20
Dec
2009
Churchill & New York City
What a truly random combination of work, but it’s what I have to discuss right now!
As I prepare to prepare (yes, I’m that far behind) for my trip to Ireland, I’m doing my best to finish editing my NYC photos. It’s a fair bet, however, that while I may post them in my gallery on my website, nothing new is going to make its way to my prints until I’m back.
I encourage you all to take a look at the NYC photos I’ve posted thus far and will likely add to in the next week (so check back).
Mark Tisdale – Sept 2009 in NYC Gallery
There’s already some photos in there of which I’m very proud. And as is often the fact, I look at them and ponder when I might make it back to explore more of what I saw. Not tomorrow by any stretch, but someday I expect.
Lady Liberty Lifts Her Light
Knowing my sometime predictable luck, it should be no surprise that the boat ride on my first day in New York was as close as I ever got to the famous Statue of Liberty. Bad weather the morning I intended on visiting left this my best view, but it was not bad at all. The statue is a true treasure, and my photos that day gave me an excuse to do something a little more artistic, creating this many layered image to resemble an old color postcard.
New York Rhythm
This is one image I was quite taken with. It does require a small amount of explanation, though. I am quite near sighted and have an astigmatism. I would not get far in the world without my glasses. I was on a night tour of the city and took my glasses off for a second and glanced down a side street. This is more or less what I saw. And I loved the view, the city boiled down to its chaotic best. Lights without form! It suddenly occurred to me that I could reproduce this for my camera by putting it out of focus. So, you can see the world as I saw it. I played with this off and on the rest of the evening, and may post more but this first try was my favorite.
And now that you’ve seen some New York City, I can jump to Winston Churchill, because the connection is obvious isn’t it? Maybe you don’t know that the iconic prime minister of the United Kingdom, in fact, had American ties? His mother was born in Rochester, New York, and was raised in Brooklyn and New York City. So yes, there is a connection between New York and the famous British Bulldog. However, truth be told, there’s a different reason I’m posting this one. A couple of days ago, I was contacted by a would be buyer who really liked my photo of the statue of Winston Churchill silhouetted in front of London’s Big Ben. However, she had a special request that I fulfilled.
She wanted me to include the Churchill quotation that I have always included with the description of this piece on the print itself. And I think it was an excellent request! I’m really happy with the result and wanted to share it. I think it definitely helps anchor and explain the image and it was almost as if I left that massive base just for this purpose. I wish I could have been that forward thinking! Anyway, here’s hoping she enjoys it when she receives it!
24
Sep
2009
Rhythms Of New York
New York Rhythm
It’s always funny to meet people in other parts of the world who have been to cities in your own country that you’ve never seen before. I’ve often felt I was saving those for later years when I might be less able or willing to endure 8 to 12 hour flights, or maybe I just needed an excuse. An excuse finally entered the picture for New York City, a place until recently that I had seen out the window of a plane a few times but in which I had never set foot before. But having two friends from a past trip (Costa Rica and Nicaragua) in town was all the excuse I needed to finally wet my feet in the city that never sleeps.
I flew out of Savannah’s airport. For some mystic reason known only to the airlines, it was the cheapest place relatively nearby to fly directly to New York. Atlanta’s only cheaper flight involved a connection in Fort Lauderdale – c’mon that’s not even in the right direction! And I have to say, if you ever have reason to use Savannah’s airport, it’s really nice. I mean, like the resort spa of airports, clean and new with rocking chairs in the terminal! Now, there aren’t a ton of options for eats after you’ve cleared security but security is so short, you could grab a meal before!
New York’s Laguardia was the antithesis of Savannah’s airport. While it was no dump, it was pretty much just another airport, and the only public transit connection to Laguardia is the bus. There are a few Queens buses, but I had to jump aboard the only Manhattan bound bus, the M60! This is almost an experience on par with chicken buses in Latin America! I could never understand the driver’s communications regarding stops and as it was peak travel time, the bus got more and more crowded as we made our way across the top of Manhattan. I ended up getting off several stops early – a bit of confusion over where I thought he said we were combined with the maddening crush of people entering through the rear door of the bus (thus avoiding paying a fare). It was only after I walked to the nearest station that I realized I either had a long jumble of trains and stations to make my destination on the upper West side or a walk to the correct train station. I guess hypothetically joining another M60 bus was an option, but I was having none of that, so I proceeded to walk along 125th Street in, yes, Harlem. Now, I’ve heard Harlem is far and away not the place of our collective historic memory today, but I can tell you I was a bit out of place. Still, I was pretty much ignored as I beat the street with my bloody heavy pack (my camera stuff probably weighed as much if not more than my clothes).
