Revisiting Banksy

A few years ago, Banksy engaged in a 30 day residency in New York. Each day offered a new work or performance. It was all ephemeral as street art tends to be. One piece remains visible from the residency.

The streak of red on the boy's forehead and the flash of light under the hammer are reflections on the protective sheet of plexiglass covering the work. Many of Banksy's pieces from the residency were protected with plexi, or roll down metal gates before being removed. One piece, Geisha is still behind its protective gate, but it might as well be elsewhere.

The boy with the hammer was protected by Saul Zabar, of the Zabar's across the street. He is genuinely fond of the work and wants everyone to enjoy it. Still it seems so strange to have street art protected by plexiglass. It is maybe a little poignant.

For more about Bansky's work, check out this awesome page:

https://www.artsy.net/artist/banksy

Summer, Some Strange Eyes

Random Pictures

Searching for spring as the weather refuses to cooperate, wet snow is forcast for tomorrow. These farmer's market daffodils reminded me of butterflies and they wilted spectacularly in small groups until only three were standing. They quickly joined their sisters, it was all very ephemeral.

These are pictures I have been taking over the last few months, when I have time to capture a few images.

This was from February, I think it was a a remnant of Mardi Gras.

Midwinter

I bought a new camera. I had been planning on buying a cheap video camera to mimic security camera footage for another project I am working on. But the man at B & H led me down the line of display cases to a beautiful camera with a Leica lens that also shoots video. His selling argument was that I could always shoot at a lower quality to imitate security footage.

The camera is a huge improvement over my 10 year old Canon. I wandered around a little bit trying out the camera. It makes me so happy that L'impasse (dead end) is still on 8th street. There used to be lots of crazy clothing stores and funky shoe stores, now only a few remain. I would love to see the Valentine's Day date involving these outfits.

A tropical rain storm interrupted my camera exploration, and despite various groundhog predictions of spring, winter returned. There has been a spate of decorative snow, sticking mostly on trees and grass, leaving passges clear. The best kind of snow for the city really.

The elm trees in Union Square were so pretty.

The sad blue building hasn't looked this good since the misguided addition of a glass curtain walll obscured all its cast iron details.

It was about here that I realized that I could change the image format between square, rectangular and panorama. Unfortunately, I also changed the image size so all these pictures are only good for the web.

I am getting more familiar with the camera controls.

A little later, the sun came out and all the snow melted off the trees, water cascaded down branches and the awnings sparkling in the light.

Finally a Good Blizzard

After that strange December with its mild temperatures and blooming flowers, we finally got some winter weather. I woke up yesterday with a cocoon of snow around me. I did not go outside while the blizzard raged. I worked on my dream images and made stew. 

When the storm died down, the young son dragged us outside to see the transformed world.

Someone arranged a discarded tree giving us the festive holiday tableau that was missing four weeks ago.

This morning was crystal clear and beautiful. The neigbors wandered around smiling and greeting each other. New Yorkers really do like their snow, until it gets disgusting.

Taking Pictures With One Arm In A Sling

I was hit by an opening car door while I was riding my bicycle and I injured my shoulder. For a few weeks, I had to wear a sling when I went out. It limited what I could carry.

I could not even carry my little point and shoot camera. The only pictures I have taken with it were on this one afternoon when the light was pretty in the garden.

Instead I used my camera phone as I wandered around the city, staring forlornly at the cyclists reveling in the mellow autumn weather.

All of my pictures were a little tilted, thank heavens for Photoshop.

When I was photographing this post Halloween confetti of party fliers, a car drove up on the sidewalk just to my right. It made me feel as if the city was trying to kill me. Indeed, 13 pedestrians have been killed by cars since Halloween. According to the Gothamist, 4 of them were on the sidewalk when they were struck.

This is what Bike Snob NYC calls a hipster high lock.

I have been out of the sling for two weeks. This is actually from a week ago. I was about to post it when I heard about the attacks in Paris. The blog post didn't feel important so I left it a few days. Violence continues, even today, in Mali. I could wait forever.

A Little September Light

Summer stretched out languidly and I spent most of it focused on my seed planting project for Urban Demeter. It was more of a learning experience than a brilliant flowery success, but I learned a lot for next season. When I photographed the end of my three sisters planting, the light was so beautiful. I took some other pictures.

The days are clearly shorter and the light changes frequently.

The tape reminded me of a face, a bit like the snow god I captured a winter or two ago.

Some more pretty September light:

Spring With Red Highlights

For a while it felt as if spring would never come. Finally, the trees started flowering, but the weather turned cold. Today seemed like the perfect spring day.

The oversized ad featuring Kate Moss did not irritate so much when framed by pear blossoms.

Something about the light made the reds pop out.