Concourse, Bronx |
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| Miles Davis, 1999, Niki de Saint Phalle, Park Avenue & 58th Street, Manhattan |
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| #23 Basketball Player, 1999, Niki d Saint Phalle, Park Avenue & 56th Street, Manhattan |
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| Live Better, 2009, Groundswell (Crystal Clarity), Hunts Point Avenue, Bronx |
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| Mural, 2011, Tats Cru, Bella Vista Community Center, Hunts Point Avenue, Bronx |
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| Women’s Wall, 2004, BadAss Women’s Festival, Barretto Street, Hunts Point, Bronx |
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| Know Your Rights, Dasic Fernández, Barretto Street, Hunts Point, Bronx |
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| Female Flava, Sharon de la Cruz, Barretto Street, Hunts Point, bronx |
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| Mural, East 104th Street & Lexington Avenue, East Harlem, Manhattan |
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| Pedro Pietri, 2004, James de la Vega, E 104th Street & Lexingtom Avenue, East Harlem , Manhattan |
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| Slaves of the Past & of the Present, 1999, James de la Vega, 124th Street, East Harlem, Manhattan |
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| Remembering Julia, 2006, Manny Vega, 106th Street, East Harlem, Manhattan |
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| Mural, 2001, 117th Street, East Harlem, Manhattan |
These murals from the Bronx and from East Harlem are a small sampling of the many that have transformed these areas into a particularly fertile place for outdoor, public art. These, too, will find their way into future blog posts, once I find the time to research them.Until then, I wish you all a productive and healthy new year.
Beautiful photos, all of them!
I especially liked the portraits and the abandoned places. You've a gift for composition- thanks for turning your camera to so many interesting subjects for us! Dragged me there from this California suburb, made me miss your stomping grounds terribly this am.
Thanks, Scott. How's your writing going?
Beautiful, Tyko! Love the colors, composition and crisp photos. Happy New Year to you and your beautiful family, too!
Julie
Thank you, Julie. We miss you.
i love it!!! thanks for sharing!!!
one thousand and One greetings!
scherezade garcia
Thanks, Scherezade. Do you sign off regularly with 1001 greetings? Clever, and you definitely have earned it.
Thank you for sharing! Reminds me to pick up my camera and give the ol' eye a tune-up.
You're welcome. Of course, the camera just tunes-up the eye in a different way, and not always the way one wishes.