Category: Photographers/Photography

My 15 year old son Brendan had a school photography assignment to do this weekend — to make pictures of his family. When given the option to take painting or drawing, or architectural rendering, Brendan thought it would be “easier” to take photography, given that’s what his father does. We had a little time Saturday afternoon to take pictures before guests came over for dinner. So, Brendan and I walked around the Williamsburg waterfront together taking turns shooting with my Sigma DP 1.

Here’s Brendan:

North 3rd Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn — © Brian Rose

Brendan wanted to take off the cuff pictures of me walking around, and we did some of those. But one of my favorites is something in between. Despite all the development in this part of Williamsburg, there are still desolate areas — some fenced in industrial sites — that will not be there long. I stopped along a chain link fence with the skyline behind me. The light was beautiful.

Here’s Brendan’s photo of me:

River Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn — © Brendan Rose

And finally, a snapshot I did looking, more or less, in the other direction.

North 3rd Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn — © Brian Rose

Metamorphosis is on sale at the Friends of the High Line shop, both online and at their outdoor kiosk. Today, I did a quick box count of my inventory, and determined that I have 475 books left out of 1,000 printed. Over 50% sold since the book was released at the beginning of June.

The Atlantic’s CityLab, a web journal about urban issues. An article about Metamorphosis, Meatpacking District 1985 + 2013, and an interview. This is one is definitely worth clicking through to.

From the interview:
Manhattan is now about the nexus of money, technology, and the arts. In the old days, you could come here without a firm agenda—a dream was enough. Now you need a business plan.

Under the High Line — © Brian Rose

Building the Future of New York.

Another article and interview. This one a British design and culture web magazine.

End of summer musings, Hudson, New York.

© Brian Rose

© Brian Rose

© Brian Rose

© Brian Rose

© Brian Rose

Above is the future home of the Marina Abramovic performance art center.

In the middle of doing an exhibition at Dillon Gallery, and releasing my book about the Meatpacking District, I got a very special architectural photography assignment. The newly renovated Sterling Memorial Library at Yale University. It’s one of the most awe inspiring buildings in the Collegiate Gothic style. Designed by James Gamble Rogers, it was completed in 1930. It follows the basic form of a cathedral with central nave, side aisles, transept, and sanctuary.

From Wikipedia:  A mural in Yale University’s Sterling Memorial Library depicts the Alma Mater as a bearer of light and truth standing in the midst of the personified arts and sciences, painted in 1932 by Eugene Savage. Throughout the building the various crafts of the period are celebrated — stained glass, stone carving, decorative painting, and cabinetry. Those elements, combined with the lightness and airiness of the architecture, make it a 1930s building. There are even hints of Art Deco in the tower housing the book stacks rising behind the nave.

The nave — © Brian Rose

The transept — © Brian Rose

Alma Mater — © Brian Rose

The side aisle/lounge — © Brian Rose

The side aisle/lounge — © Brian Rose

The building was restored mostly to its original appearance. The card files, which are no longer used, hide heating, air conditioning, and electronic systems. It’s essentially a modern building underneath. It was a two day shoot and a ton of post production Photoshop work. But what a privilege to get this kind of a job. The preservation architecture was done by Helpern Architects.

For those who missed it, a few images of my exhibition last month at Dillon Gallery.

Dillon Gallery exhibition, August 2014 — © Brian Rose

Williamsburg street scene — © Brian Rose

Without comment

10th Avenue and West 25th Street — © Brian Rose

Along the High Line.

Spoonbill and Sugartown book store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn — © Brian Rose

New!!! — Brian Rose — Signed — Meatpacking
Walked down the street yesterday and discovered my name in lights, or rather on a whiteboard.

An interview in Joe Bonomo’s blog No Such Thing As Was.

I want to engage and provoke, but not preach. I want people to overlay their own mental maps of the city onto mine, and in the process look at things differently, see things freshly, re-examine their relationship to the familiar. The story in these pictures is yours as much as it is mine.

Interview in Cool Hunting. Takeaway quote:

But in 1985 you could stand alone in the middle of Washington Street surrounded by this all encompassing decrepitude, almost post-apocalyptic in its emptiness, and you’d find yourself saying, “This is fantastic. This is unreal.” There was a kind of perfection in that moment. But at the same time, you knew that it was a lie. That people were dying of AIDS, people were strung out on drugs, and buildings were crumbling.

