NEW YORK, NEW YORK – This is a favorite subject of mine: Mies van der Rohe’s iconic Seagram building. You’ll see this building again on this blog. The space defined by the Seagram building, its plaza and the Racquet and Tennis Club across Park Avenue is one of the outstanding urban spaces in New York. This is from the balcony of the Racquet and Tennis Club. It’s about 5:30 PM so most offices are still illuminated.
Technically this image was stitched from four separate images shot with my Leica M9 and a 35 mm Summicron Asph. lens. Images were stitched with PTGui Pro software.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – This post is belated. The image was taken at a truffle dinner at the James Beard Foundation on December 1, but posted in April. Not much of an image – I should have gotten more or the rolls in the foreground, but I guess the smell of truffles distracted me.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – We attend a Piemontese white truffle dinner at the James Beard Foundation, hosted by Joe and Paul Bartolotta. I’ve edited this post – on reflection I like the image below better than the one originally posted.
By the way I’ve made some changes to the site. I’ve added three additional galleries under “Parties” and a gallery called Fireworks. I’ve also added a star rating system. This is an experiment – I’ll be working over the next few months to refine it. Feel free to click on the stars at the top of each post to cast a vote on it.
White truffle dinner at the James Beard Foundation
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – This is a good time of the year to photograph New York in the dark – it gets dark early, around 5:00 PM. Buildings are fully illuminated because workers are still at their desks at this hour. Today we walked in the Lincoln Center to Columbus Circle area.
LITCHFIELD, CONNECTICUT – Back to Litchfield to photograph the First Congregational Church at sunrise. The congregation first met in 1721. The story of the building is a bit complex. Here’s a quote from “Historic Buildings of Connecticut”:
“Litchfield’s first meeting house was built on the Green in 1723, the second in 1761 and the third in 1829. In 1873, a fourth church, in the High Victorian Gothic style, was built and the 1829 Federal-style structure, with its steeple removed as was typically done with deconsecrated churches, was moved around the corner. In the coming years it would serve as a community center and theater, known as Amory Hall or Colonial Hall. In the early twentieth century, tastes had shifted back from favoring the Gothic to an interest in the Colonial Revival. In 1929, the Gothic church was demolished and the 1828 church returned to its original site on Torrington Road and restored, complete with a new steeple (1929-30). Reconsecrated, it continues today as the First Congregational Church of Litchfield.”
I’ve taken the liberty of presenting this image in both color and black and white. The black and white version demonstrates the power of abstraction of this medium.
This images was captured with a Leica M9 digital camera, and a fifty-year old Leitz lens, a 50mm dual range Summicron modified to mount on the M9. The finished image was stitched together from four overlapping frames, which provides resolution similar to a medium format digital camera or 4×5 film.
The time on the clock on the steeple could either be an hour slow or perpetually 6:30 – it’s actually the latter.
First Congregational Church Litchfield Connecticut
WARREN, CONNECTICUT – At last a crisp, clear late fall day. This is the sort of day that gives seasonal weather changes a good reputation. After struggling against against murky light for most of the week. I spent the afternoon in Litchfield having lunch and photographing the town. Tomorrow is supposed to be clear so I’ll come back for sunrise. Today’s posting is from a walk in the woods a little latter in the day.
NEW MILFORD, CONNECTICUT – Another grim, overcast day. While driving on back roads from New Milford to Kent, Connecticut. I spotted an odd structure: a run-down wooden ziggurat. I stopped to photograph it (despite the poor light). As I was working a woman stopped her car and told me its story. It was built by a man named J. Pol in the mid-1960s. His teenage daughter became pregnant; the State of Connecticut alleged that he was the father and took custody of the daughter away from him; he denied it and built the ziggurat as a memorial to is life with her.
