Gimbels Skybridge

I have admired and walked under this structure for years.  So I photographed it the other day, and then just now tried to find out what it is.  I put this photo into a Google Image Search and it told me it is the Gimbels Sky Bridge.  In 1910, Gimbel’s department store set up a location in Herald Square near their main competitor, Macy’s. Other departments stores followed suit, and a shopping district was born. To distinguish themselves from the other department stores, Gimbel’s was known for various marketing ploys like the “bargain basement.” If that wasn’t enough to attract attention, they also created a skybridge in 1925 which connected the department store to the newly-acquired annex next door. Architects Richmond H. Shreve and William F. Lamb, who later helped design the Empire State Building, designed the copper, three-story-tall structure to connect offices in the building to the main store. With this marvelous feat of engineering, employees no longer had to deal with crossing the congested street below.

 The first image was taken when I was walking from Penn Station over to Herald Square to take the subway up town to the photo exhibit.  This second image is looking from the other side back toward Penn Station.  This structure is so unique and so beautiful, it is amazing it took me so long to actually  find out what it was.

Twin Guards at the Arbus Exhibit

If I see a major exhibit of one photographer's work, I am liable to start looking for photographs that might look like the ones you saw in the exhibit.  This does not look like any of her work at all, but...  She photographed more than one set of twins and she worked only in black & white.  So I thought this photograph of twin guards would be an interesting thing to photograph.  The guards are not twins, of course, there is one guard and the back wall of the gallery is a mirrored wall.  She also used some square format cameras so I cropped this into a square to complete the comparison. 

 

"STOP WATERING YOUR LAWN"

You may want to click on the photo first to see the headline on the cover of Newsday today!  But I am way ahead of them!  Look at my lawn!  The story in the paper said that Suffolk County is telling people to stop watering their lawns.  We live in Nassau County and the drought is just as bad here.  But I thought you would like to know that I was way ahead of the government!

 

Back to the Diane Arbus Exhibit

I wanted to go back to the Diane Arbus exhibit in the city one more time.  For two reasons.  I found out after leaving the first time there was a 90 minute film that was playing where the former student of hers who printed all of the 450 prints in this show was talking about her work and the way she saw her subjects.  And I wanted to carefully make sure I had looked at each and every photograph in the show.  The last time I realized that I missed a number of images because it was hard to make sure I had walked in and around all the structures that held the photos.  So I did all that.  It was exhausting but it felt good to see it the first time.   I am so lucky.  So I spent my day in the exhibit and then I come home.  But I am not done - I have all the photographs I took of the show and people at the show and I was so excited to look at my camera cards and find some interesting photographs that I know I took.  And this is a favorite!  There is a huge digital screen taller than a person and every 15 seconds it shows another cropped face, just showing the eyes.  So I found a spot and watched the scene and every time someone walked in front of the screen I took a photograph.  I love this one!  What do you think?  I am finally giving you a *real* photograph for a change.  Please click on it - it is a larger image than most.

 

Anselm Kiefer at Mass MoCA

Anselm Kiefer is a German painter and sculptor. His works incorporate materials such as straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac. Kiefer has developed themes of German history and the horrors of the Holocaust, in addition to spiritual concepts of Kabbalah, which is an esoteric method, discipline, and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. His works are characterized by an unflinching willingness to confront his culture's dark past, and unrealized potential, in works that are often done on a large, confrontational scale well suited to the subjects. This work is called “The Women of the Revolution” (Les Femmes de la Revolution) and is comprised of more than twenty full-size lead beds with photographs and wall text.  It is an astounding work which takes up a huge space.  I wish I could tell you more but this is all I know.  I will say this a powerful thing to see in person.

 

Stan's Talk at ASLI

Stan drove out from the city tonight to speak at ASLI about his astronomy clubs two new remote telescopes.  They have a telescope in an observatory on a remote mountain in Texas. Members can sigh up to get observing time on the scope in order to take astro photographs.  Then they set up another remote telescope in Chile!  Wow!  From there members can photograph objects in the southern hemisphere which we can't see from here.  He had a really attentive audience!  I should add, that his incentive to come speak involved the promise that I bake Mediterranean Salmon for dinner which he loves.  And honestly, I do a pretty good job making that dish.

