NEW YORK, NEW YORK – From a walk through Chelsea past the New School.
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Thursday October 7, 2010
Category: Street
NEW YORK, NEW YORK = Still stuck in all day meetings. The morning light as a walked cross town to my first of the day was sensational – one of those crystal clear Indian summer days that make life in the North Eastern US worthwhile. Here’s an image from the street. Shot with my Leica M9 and a 28mm summicron lens. Two frames stitched in Photoshop.
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Sunday August 29, 2010
NAIROBI, KENYA – Here we are – out last day in Kenya. We went on a “food safari” in local markets with Hubert des Marais (an American from the Carolinas), a prominent chef who has become Fairmont’s executive chef in Kenya (or maybe East Africa). Our first stop was a large covered farmers’ market where local residents bring vegetables grown on plots in Nairobi.
Cell phones are the primary means of communications; many residents lack electric power so business that offer the charge cell phones, like this one in the market, are common.
There’s a food court in the food market where it possible to buy lunch. The word “hotel” on the sign means “restaurant” in this context.
The largest foreign food influence is Indian. The Indians were brought in by the English to build the railroad from Mombasa to Lake Victoria. Indians also came to the region as traders, merchants and professionals. Here we see an Indian pastry shop.
This is a former aircraft hanger, from the era when the airstrip was in the middle of Nairobi, converted to a mall for small merchants.
Hubert des Marais at lunch at Chowpaty, a terrific Indian dive. In terms of Indian regional cuisines, what we appeared to see was everything pretty much mixed together.
Finally before packing for our flight back to New York we managed a few hours in the Nairobi National Museum. It focuses on primarily on natural history, ethnography and geology, geared roughly to a high school student. Here is a group of high school students lined up for admission:
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Monday August 16, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Starbucks, 87th Street and Lexington Avenue. Could be anywhere in the world.
Leica M9 and 35mm Summicron v. IV.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – This detail caught my eye on a building on East 55th Street: a shield-shaped sign on a townhouse referring to “She who must be obeyed. With a little digging around I found that this is the US headquarters of a company called D. L. Taffner, the producer of a television show called “Rumpole of the Bailey.” Rumpole’s wife on the show is referred to as “She Who Must Be Obeyed.” According to the New York Times: “Eleanor is Eleanor Taffner, the wife of Donald L. Taffner Sr., the founder of D. L. Taffner, a television production and distribution company. That sign has been out there since 1983, said Mr. Taffner, who is retired. . . . ‘Truck drivers point up to it and just love it,’ he added.”
Anyway – here’s the image:
Leica M9 and 90mm Elmarit lens. Three frames stitched.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – We had dinner at Balthazar with some old friends. Balthazar is a wormhole in space and time transporting one to Brassaï’s Paris de Nuit.
Leica M9 and 50mm Summilux lens
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Tuesday July 27, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – The Metropolitan Club at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 60th Street. The club was organized in the late 19th century by JP Morgan for his steel baron clients who were generally not welcome at the Union Club, the bastion of New York society at the time. From Wikipedia: “JP Morgan served as its first president. Other original members included William K. Vanderbilt and James Roosevelt. Its 1912 clubhouse, designed by Stanford White, stands at 1-11 East 60th Street, on the northeast corner of 5th Avenue. The land on which the Clubhouse stands – 100 feet fronting on Fifth Avenue and 200 feet on 60th Street – was acquired from the Duchess of Marlborough who signed the purchase agreement in the United States Consulate in London. Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, who represented the Governors, signed for the Club.”
Leica M9 with 90mm Elmarit lens.