Ever since I photographed Spaceport America in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico in 2016, I have wanted to visit the Eero Saarinen designed TWA Terminal at JFK In New York. It reopened in 2019 as the TWA Hotel and as the year came to a close, I found an opportunity to photograph the design-heavy iconic building.
A fantastic evening with the Stanley Clarke Band at NYC Blue Note.
2015…and all points in between
This video montage starts in the aftermath of New Years Eve in Times Square in the very early hours of January 1, 2015, and ends back in New York City at the end of the year – just as the lights of lower Manhatten had started to welcome twilight from the banks of the East River. The five minutes in between are a collection of favorite images from the past year covering the many corners of Maine … Rockland, North Haven, Rangeley, Houlton, Rumford, Machias, Deer Isle, Carrabassett Valley … and beyond.
The trumpet infused soundtrack Break’n The Mold by Rebecca Coupe Franks has been licensed through vimeo.
At the end of the video are links to view my end of the year montages for 2014 and 2013. Feel free to leave a comment as I would love to hear your thoughts.
What a great way to finish a truly wonderful year…seeing an all time favorite, Garland Jeffreys, in concert at Joe’s Pub in NYC. Exceeding high expectations, Mr. Jeffreys and his band delivered on all counts and left the crowd hungry for more. Bringing in tunes that spanned his career, he sang with passion and delivered the ever-relevant lyrics with heart and gusto. My night was complete upon hearing “Hail Hail Rock ‘n’ Roll” … a tune for the ages!
What a treat it was to see Nobuyuki Tsujii, Japanese pianist, perform again – this time a program of Beethoven at Carnegie Hall with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. A chilly and snowy day in Manhatten, but what fun it was. With a bowl of Totto Ramen to warm things up, the day could not have been better. Backstage at Carnegie Hall after the magnificent performance, and dinner with Nobuyuki-san and friends topped off a wonderful day in the city.
For more on Nobuyuki Tsujii, visit Peter Rosen Productions site and his movie on the 13th Van Cliburn competition here. Also, a great way for keeping up with Mr. Tsujii’s busy schedule is to visit the official fan page here.
In April of 2013, I photographed the American Folk Art Museum just after MOMA had announced it would be demolishing the building as part of its expansion plans. After a loud collective public outcry, MOMA decided to forego its plans…That is until yesterday, January 8, when it was announced at the offices of Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS + R) that the Folk Art Museum would be coming down after all…and soon.
The American Folk Art Museum was built in 2001 and it will be razed by June of this year…The stunningly impressive bronze facade will be gone…Take a look at the first photo and you can just make out the ghosts of the letters that once graced the building, and now even these remnants of the recent past, too, will be gone.
For more information, visit the NY Times coverage here, Architectural Record’s story here, or Archinect’s take here. And lastly, I enjoyed reading Jerry Saltz’s view here.
On March 17th, Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii performed at the Rockport Opera House. Maine was his third to last stop on his North American tour and I had the honor and pleasure of assisting Peter Rosen Productions in the filming of an upcoming movie on this remarkable musician.
Nobuyuki Tsujii was a joint gold medal winner of the 2009 Van Cliburn Award and the subject of two earlier Peter Rosen Productions movies (A Surprise in Texas, and Nobuyuki Tsujii, Live at Carnegie Hall, both are extraordinary films). Nobuyuki’s Rockport performance, a program of Debussy and Chopin, was a magnificent display of his incredible talent, skill and musicianship. He dedicated the performance to Van Cliburn who recently passed away, and to the victims and families of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The concert concluded with a piece he composed in memory of the victims of the disaster.
If ever you have the opportunity to see Nobuyuki Tsujii perform, consider yourself lucky if you can get tickets and go…Spectacular!
The summer session in New York was a real treat. I had just added Canon’s TS-E 17mm (tilt shift) lens to my collection and it was the perfect weekend to see how it compared to my 24mm tilt shift. With that in mind, I set out to capture some otherwise uncapturable shots. Grand Central Station, Empire State Building and the Flatiron Building were all shot with this lens on a tripod. Note the floor to ceiling range on the Grand Central shot. A side trip to Brooklyn, and strolls around the city offered up new ideas, compositions and urban vistas to behold.
In my ongoing journeyings to NYC, last April I was greeted with beautiful weather and an urban host of photographic opportunities. Structures, street scenes, and one great jazz show at Birdland – Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra.