 

The Whitestone Bridge

I am posting some photographs that I never got around to posting because I was always getting new ones and so forgot about these.  This is the Whitestone bridge and the only reason I could photograph it was because I was riding with Stan on the way back from Vermont and he was driving.  I was sitting in the front passenger seat.  While crossing the Throg's Neck Bridge, you see suspension cables whizzing by and it is hard to time the release of the shutter so that a cable is not blurred in the middle of the shot.  So as we crossed the bridge I was clicking as fast as I could while pointed at the Whitestone.  I must have shot 20 frames and there was only this one that was both sharp, and had no cables.  Lucky me! It is an extra large size image so please click on it to see it so much better.

 

Departure

We took Liz to JFK at suppertime for her flight back to Los Angeles.  It was wonderful having her here and the time sure did go fast.  We did drive up to Connecticut to see family on Saturday, and then mostly it was just hanging around, both before and after.  Maybe we will fly out there before Christmas, I hope.  Otherwise it will be a long time before we see both Liz and Amy again.

 

Full Moon

We were driving back from Connecticut last night and suddenly Liz said "Look at the moon!"  We looked to the east and there, just above the horizon was a beautiful orange full moon rising over Long Island Sound.  It was orange because of the smoke in the sky from wildfires out west.  5 hours later, it finally rose above the trees in our back yard, and so I used one of my telescopes to capture the bright white moon, much higher in the sky.  What a beautiful sight and what a joy to view close-up through a telescope!  I have posted an extra large image, so please click on this to see much more detail.

 

Restoration

We drove to Milford, Connecticut to have lunch with my sisters.  We drove by the pond behind city hall and I was stunned to see what the Congregational church looked like.  This church is a landmark in Milford and a photographer's delight.  If you are in the right place, you can see this church reflected in the Duck Pond behind city hall.  It is a classic photograph that I first took as a high school kid with my Minolta Autocord camera in black & white.  Turns out the church steeple which goes back to 1825, if I have my facts straight, is in dire need of repair and reinforcement.  The cost is estimated to be $500,000.

This church and this scene IS Milford!  Here is what the church looked like before the restoration began. Church Before Construction

 

Photographer at Work

We were in one of the smaller galleries, both shooting different things and then I turned around and saw Stan photographing in this light.  Wow!  And then I notice the two constructed human arms hanging down!  Whoa!  OK, now that's a shot!  The exhibit had to do with the artists dealing with "disgust" in their works.  The two arms hanging down certainly worked for me.  Couldn't wait to get out of that gallery!

  
 

Preacher Man

Come listen to the preacher man!  Look at him talk, look at his gestures.  Clearly he is a long-time preacher man with a lot of experience exhorting his flock to action.  He knows what he is doing, you can tell.  Don't you wish you were here to hear his sermon?

A real preacher man?  Nahhhh...  It is just ACTING!  I wandered into one of the modern artworks and it kind of connected computers to religion, or something like that.  To quote the information: "Petra Szilagyi creates artworks that respond with reflection and absurdity — like Bless Your Hard Drive, a prayer room for a benevolent future for the internet."  There is a beautiful hand made lectern in this exhibition made from a tree trunk.  I went over and stood behind it and immediately pretended to be a preacher.  I was having fun so I handed Stan my camera, and asked if he would take a few photographs as I gave my silent sermon.  Sorry, I just got carried away!

 

Liz is Here!

Liz is here!  We drove down to Kennedy Airport around suppertime and picked Liz up.  She will be here about five days or so and we are really looking forward to just hanging out and catching up.  Well, actually we will be driving up to Connecticut to visit "the cousins" and "the sisters" so that will be really nice for all of us.  I usually try to grab a quick photograph at the arrivals area at JetBlue, but it was so crazy busy that I didn't dare take my eyes off the traffic to take a photograph when we spotted her.  So that's a first for me, but I did get this photo when we got home.

 

Rail Bridge Lattice Structures

I have photographed these power line transmission towers before.  Riding back from Vermont I was sitting in the passenger seat and so was able to carefully photograph these structures again.  These structures carry 115,000 volt transmission lines between a power substation in Stratford and an power substation in Milford.  They were originally built in the 1900's.  United Illuminating attached the power lines to these structures in the 1940's.  I am astounded at how delicate and beautiful these structures are.  The value of the lattice design is that the wind can pass through them without adding putting too much stress on them.  I treasure seeing these structures every time I cross the Housatonic river in Stratford on I-95.

 

The Lawn is Looking Good This Year!