A lengthy interview in American Photo. Kind of rambling all over the place, but maybe in an interesting way in that I occasionally veer off from my usual talking points. I describe waiting for something to happen on the street while doing the “after” view of Washington Street and West 13th.

You go back here and you stand in the same spot and you think—okay, this looks kind of antiseptic compared to the way it did before. I would just camp out for 15-30 minutes and just kind of watch the flow of what is going on. When you are standing there for a period of time, there is constant flow of people, so the sense is that it’s busy. When you do a little slice of time it can actually seem empty. You only have one half a second and you just catch a few people. A lot of times you have to wait for things to happen to activate the frame a little bit. This is another one — I was there for 15-20 minutes and wasn’t too excited about what I was getting and the suddenly this car comes screeching around the corner with these guys in sunglasses and this vintage top down convertible and it just screamed at me: “This is who we are now. This is what we do now.”

But the best takeaway from the interview, perhaps, is this:

I think the sense that people have of then and now is too easy a way of trying to understand places…. You start to understand that there is some other kind of space between then and now. There is another kind of landscape that is out of time that I’m looking for. I’m looking forward and backward at the same time. I’m not a sentimental kind of photographer. I don’t really go for that kind of thing. I wanted to stay away from doing a nostalgia book. I wanted it to be a book about now and where we have come from.

The whole interview in American Photo is here.

Washington Street, 1985 — © Brian Rose

Bob Hill from his blog I Fear Brooklyn:

Brian Rose has done the same for the Lower West Side with Metamorphosis that he and Edward Fausty previously did for the Lower East via Time & Space. Both exhibits ooze sweet melancholia, reminiscent of a scene from Season One of Mad Men during which department store heiress Rachel Menken explains: “Utopia – the Greeks had two meanings for it: eu-topos, meaning ‘the good place,’ and ou-topos, meaning ‘the place that cannot be.’” Time and again, Brian Rose has done an exemplary job of negotiating a 30-year difference between the two.

Metamorphosis is now available on my website, and I will be getting the book into stores soon. Most of the Kickstarter books have been sent out. The exhibition at Dillon Gallery runs through August 15.

I will be at Dillon Gallery for the Chelsea Art Walk from 5 – 8pm this evening, July 24. My new book, Metamorphosis, will be available for purchase and signing. If you missed the opening a week ago, It’s your second chance. Hope to see you there.

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Dillon Gallery
555 West 25th Street
(between 10th and 11th Avenues)

It has been two years and one month since I released Time and Space on the Lower East Side. The trade edition of the book is now “sold out.” Approximately 1,000 copies sold. There are still a few books floating around in stores, and I know that my gallery still has some. Anyone who wants a copy should contact me directly, and I will see what I can do to find one for you.

The limited edition is still available. It comes in a slipcover with an 8×10 print inside. $250. The limited edition can be ordered here.

After a couple of years of promoting Time and Space, it’s sad to see it go. At the same time, however, my new book Metamorphosis: Meatpacking District 1985 + 2013 is now available. The books arrived last week, and I am now busy sending them out to Kickstarter backers and those who pre-ordered. Metamorphosis can be order here.

The two books together make a great set, and in another couple of years, I hope to come out with a third — WTC — photographs of the World Trade Center from 1978 to the present.

Last week’s opening at Dillon Gallery was a success despite rainy weather. The exhibit of my Meatpacking District photographs will be up through August 15. Don’t miss the chance to see these stunning 4×5 foot prints.

I am pleased to announce the opening of my second exhibition at Dillon Gallery in New York. The show will include a dozen 4×5 foot prints from Metamorphosis, my book about the Meatpacking District. I am hoping that books will be available at the opening, but I am still waiting for the shipment. At the very least, there will be a few copies of the book in the gallery.

Look forward to seeing you there.

Dillon Gallery
555 West 25th Street
New York, New York

July 15 – August 15

Exhibition Opening and Book Launch
Tuesday, July 15, 6-8PM

brianrose.com/metamorphosis.htm