I could not stay in Strawberry Fields Forever

3/29/11

Times Square in the rain

It was a rainy day in New York so I went to join the tourists taking pictures in Times Square. It was sometime in the end of February when I went. It wasn't very cold but the more it rained, the more everyone cleared out. It was down to just a few of us with umbrellas and digital cameras. And then I was on my way too.

Tourists posing with umbrellas

Steam and cabs

Olive Garden, cabs and Wicked billboard

Trying not to slip on the slippery steps!

A man walking down the TKTS steps

3/22/11

Galleries in SoHo and the Lower East Side

On St. Patrick's Day I dressed in green but didn't get to pursue any green beer or the usual St. Patrick's Day shenanigans. Instead I went on a gallery crawl starting in SoHo and ending in the Lower East Side. But I left early... to go visit an Irish Pub!

Some galleries visited include: Gallery Nine 5, Jen Bekman, Dodge Gallery and Charles Bank Gallery.

3/9/11

The Armory arts show, 2011

The Armory Show—my photo friends and I go every year!

3 years ago on Saturday, March 7th, 2009 my friend Edward, who runs Wired New York, organized a meet-up for local photographers at the Armory Show out on Pier 94 by 12th Avenue and the Hudson River—and we've gone to the show every year since!

I have some past blog posts showing the contemporary art that I've admired at the show over the years, and here's another one:

"New York is a lot of work" - $1,000 worth of dollar bills foil stamped by Reed Seifer

From the 'Untitled' Gallery in New York - $576.60 worth of pennies
laid out on the floor by Los Angeles artist Ry Rocklen

From oliva arauna galeria - 'Three Women', consisting of one photograph,
six light projectors and six tripods.

The Armory Fence - site-specific neon installation by Ivan Navarro,
Displayed by Paul Kasmin Gallery

'I Love U' 2009 piece by Kira Kim, made of LED bulbs and mixed media pieces.
Shown by Kukje Gallery in Seoul, Korea and the Tina Kim Gallery in New York.

My friend and I taking pictures of a cool piece by Michelangelo Pistoletto
set up by the Giorgio Persano gallery

3/7/11

New York City Panorama at Queens Museum

The Queens Museum of Art in Flushing Meadows Corona Park is the setting for the New York City Panorama which was first displayed during the 1964/65 World's Fair. I've seen pictures of it on flickr and always meant to visit and see it for myself.

On President's Day the museum stayed open so during my visit to the park to see the snow, I stopped in to take some pictures of this special exhibit.

View of Manhattan on the Panorama

View of Central Park and the Upper East and Upper West side neighborhoods

View toward the Upper East Side and Queens

View of Midtown East and the Queensborough Bridge

JFK airport in Queens

Coney Island on the southern edge of Brooklyn

Close-up of Coney Island!

3/2/11

Flushing Meadows Corona Park—covered in snow

Over the 3-day Presidents Day Weekend, I was hoping to go somewhere new or different since I had the extra time off work. When I woke up that Monday morning and looked out my window to see a fresh layer of snow on the ground, I decided that after completing some chores, like doing laundry and getting lunch, I'd venture out to Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Flushing, Queens, to see the Unisphere and its surrounding 'meadows' blanketed in a light sheet of snow. I'd seen this place before, but I knew I wanted to see it again in the snow. It was either that or Coney Island, and I didn't really feel like going to the beach...

While there, I planned to visit the Queens Museum of Art for the first time to finally see the New York City Panorama—and I did! See next post for pictures...

2/27/11

Times Square on the coldest night of the year

I stopped by Times Square on what felt like the coldest night of the year. I had heard of the 'Lighthearted' structure that was set up by the tkts booth at 45th Street and Broadway. It had been set up for Valentine's Day and it was a few days later so I wasn't sure if it would still be there, since Valentine's Day was over, and it was!

While I was there, I decided to stop into the Visitor Center across the street to see what new set-ups they had inside (and mostly to warm up!)

The tkts sign - Mamma Mia is 40% off!

The 'Lighthearted' structure

There is a cool post by NYC <3 NYC here.