I thought I would show you a drone photograph of our side lawn.  It is looking great this year, for a change.  See how rich and green the lawn it.  I expect Scotts to call and ask if they can send a photographer so they can use a photo of my lawn on their bags of seed!  I refuse to waste water on the lawn!  So this is the price I pay, and I am OK with this.  The soil has never been good here ever since we moved in.  When there is plenty of rain and it is not too hot, the lawn actually looks pretty good.  I actually meant to photograph it with the drone in the spring, and it looked really good.  We are in drought conditions, and this is the result.

 

The Beauty of the Galleries

I never tire of spending time in the galleries at Mass MoCA.  The designers of the conversion from a New England factory to a n art museum were absolutely brilliant.  They sanded and varnished the original floors but, in this case, left the finish on the floor to ceiling poles.  It is so fascinating to look at all the areas in the different galleries that still have the original finish on walls and supports.  It is such a rich experience that is so different from most museums which are built and painted.  This museum is so rich with history, reminding of us of its original purpose - manufacturing things.  In this case it was capacitors for use in electronics, manufactured by Sprague Electric Company.

 

The Boiler House

This is the interior of the Boiler House which was built by the Sprague Electric Company back in 1947.  Here there are remnants of three boilers like this one,  a huge coal hopper, steam fittings, and ash disposal conveyors among other things.  It is absolutely fascinating to see these huge structures.  You are looking at one boiler, which was probably lined with fire brick and the outside covered with asbestos to keep the heat in.  The text in the building talks about it being preserved as a relic of the great industrial age of carbon.

I love the beauty of this piece of equipment and all the pipes.  These pipes carried the water into the boiler where it was heated by the fire of burning coal, to produce steam.  I know the steam was used to heat all the buildings on the property.  To this day you can see the steam pipes crossing the river to other buildings.  What is wonderful about this piece is that it is designed as a very efficient mechanical device, and yet is has such a wonderful beauty to it. 

 

This is an exterior, with the Boiler House on the right and the conveyor belt that carried the coal up to the boilers still in place.  I would loved to have seen all of this in use back in the day.  Now I can only imagine it all, and that is fun to do as well.

 

Vincent Valdez - some portraits

This portrait is one of the first paintings you see when entering the exhibition of Vincent Valdez' work.  There is something about his portraits, and I don't know what it is, but they just hold me.  When standing in front of them, I am just drawn to stand there and study them.  I can't take my eyes off them, and that's a wonderful thing!

This is the second portrait and it is five feet away from the first one and it has the same effect on me as well..

And this one was the most powerful one of all!  It is such a joy to be drawn into a painting like this.  We look at paintings hoping to be moved by what we see, I guess, and I was moved by all three of these.  This entire exhibit was so powerful by what it showed me and what I experienced.

 

Vincent Valdez "Strangest Fruit"

When I walked into this gallery I suddenly noticed that the viewers of the exhibition were in some ways very similar to the individuals on the eight panels on the walls.  I liked the similarity and the differences between the people and the paintings.  This is another powerful work by Vincent Valdez called "Strangest Fruit."  The Strangest Fruit depicts contemporary Latinos contorted as if hanged from trees while also appearing as rising up like ascensions. The postures for these paintings refer to the lynching of Mexicans and Mexican Americans along the Texas-Mexico border, a near-forgotten and ignored history that took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Really powerful and moving piece to see.

 

Vincent Valdez "Just a Dream..."

The most powerful exhibit this year during our visit at Mass MoCA was the work of artist Vincent Valdez. The exhibit takes up more than three galleries. Vincent Valdez bears witness to the world around him, chronicling America at the margins. Just a Dream… is the artist’s first major museum survey including work from over twenty years across all media.  The exhibition addresses American politics today, including topics such as boxing, lynchings of Mexican Americans, border walls, politics, greed, the Ku Klux Klan, and the failings and triumphs of society. There is something about his portraits, that hold me in their grip when I look at them.  I will show you some tomorrow.  This particular painting of a group of KKK members is an enormous canvas, maybe 25 feet wide and powerful because of the subject matter.  And it seems even more powerful because it is entirely a black & white image..  Please click on this because it is an extra large image.