I spent only 5 nights there, and that’s not nearly enough time to even begin to take in all there is to see and do in the Big Apple. The first night I had dinner and caught up with Lenny and James, who had both been before. This of course meant that I was doing a lot of my own stuff since I was a newbie there. And I definitely think I squeezed in as much as I could, not even having time to blog about it while there – very unusual for me while traveling! If I hadn’t had my iPhone, I wouldn’t have even checked email, etc.
The first full day I had a late start but made my way to an office near Times Square to trade in a voucher I pre-purchased for a few bus loops around the city to get my bearings. I’ve done similar tours in other cities and found they were a pretty good way to see a city, getting to hop on and off a pre-calculated route. In retrospect, I definitely bit off more than I could chew, having paid for ALL of their bus loops plus a boat tour! This all had to be completed in 48 hours, which means a lot of my first two days were spent on buses! If you’re ever going to NYC and you think you might do a bus trip, just get one loop, my advice would be the downtown bus tour. Save Brooklyn and the upper end of Manhattan for either another trip or your own wanderings. I felt obligated to take the bus rides but just didn’t have time to get off in either place.
The boat ride was probably one of the highlights for me. We saw the city from the water and it’s here that you can really appreciate how unreal New York is. With every square inch bustling with towering buildings, it feels like something computer generated. Maybe a New Yorker wouldn’t feel this way, but when you grow up in a town with nothing over 2 stories, anything this big seems impossible! The boat tour also included a run out to the Statue of Liberty where we could appreciate her from the water and get some photos. This would turn out to be my only really good view of the statue the whole week I was there! But you could almost imagine seeing it as all those people processed through Ellis Island must have.
I definitely felt like I saw all the highlights, either from the bus or on my own two feet. I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge three times! And no one tried to sell it to me even once! Darn it! I went to the top of Rockefeller Center – The Top of the Rock as it’s known to see the sunset with Lenny and James. The view was phenomenal, more of that vast city stretching to the water on one end and vanishing past the green tranquility of Central Park on the other. If you can only pick one building to go up, I’d probably make it this one, but I also went up to the 86th floor of the Empire State building one cool and blustery evening. I skipped the chance to shell out more $ to see the 104th floor as I was already blown to bits by the wind on the 86th! The view from way up is still magical even on a not so pretty night, I have to say!
The morning I had planned to go see the Statue of Liberty in person turned out to be a rainy morning. I decided that despite having paid the handsome sum of $12 for my tickets, seeing it in a driving rain didn’t make my heart go pitter pat and instead decided it was museum day! There are enough choices to make your head spin in NYC, but I ended up going with the venerable MoMA – Museum of Modern Art. It was an excellent choice even though my appreciation of modern art varies. I love the photography exhibit. They had a lot of quite old examples of photography with all sorts of mystical methods of creating the shots on up to examples of photos taken to document the times in the 1930’s in the US. I spent the bulk of my time right there before doing a, by comparison, world wind tour of the rest of the building. Where in the photography area, I pretty dutifully looked at every photo, once I got loose in the rest, it didn’t bother my conscience to bypass the works that didn’t call to me. I was at least impressed when I did like something enough to check it out to see the names of Picasso, Matisse, van Gogh, Dali, and Warhol. I guessed if I was picking those artists works I wasn’t a complete cretin. Maybe I have a little taste after all. LOL
During my time in NYC, although meals were not cheap, they were certainly varied, I had some good New York style Pizza at Grimaldi’s in Brooklyn (supposedly the best there is and I can attest it was good – and there was a line stretching down the block even for take out!). I had scrumptious cheesecake at the Junior’s in Time’s Square, and I ate Brazilian food at Rice n Beans! While I am and always have been terribly finicky, New York is definitely the place to go for any of you foodies out there, I suspect you could live there for years and keep finding new foods! I mostly sampled the “must tries” but thanks to being there with friends also scored a few new things such as the Brazilian place.
