photography and musings from a Midwesterner
From the monthly archives:
A Green Space in Manhattan
Bryant Park is located on the same block as the New York Public Library in Manhattan. It has a lot of diversity for its size, sporting several cafes and eating spots, a football field-sized lawn where weekly movies are shown during the summer, sculptures of famous New Yorkers, a carousel, and hundreds of chairs, tables, and benches for sitting and relaxing.
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in Bryant Park, New York City
Gertrude Stein, sitting cross-legged rather like a Buddha, is one of 5 statues in Bryant Park. It’s prominently located on the terrace, on the park side of the New York Public Library. The cast was done by Jo Davidson in 1923, long before Stein had become famous as a literary figure and supporter, and was installed in the park in 1992. Amazing to me, this was the first public statue of an American woman placed in the whole of New York City, and that was done only 17 years ago.
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reflections of a summer's day
I walked to the New York Public Library, one of 150 buildings on the favorites list of the American Institute of Architects, but it is undergoing extensive renovation and was cloaked in plastic and canvas. Not able to see except for the pair of lion statues at the massive front entrance.
So I wandered around Bryant Park and finally found a rocking chair–yes, a rocker, solid wood, comfy, on a patio in the park–where I spent an hour or two observing all the activity, writing in my journal, and dozing a bit. As I was leaving the park, I photographed this city and cloud reflection on the building on 42nd Street and 6th Avenue — the merging of city and nature.
According to an informational sign in the park on the architecture on the square, this is the Home Box Office Building designed in 1985 by Kohn Pedersen Fox.
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Walking the Sidewalks of New York
I had big plans when I decided to go to New York City. See the museums. See a Broadway show. Visit a few restaurants. I did go to a museum, The Guggenheim, to see the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit commemorating the 50th anniversary of the museum and celebrating the many works of Wright. We squeezed in more restaurant stops than originally planned. We happened to be visiting the city during Restaurant Week, and participating restaurants offered a three course dinner for $35.00, a fraction of the regular price. One night we splurged (calorie-wise) on sushi, cold lobster and chocolate, a second night the menu included tamales wrapped in plantain leaves, tequila-marinated steak and caramel flan. We nixed the theatre. Tickets to a couple of the shows I’d considered – Billy Elliott, Blithe Spirit, or The 39 Steps – were way too expensive to rationalize. So while my husband attended a conference, I spent the better part of each of the five days we were there strolling the streets with my camera.
I photographed a few of the more famous buildings – architectural standards like the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building, newer gems like Time-Warner Center and Hearst Tower, and buildings adjoining Central Park – the Guggenheim, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Dakota Apartments. I walked past a few of the classic hotels, (The Regis, Waldorf-Astoria, The Plaza) and ornate cathedrals (St. Patrick and St. John the Divine) and I even studied the lines of the glass Apple Store on 5th Avenue. Lots of photo opportunities. And as usual, it will take me a while to get everything sorted and a few posted.
But most especially I enjoyed wandering the neighborhoods, seeing older brick apartments, the brownstones, the tiny shops only a doorway or so wide. The above photo is of a brick and stone building on Columbus Avenue that caught my eye. I like how the windows on the different floors all present a different style – flower pots, blinds, shutters. And even the lamp post surrounded by the blown background intrigued me.
Now if only the hours of walking each day had balanced the offerings from the restaurants, all would have been quite splendid, indeed. Wishful thinking on my part, that.
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the Sidewalks of New York
While I spend much of my time wandering the streets in New York City admiring the buildings, once in awhile it’s nice to focus on the more natural side of the city. Fruit is nature, right? Even on a fruit stand?
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Walking 9th Avenue
Not only walking 9th Avenue, 42nd Street, but also the length of Central Park, up and down Times Square, and past way too many upscale stores on Fifth Avenue where I would be embarrassed to be seen looking at a blouse whose purchase price could clothe a family for a year. Not that I would be encouraged to even take a step into any of these stores.
I am not a big city girl, but I love NYC – in small doses. And a nearly paid-for trip to the Big Apple as the companion of a conference-attendee was too good to pass up. Especially since I was able to squeeze in a visit to eldest child who took two hours from her crazed Bar-studying-marathon to eat dinner with mom. (The highlight of my cross-country trip!)
Not to say New York does not have its fascinations. The architecture is jaw-dropping, the museums are more than mind-boggling, and Central Park is always a welcome respite. And I want to know how many of you know that a cow lives in Central Park. Yes, really! And she even appears to be a big attraction with the pre-school set.
Now I’m on my way to a trip to the Guggenheim where they are honoring one of my favorite guys, Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright. I’m sure there will be more photographs to follow.
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A Bit of Purple, A Bit of Blue
I always think of hydrangea as a family flower. My grandmother and great-grandmother both grew hydrangea in their backyards, and the hydrangea kept company with bleeding heart, columbine, and roses. Not tea roses, but the old-fashioned vine roses, or climbing roses, that would cover the trellises with masses of blooms by summer’s end.
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Glistening from a Morning Rain
Four years ago, we decided to dig up a corner area of our lawn and plant a sunny perennial garden. We had no idea of the work involved–digging out the grass, making the heavy clay a bit more friendly towards growing plants by adding lots of black dirt and compost, designing the plants keeping in mind color, height, soil and watering requirements, and blooming times. And that was just the beginning. Then came the search for the selected plants, planting, watering weeding, mulching. Gardens are lovely and I love that I have a patch of bright color in view of the house, but they require a fair amount of dedication. And lots of hard work. Worth it, though. Well worth it.
We’ve added new plants each year. Each year a few don’t survive the perils of a prolonged winter, but more frequently they are nibbled to death in early spring by hungry and very determined rabbits. We’ve learned to spray a nasty smelling organic type of rabbit-keep-away on anything green whenever it rains, and that keeps the damage to a minimum, and I admit I’m happy whenever I see red foxes prowling the neighborhood.
This year we had a late spring, but we’ve had more than enough rain to keep the plants happy. Many of the flowers are thick with blooms for most of July–Shasta daisies, purple coneflowers, balloon flowers, yellow coreopsis, lavendar, gigantic sunflowers–and they all merge together in masses of purples, whites, and yellows.
I took lots of photographs earlier this week, after the rains had nearly stopped for the day, so I’ll be sharing garden flowers for the next few days.
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Self-Portrait in Metaphor
Do other photographers take photographs like this? Barely aware, do you find in your photograph downloads that there are a few photos that seem to be the sum of who you are at that moment? Not really self-portraits, no people in those photos, but self-portraits nonetheless. Maybe I’m mixing my poetry writing years with my photography years. Can I do that?
So, can photographs be metaphors? My answer is yes.
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Lake Mendota
Bobbing sailboats, moored for the night, in a natural harbor on Madison’s Lake Mendota. The last vestiges of the sun before it disappears beyond the horizon gives the water a shimmery appeal. Summer evenings can be a bit of heaven when there’s an easy breeze off the lake and time enough to relax and appreciate the end of a good day.
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