 

Mass MoCA

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art is a museum in a converted factory building complex  in North Adams, Massachusetts. It is one of the largest centers for contemporary visual art and performing arts in the United States.  The buildings that MASS MoCA now occupies were originally built between 1870 and 1900 by the company Arnold Print Works. At its peak in 1905, Arnold print works employed more than 3,000 workers and was one of the world's leading producers of printed textiles. In 1942 Arnold Print Works was forced to close its doors and leave North Adams due to the low prices of cloth produced in the South and abroad. Sprague Electric Company was a local North Adams company, and it purchased the Marshall Street complex to produce capacitors. During World War II Sprague operated around the clock and employed a large female workforce—not only due to the lack of men, but also because it took small hands and manual dexterity to construct the small, hand-rolled capacitors. In the 1980's Sprague began to face difficulties with global changes in the electronics industry. Cheaper electronic components were being produced in Asia combined with changes in high-tech electronics forced Sprague to sell and shutdown its factory in 1985.  A year later the development of Mass MoCA began and it took until 1999 until the museum opened its doors.

 

A Violin Performance

 

Last year when visiting Mass MoCA, I was moved by the exhibit "U.S. Customs Demands to Know" by the artist Gelare Khoshgozaran.  You can read about it here. The exhibit consists of illuminated boxes arranged on the floor in a darkened room.   I was pleased that the exhibit was still on display this year.  We looked at it again and went on to other exhibits.  Later we came back through this room and there was a violinist preparing to perform.  What great luck!  What an amazing venue to perform in, a darkened room with glowing boxes!

The violinist is Saba Yousefi an Iranian-Canadian violinist, educator, concert curator, and co-founder of LyreIran, a collaborative organization which promotes free and accessible educational content for music students worldwide, focusing on the Middle East. As you can see in both photographs, there was quite a crowd and the music was beautiful.  It was a highlight of our trip to Mass MoCA this year.

The Saturday Evening Program

The Saturday night program at Stellafane is held in a natural amphitheater if the weather is good. They begin by giving awards to telescope and mirror makers who have had their telescopes and mirrors judged and then prizes are awarded.  Here 3 winners receive their prizes.  This shot does not BEGIN to show you the crowd.  There are hundreds of people seated behind me on the hill, and to the left of me and another hundred to the right of me out of the frame!  There is also a raffle to raise money for the event and the top prizes are 4 shopping bags of eyepieces as the largest prizes, donated by Al Nagler and Televue and each bag is worth about $2000 or more!

By the time the keynote speaker begins his presentation it is dark and it looks like this.  Some sit in beach or camping chairs, and others sit on blankets in the grass.  Stellafane is such an amazing event with a history going back to 1920.  This was my 35th year in a row that I have attended.

 

They Start Them Small, at Stellafane

They start them small at Stellafane!  Believe it or not, Stellafane takes pride in being a family place.  There have been so many three-generation families that have come to the Stellafane convention over the 100 years of its existence.  I saw this father walking with his daughter and followed them for a minute or so trying to get a good shot.  The daughter is 20 months old he said.  And she is cute beyond belief with her little white sun hat.  The dad was completely focused on her her and would put his hand out and take her hand to help steer her to follow him.  I only wished I had asked him for his email address and said "Would you like me to send you a copy of the photograph if I get anything good?"  But I didn't think to do that, unfortunately.  I bet he would love this shot.

 

The Thing That Shall Not Be Named

We drove down to Mass MoCA as is our custom when we come to Stellafane.  There is this amazing "thing" that we were looking forward to sitting in, having seen it and experienced it before.  You go inside and sit on a bench and sit quietly and experience it.  There is a hole in the ceiling so you can see the clouds go by.  You are NOT supposed to take photographs.  That's why it is the "thing that shall not be named" as far as I am concerned, when posting on my blog.

These women came in together and were enjoying the experience together.  Then one of them started humming and another joined in and the sound reverberated throughout the interior, and it was beautiful!

This is the opening in the ceiling reflected in the tile floor with me also reflected holding my camera out to capture the scene.  Through the opening you can see the clouds, and in this instance it almost looks like the moon.

And this is what the "thing" looks like from the outside.  What a strange and wonderful thing this is to experience!  I wish you could all sit inside and have the experience of quiet and beauty.

 

International Space Station

There was a flyover of the International Space Station tonight at 9:20 PM.  So Stan and I set up our cameras to try for some photographs.  I only used a 20 second exposure so I only got a smaller streak as it flew overhead, still lit by the sun which had set already.  It first appeared in the northwest and flew directly overhead, which took 6 or 7 minutes.  It was so beautiful to watch it slowly rise in the northwest and climb up and then after passing overhead, is started descending in the southeast.  Because it flew into the shadow of the earth, you can see here where it stopped being seen, about 20 degrees above the horizon.

