Creepy Photographer at Work...

We went to Old Westbury Gardens today.  As I was walking around with my camera, I saw this woman sun bathing alongside one of the paths.  I wanted a shot from up close, and she appeared to be asleep, so I moved in very close and did this shot with a wide-angle lens.  Do you think it was creepy of me to photograph this woman while she was asleep?  Am I a creepy photographer?  What do you think?  When I was working, and doing garden photography, I would come here a couple of times a month in growing season to do photographs.  It is a spectacular garden and mansion, clearly one of the great gardens in the United States.  OK, so the joke is, if you haven't noticed it yet, the woman on the ground is actually a sculpture! She is made of painted bronze.  She is one of something like forty sculptures that have been installed at the garden.  I will have to show you some of the other sculptures in the coming days.  The most interesting photograph that I made today, however was this one - another of the sculptures which was being moved to where it will be installed.  THIS photograph stopped me in my tracks when I saw it!  Oh man, I nearly forgot - the artist who constructed these wonderful sculptures is the American artist Seward Johnson.

Have a Seat...

During my last couple of trips to Manhattan, I got glimpses of workmen installing this new artwork.  It is an amazing thing to see.  These are scattered pieces of furniture and arches modeled after one of the grandest Fifth Avenue mansions - the now-demolished William C. Whitney Ballroom.  Only these reproductions, as you can see, are made from concrete!  The piece is called "Open House" by Liz Glynn, a Los Angeles Artist.  It is located just north of Grand Army Plaza, at Fifth Avenue and 60th street.

This Guy is Having a Bad Day!

On the way out of the exhibits I was visiting, I walked past this statue, which has been here forever, I guess.  I was taken by the extreme emotion, so first I photographed the sculpture, then read about it.  Whoo boy, this guy is in trouble.  This is the satyr Marsyas who challenged the god Apollo to a musical competition.  The god triumphed and then punished his challenger by skinning him alive!  Yikes!  Now, THAT is a bad day!   

Enjoying the Fountain

The Metropolitan Museum of Art buildings and the surrounding plazas are just beautiful.  I never tire of looking for photographs here. They have recently refurbished this fountain, and it was nice for me to see that these students were really enjoying the beauty of their surroundings.  Oh wait!  They are not!  In fact, they are completely oblivious to what is going on around them.  Oh well...

On the Roof of the Met

Every Spring and Summer, the Metropolitan Museum of Art commissions an artist to create an installation for the Cantor Roof Garden on top of the Met.  This work is called "The Theater of Disappearance" and is by Argentinian artist Adrián Villar Rojas.  One part of the installation is a series of tables with objects scattered on the top in monochromatic white.  And the objects are scattered everywhere and tipped over.  What makes it all interesting is the contrast of the white tables with the skyline of New York in the background.  There are also sculptures of people as well, but these are no ordinary sculptures.  Note the one below.  The arms outside the frame of the picture only go as far as the elbow.  There are other sculptures as well, in monochromatic black.  It is an amazing exhibit!  Please click on the photos to see them in more detail.

A Famous Photographic Background

Yesterday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art I saw an astounding photographic exhibit.  It is the work of Irving Penn, one of the great American photographers, who had a 70 year career, working mainly for Vogue magazine, doing portraiture, still life, and fashion, all over the world.  When I was in college between 1960 and 1964 I was in awe of the work of Irving Penn, and I still am!  One of the exhibits is this canvas background which was a piece of an old theater curtain that he found in 1950.  He moved it from studio to studio and used it for fifty years.  The subjects who were photographed in front of this background are some of the most famous people in the world of literature, entertainment, and the arts.

So here is what's cool - they set up a spotlight which illuminates anyone who stands in front of the background.  Which means you can be photographed in front of perhaps the most famous photographic background in the world.  Nearly everyone who passed through this room took out their cellphone or their camera, and had their picture taken.  Including me!  I was not going to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity.  Below is a portrait of T.S. Eliot, one of the portraits that Penn used the background for. 

I decided to convert one of my portraits to B&W and tone it sepia to see how it measures up. Cool, huh?

Escape from Central Park!

I was in the city today, visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  My normal method of travel is to take a subway to 5th Avenue, and then to walk the 22 blocks alongside Central Park to the Met.  I noticed these young women when the woman closest to me, in the blue jeans, vaulted over the stone wall, from inside the park to outside the park.  I am not sure why they just didn't walk down to an opening in the wall a block away.  Anyhow, I decided to stop and see what else was going to happen.  I was not disappointed to see an escape from Central Park!  If you click on the first picture, you can enlarge it and see all of the photographs in a much larger size.