A recent comment on my blog led me to do some research on the time when I first put down roots in New York. It was the summer of 1977, and I had just come by train to the city arriving before dawn, and parked myself in an all night coffee shop in the West […]

Paris 1981 `– © Brian Rose My first trip to Europe was in 1981 to France where I was exhibiting my photographs of the Lower East Side in the city of Nancy as part of a theater festival. The focus of the festival that year was the Downtown New York scene, and my photographs provided […]

Metamorphosis, Meatpacking District 1985 + 2013 It has been 16 months since my book Metamorphosis, Meatpacking District 1985 + 2013 was published, and there are now about 250 books left of the print run of a thousand. Based on my experience with Time and Space on the Lower East Side, I expect it to sell […]

I can remember back in the 90s when it seemed that New York had become an architectural backwater. I was living in Amsterdam, and a Dutch planner friend, about to leave for a trip to New York, asked what interesting new buildings to look for. I was momentarily silent — nothing immediately came to mind. […]

In the Shadow of the Highway: Robert Moses’ Expressway and the Battle for Downtown — © Brian Rose One of my Lower East Side photographs is part of an interesting exhibition about one of Robert Moses’ last projects, a proposed elevated highway that would have connected the Holland Tunnel to the Williamsburg Bridge and an […]

Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) and Spring Street — © Brian Rose Early morning, autumn sun — moving through a lattice of light and steel.

Suzanne Vega, 1980 — © Brian Rose Tom’s Diner again…and again…and again. Suzanne Vega’s a capella song poem set in an Upper West Side diner is back on the charts. Brittany Spears, if you can believe it, is the latest pop star to cover it — or smother it — whatever. Here’s the song (you’ve […]

Hilla Becher died on Saturday at the age of 81. Her husband and partner Bernd died some years ago at age 75. A few years ago I posted the image below and the following short comment. There’s a lot you can say about the Bechers, but fewer words probably better suit their methodology. September 9, […]

WTC 2 Observation Deck, 1981 — © Brian Rose/Edward Fausty The Walk, a new movie by filmmaker Robert Zemeckis tells the story of Philippe Petit, the French street performer, who clandestinely strung a cable between the Twin Towers – still under construction in 1974 — and proceeded to tightrope back and forth 110 stories above lower […]

Echo Park, the Bronx — © Brian Rose New York Art Book Fair, MoMA PS1 — © Brian Rose Joey Ramone/CBGB mural, Bleecker and Bowery, by Solus x Crash — © Brian Rose Random images from the past few days.

The Garden of Eden on Eldridge Street, 1980 — © Brian Rose/Edward Fausty Adam Purple, 1930 – 2015 I knew about Adam Purple back when I photographed the Lower East Side in 1980. He was impossible to miss riding around on his bicycle dressed in tie-dyed purple. I made the photograph above of his famous […]

Berry Street — © Brian Rose Without comment.

A series of photographs made in a 45 minute time period along the Big Sandy River in Wyoming. A small storm skirted the area. There were a few rumbles of thunder, but relatively little rain. As the storm passed by, the sun shone through against a dark backdrop of sky. Returning to the Big Sandy […]

Borden Avenue, Queens — © Brian Rose (digital camera) Several months ago I spotted a 9/11 mural in an obscure location underneath the Long Island Expressway in Queens. I was driving back from one of my son’s baseball tournaments on Long Island. It took me a while to get back there — in fact, re-finding it […]

Somewhere in Queens — © Brian Rose Funland New York City.

Philip Glass, Suzanne Vega, and Anton Sanko, 1989 — © Brian Rose I heard recently from a friend looking for a photograph I had taken years ago during a recording session with Suzanne Vega. So, I dug back into my archive, found the film, and began scanning the negatives. I remember that it was difficult […]

Williamsburg 2011-2015. Four photographs made on the same corner — N 6th Street and Bedford Avenue.  The wall painting changes frequently, every couple of weeks, and life passes by — people dance, compose poetry, make music, and otherwise maintain the cool vibe. But watch out for the baby strollers.

The Bowery — © Brian Rose Without comment.