The last day in NYC was reserved for a group activity since the weather, which turned gloomy mid-week was better and most of the trip was us catching up over dinner since I was off doing my own thing. We took a bus out to East Hampton to see where the rich and famous like to spend their holidays. The Hamptons weren’t all about celebs, but the property prices in East Hampton certainly seemed to be aimed at folks with above average means. So, of course, it goes without saying that all the buildings were fairly gorgeous, the shops were high end, and my favorite part was still walking on that long beach, even if sand was blowing at us pretty much the whole time. It was a nice laid back way to end a hectic week. In fact, we even had Mexican at lunch, my favorite comfort food.
By contrast, my dinner that night was an Italian chicken sandwich and, oh my gosh, real gelato! I had tried some in Savannah, and it was okay but this was definitely the real deal. And of all places to find it, the food court at Grand Central Station (a phenom place to visit even if you aren’t going to board a train). Grand Central was very much a microcosm of the US. Gorgeous old architecture, renovated not so long ago, many dining options including sit down restaurants and a food court, plus something akin to a high end farmer’s market, and I got to watch homeless people dig through the trash for the left overs. Sad to say, this is America.
In the grand scheme of things, NYC was quite a fun place to visit, and ironically I’ve felt more ill at ease in many places in Atlanta than I felt anywhere I went in New York. Yet still, I’m going to have to say that it was not a place that spoke to my heart the way some others have. I may well go back one day but I also don’t feel an urgent need to just now. If you ever decide to visit, don’t overload on the bus tours (book one maybe and then get a good subway/bus map and do the rest yourself), and be prepared not to do everything you thought you would do, because even if the city never sleeps, you will!
22
Sep
2009
Atlanta Icons – Architecture of The City
This is the second in my series of Atlanta Icons, while the first focused on Restaurants, this one will be all the rest of the Atlanta area scenery that I captured while working on this body of work.
Checkmate
In my opinion, a couple of the most recognizable buildings in Atlanta will be familiar to any commuter on the north side of the City. These towers, officially Concourse Corporate Center V and VI, are known to the locals as the King and Queen towers due to the stylized decorations at the pinnacles of each building. These buildings are located in Sandy Springs just north of I-285 and east of Georgia 400. They were completed in 1988 and 1991 and have the distinction of being the tallest towers in a suburban setting in the USA. This photo captures them against a vibrant winter sky just before dusk.
Fabulous Fox
There’s a joke that every street in Atlanta has the word “Peachtree” in it. And it’s no joke that there are a lot of Peachtree courts, and avenues, and boulevards named for Georgia’s official fruit, but there’s only one Peachtree Street and only one Fabulous Fox. The Fox Theater was one of several old movie houses in the city and one of the last of the grand ones left. It opened in the 1920’s and came close to being destroyed in the 1970’s. But the local populace, having watched one movie palace after another razed, fought to save the Fox for future generations to enjoy.
Fox On Peachtree
One photo of this old dear on Peachtree was not enough! This one, taken with a fisheye lens, allows you to really take in the full street scene and almost feel as if you’re standing there right in front of the marquee for the Fabulous Fox. This was actually taken not long before I bid farewell to Altanta on a final walk through the city.
Atlanta Roxy
The Roxy Theater in the Buckhead neighborhood in Atlanta started life as the Buckhead Theater in 1930, so it’s a bit younger than the Fox, but in that same general age range. It, however, was built for movies with their own soundtracks rather than subtitles and organ music. It changed names a few times over the years and eventually settled into life in the Buckhead Bar district that grew up around it, becoming a venue for live music. The city eventually squashed the bar scene in Buckhead when the headlines around it became a bit too big. The last I heard the Roxy was being renovated and possibly redeveloped for other uses.
The Future Is Today
I’m not sure if everyone would put this into the icon category, but for me the title fits. This is the rooftop lounge at the Atlanta Hyatt Regency Hotel. It’s been diminished by the buildings surrounding it, but when it was built, this space age restaurant sat at the top of Atlanta’s skyline and its said that it was the place to gofor noon meetings. The building was designed by John Portman, and this modernist gem features the first use of a full atrium in a hotel – a now common feature of hotels all over. Much of Atlanta’s modernist architecture has met with the wrecking ball, but one hopes this one will stick around.