Inside the Times Square Visitor Center

The Wishing Wall

BROADWAY!

The New Year’s Eve Centennial Ball which dropped in 2007

1/10/11

Stopping by the park on a snowy evening

Not a cold nor icy wind could keep me from stopping by Central Park on a clear winter evening. Just before dusk, I ventured down a path at 86th Street and Central Park West toward the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir where I stopped to look out over the iced-over lake and admire the frosty white pieces of snow covering everything within view. The view out over the 106 acres of ice was quite chilling so I headed toward the Arthur Ross Pinetum, the northwestern playground of the Great Lawn of Central Park.

This is also my favorite spot in Central Park, where my two favorite benches sit inside an arboretum amid a collection of pine trees. I even spotted a lone cone on a lone pine!

From there I should have gone somewhere warm to nurse my cold back to health, not make it worse, but I decided to stay in the park a little longer and then found my way to Cleopatra's Needle, aka 'The Obelisk'. It looked amazing surrounded by snow-covered magnolias and crabapple trees. The Central Park conservancy was in the middle of giving a tour there so I listened in on a bit of the history of this sculpture, then eventually did leave the park for a trip downtown to get a warm drink and enjoy the rest of the evening.

Benches in the Arthur Ross Pinetum by 85th & CPW

The same two benches in summertime

Tree by The Great Lawn, surrounded by snow and the NYC skyline

The ballfields covered in a blanket of snow on The Great Lawn

A friend looking out over the reservoir

Footsteps on the ice?

The same spot in the summertime

The Obelisk in wintertime

1/6/11

Spiderman on Broadway

After my 8 hours of standing around in Times Square the other night (New Year's Eve), I didn't expect to find myself back on 42nd Street anytime soon, but an opportunity presented itself this past Tuesday so I just had to go back. My friend Joe from I Still Heart New York had an extra ticket to see Spiderman, Turn off the Dark on Broadway!

I'd been wanting to see the play for a while, but I'd heard so many bad reviews that I wasn't even sure it was still going on. It turns out previews were still taking place despite recent problems with stunts and injuries.

The show goes on, risks and all, and on this particular night, everything went smoothly. I went into it with low expectations and stepped out feeling like I'd seen the best up and coming play on Broadway. I enjoyed it more than The Lion King and Wicked. Everything from the plot, stunts (Spiderman flies above the audience!) and music were perfect. Except it was a little too long - about 3 hours. And it turns out, Bono from U2, who wrote and composed the play's music with The Edge, was in the audience as well that night!

The backdrop of NYC included the Chrysler Building and the Queensborough and Brooklyn Bridges, as well as Peter Parker's Queens High School and picturesque Forest Hills neighborhood. I wish I could have gotten a picture of these props and illustrations, but I only had the nerve to take pictures during the show's end, which as you can see to the audience revealed about 10 Spiderman stunt doubles!

1/2/11

New Year's Eve in Times Square

8 hours of standing still, unable to reach into my pockets because it was so crowded. 8 hours of watching a clock count down by seconds, minutes and long hours. 8 hours in a white michelin man coat when it was almost 50 degrees out. 8 hours surrounded by strangers who luckily, were pretty tame and well-behaved.... I did it!! I did Times Square for New Year's. It's been a goal of mine for several months now. Last year I went out of town and I couldn't stop thinking about how I should have stayed and gone for it, so this year I knew there was only one New Year's Eve option for me.

When I first got to Times Square around 3:45 pm, every inch of every block already seemed to be filled to capacity. I was standing at 47th and Broadway for a while but was kicked out by Police who decided to turn this perfect viewing spot into a safety zone. We were forced to leave Times Square and walk toward 8th Avenue. From there I realized I might not have a chance of getting back into Times Square, so I turned around and headed down to 46th along the barricades. Police weren't letting anyone else in, and I feared I wouldn't get to see the ball drop after all. But then one by one, a few of us were let into a clear area on Broadway, between the two performance stages where Ke$ha, The Backstreet Boys, New Kids on the Block and Taoi Cruz performed, and next to the American Eagle store and Bank of America. From there, my perfect view was born.

Some Nivea giveaways blocking my view