 

Welcome to Vermont!

On the way to the Stellafane Convention today, Stan and I stopped at the Vermont Welcome Center.  They are re-doing all the paving around the facility.  These granite posts are new and there is something wonderful seeing these pieces of stone cut like this and used to prevent cars from entering this area. And then to have the flowers in their pots right next to the stone pieces makes a wonderful contrast, since flowers are colorful and soft.

 

Guess Who Got a New Camera

You guessed correctly!  Stan bought a new camera and lens, and brought it to the Arbus exhibit to use it.  If you can see the small red dot on the front of it, you will know that it is a Leica.  But a digital Leica, not a film Leica.  We both used Leicas in our work for years and then put those film cameras aside when Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras arrived on the scene - in our case both Nikon and Canon cameras.  I still own my first Leica film camera, an M2, and I also have a beautiful M6 still.  They still work perfectly.  This camera that Stan has is solid and still has that Leica "feel", a feeling that you get with no other camera!

 

The Exhibit

I think I have some interesting photographs from the Diane Arbus exhibit "Constellation."  These are people reading text on the wall that is the timeline of her life.  Love all these different silhouettes!

This is the opening view of the exhibit.  You may see a familiar figure somewhere in this photo.

As I walked along the edge of the exhibit, going from the front to the back, I noticed a photographer with a camera around his neck.  Then I thought "He looks like me."  THEN I realized that it WAS me!  The entire rear of the exhibit is a floor to ceiling mirror that makes the exhibit look twice as large as it actually is.  And, of course, reflects the image of you as you look at it.

When I turned the corner again, there was the proof that there was, indeed, a mirror along the whole back wall.

There have been thousands of words written about the work of Diane Arbus and what she chooses as her subjects and I can't begin to describe all the portraits that were there.  Suffice it to say, she chose, in her work, to photograph many people that we would never see in our lives. So many of these portraits were stunning, and unusual and some strange.

Some were printed very dark for aesthetic reasons and I had difficulty understanding that, at times.

I cannot begin to describe the wide range of subjects in her portraits.  Also there were about 450 photographic prints on display, and many of the photographs I have never been published or displayed before.  Honestly, it was a powerful show and exhausting and thought provoking.

 

Kindness

Kathy sent me this short text the other day, which she received from a client.  I don't know when it came about, but a number of years ago I came to the realization that the MOST important thing I could as I went through my day, every day, was to be kind to everyone I met.  More important than doing my work well.  And since then I have tried to follow that rule each day.  So when I saw this, I thought that I should post it because it gave some reasons why we should behave in this way.  I never thought of these details but the minute I read them they made absolute sense.  So I pass this along to all of you, knowing that so many of you are kind as well, perhaps without thinking why, and here is the answer.  If you click on this image you will be able to read it much easier.

 

The Park Avenue Armory

This is the Park Avenue Armory, also known as the 7th Regiment Armory.  It was completed in 1880 for the U.S. Army National Guard.  What a stunning building!  How have I never been here before?  That's crazy that I didn't know about this building.  This building takes up an entire city block. In 2000, the state awarded the Park Avenue Armory Conservancy the responsibility of overhauling the building, restoring the dilapidated interior spaces, and transforming it into an arts venue. 

In the 21st century, the armory is largely used as an event, exhibit, and performance space, and this is where the Diane Arbus exhibit was held.  You are NOT going to believe the inside!

I was stunned at the sight of this hall that you see after you enter the front door and look to the right.  i just was not expecting this!  There are a number of rooms in the front of the building, some by Louis Comfort Tiffany and Sanford White and others.

This is a view of the entrance hall after you walk about 75 feet and turn and look back at the front door.  Would you ever have believed that this was what the interior of the building would look like?

At my back is the entrance to the exhibition space.  That space is called the Wade Thompson Drill Hall and it is 200 feet wide and 300 feet deep and the curved ceiling is 100 feet high!  That's where the exhibit was but only a small part of the hall was used for the exhibit. and so the ceiling was not lit and it was difficult to see the ceiling.  Here is a wide-angle photograph of the exhibit.  Astounding, right?  I will talk more about this tomorrow.  There is a trick done here by the designers that is not obvious.  Please click on this photgraph to see it much larger.