The High
Atlanta has a pretty long history of supporting the arts. What we know today as the High Museum began life in 1905 as The Atlanta Art Association. It came to be known as the High when the High family donated their home on Peachtree Street to house the growing collection in 1926. It’s changed a lot since and continues to evolve. The current modern buildings began in 1983 and were expanded upon in 2002. The High continues to be one of the leading museums of the Southeastern US having a diverse and growing collection as well as working with museums around the world to bring temporary exhibitions such as works from the Louvre and the Terracotta Army from China in recent years.
To see even more of Atlanta and prints from other cities around the USA, please check out my Urban America Prints. For part one of this series, please check out Atlanta Icons – Let’s Eat.
17
Sep
2009
St Pauls Cathedral
St Paul’s Cathedral is certainly an icon of London. The images of the great dome standing above the smoke of WWII is certainly one that will live in our collective conscious for years to come. Officially the Cathedral Church of Paul the Apostle, the church is at least the 5th St Paul’s to sit on this site. The first according to Bede was built in 604 AD.
Crossing Over
This photo was taken from the pedestrian bridge that connects Bankside with the City of London. It’s taken at a very shallow depth of field in order to accomplish the dreamy feel of this image. The only thing in focus at all is the dome and the mass of humanity before it become little more than a blur. This church was built after the last was destroyed by the great fire in 1666. The fire leveled the city but remarkably took no human life. The fire shaped everything about the city we know today, built in stone to lower the risk of fire consuming it. The dome was a point of much debate. The architect, the renowned Sir Christopher Wren was determined that the new St Paul’s would have a dome like St. Peter’s in Rome. Several iterations of the design were rejected before Wren decided not to show any more models to the public for criticism. When it was completed in 1708, some loved it, some hated it, and others couldn’t care either way. Today it’s hard to imagine the sky line of the old city without it.
Old And New
Another view of St. Paul’s From Bankside. The view is much changed since WWII. The buildings adjacent to the Thames were destroyed in the war and newer generations of buildings have grown up between the River and the cathedral. And more recently, the millennium bridge was built as a pedestrian walkway to connect the City of London with Bankside on opposite sides of the River Thames. London as a city has never gotten stuck in a particular style. As a growing metropolis, new and exciting architecture is always fighting for space beside the classics. Much as the classics, these are sometimes met with mixed reactions. When the Millennium bridge was completed in 2000, there was a noticeable wobble and the bridge was closed, repaired and reopened in 2002. This led to its nickname The Wobbly Bridge.
Iconic St Paul's
Another black and white image of St. Paul’s. The depth of field and processing was intended to provide a little of the feel of the old images of St. Paul’s amidst the smoke from the Blitz of WWII.
To see more of London and Great Britain, please check out my Britain Prints Gallery.
15
Sep
2009
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge (informally Cambridge University) is the second oldest university in the English speaking world. It was established in 1209 and consists of 31 colleges dotted around the landscape of modern Cambridge.
Kings From The Cam
The Backs is the view of the colleges from the River Cam. The chapel on the right is quintessential Cambridge. This Chapel is both the symbol of Kings and the logo of the city council of Cambridge. Although locally the college is simply referred to as Kings, this is King’s College of Our Lady and St. Nicholas in Cambridge. Established in 1441 by Henry VI, the gothic styled chapel took a hundred years to complete.
Kings
This is the street side view of Kings – you can really feel that gorgeous gothic style in this black and white print. The exterior height of the chapel is 94 feet tall and the interior ceiling contains the largest fan vaulting in the world.
Emma
This college is known as “Emma” locally – it is Emmanuel College. It was established in 1584 and intended to be a place of religious training for puritans. It’s scope has broadened over the years, but it had strong ties to the Puritans of New England. In fact, Harvard University was named for an alumni of Emma, John Harvard. The baroque building in the center is the chapel and was designed by the renowned English architect, Sir Christopher Wren in 1677. The care of the lawn here is apparent down to the little green garden tractor you’ll see waiting parked in front of the chapel!
This is only a taste of Cambridge. It would easily take days to document all the colleges never mind the rest of the architecture in this city. I hope I get the opportunity to some day. To see more of England and the UK, please check out my Britain Prints Gallery.
