Red Hook, New York There’s an article in the Guardian from a few days ago linking the increasing harassment of photographers to the general fear of terrorism. I think there’s some truth to that. The author also relates it to movie plots in which terrorists seem always to be casing the joint with a camera. […]

Wozocos • MVRDV • Amsterdam For those of you who saw the architecture edition of the New York Times magazine and who are looking for photographs of MVRDV buildings, here’s a good place to start. SilodamWozocosYpenburg houses

Robber Barons by Studio Job–corporate greed in bronze (digital) One of the primary purposes of this journal is to chart my course through the city–and elsewhere–and comment, where appropriate, on the things I see, neighborhoods I walk through, architecture I encounter, exhibits I visit. Sometimes I go out with my 4×5 view camera, and take […]

A telephone building in Tribeca (digital) Scattered around Manhattan, particularly lower Manhattan, there are a number of telephone skyscrapers, buildings that were built principally to hold switching equipment and the like. One especially unlovely blank walled monolith near the Brooklyn Bridge is likely to be transformed into a glass windowed office tower. Western Union building […]

Ground Zero/WTC (digital) Made another walk with my view camera down to Ground Zero/WTC. Construction continues mostly below ground focused especially on the transportation infrastructure. WTC 7 is the only finished building that replaces anything lost on 9/11, but eventually new towers will rise from what is still a giant hole in the ground. Pedestrian […]

Somewhere in Soho just off Broadway (4×5 film) Like many kids in the early 60s, I was a fan of John F. Kennedy. I kept a plaque in my bedroom with Kennedy’s famous “ask not” quote embossed on it. He was the first president I knew, and his natural eloquence and character formed my understanding […]

Canal Street at Sixth Avenue and Thompson Had a visitor yesterday from the Bay Area, architect friend David Kesler. I gave him a speed tour of a large chunk of lower Manhattan: the Bowery, the East Village, Lower East Side, across Soho to the area around Canal Street where it borders Tribeca. David Kesler in […]

Under the Manhattan Bridge (digital) First of all, a large international festival in New York dedicated to contemporary photography is a great idea. Second of all, locating it in Dumbo, the atmospheric neighborhood of warehouse and factory buildings beneath the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges is brilliant. A few years ago, powerHouse Books, the photo book […]

Blogger is currently on the fritz for those of us on our own ftp servers. I have not been able to upload images for the past 24 hours or so. So, please stand by. UPDATE: After twiddling my thumbs in frustration that none of my photos were loading, I resorted to cutting and pasting code […]

Dumbo, Brooklyn (digital – Sigma DP1) I spent a few hours each day, Saturday and Sunday, at the New York Photo Festival. I’ll have a number of things to say about the festival later, but first I’d like to comment on a new camera I’m trying out. It’s the Sigma DP1, a point and shoot […]

Orchard Street (digital) After shooting a building for a client in Midtown in the morning, I spent several hours with the view camera on the Lower East Side. I returned to a spot on Orchard Street that I had looked at previously without my camera, and set up a view with tenements and a new […]

David Massengill and Jack Hardy Did some pictures yesterday for songwriters Jack Hardy and David Massengill who are doing a number of gigs together as the Folk Brothers (with a smirk). Jack has sometimes used an ancient typewriter as a symbol of his attitude toward writing songs–a craft rooted in old traditions, resistant to, though […]

East 4th Street and the Bowery (4×5 film) The 4×5 version of the image posted earlier. Samuel Tredwell Skidmore House in foreground; new hotel tower by Carlos Zapata.

Alex Harsely (digital) Ran into Alex Harsley, the photographer, on Second Avenue yesterday. He nailed me with his cell phone, so I returned fire. Later, I went by his gallery/studio on East 4th Street with my son Brendan. Alex is busy with videos these days, but it’s his remarkable still photography that interests me the […]

Houston Street and the Bowery (digital) A recreated Keith Haring mural, Barack Obama, and Grand Theft Auto IV conjoin at Houston and Bowery. I shot about 10 sheets of 4×5 film from several different angles with different arrangements of people and cars. The Obama poster is more prominent in some. It’s probably the most photographed […]

Jack Hardy with songwriters at his apartment on Houston Street. (digital)It’s been a while since I wrote a song–something I’ve been doing since I was 20 years old–what with photography and family responsibilities taking up my time. Last Monday I went Jack Hardy’s weekly songwriter meeting at his battered tenement apartment on Houston Street in […]

Third Avenue and St. Marks Place (digital) Fifth Avenue and 57th Street (digital) Museum of Modern Art (digital)

The weather was beautiful today in New York. Cool, but crisp and comfortable. I worked on an assignment in the early morning light, and in the late afternoon walked up the Bowery north of Houston Street doing several photographs with the view camera around 3rd and 4th Streets. East 4th Street and the Bowery (digital) […]