A Photographic Tour of Manhattan
June 23, 2005: Woke up at 7:30 am, took the train into New York and then the Subway up to 81 St./Natural History Museum. As I walked across the park I was followed closely by a mob of 200-some elementary-school children. Quickening my pace I was able to escape them and finally reached my destination of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There I saw their permanent photography exhibit, in addition to the special exhibit "All the Mighty World," which covered the photographs of early English photographer Roger Fenton. I also spent time in the Impressionist galleries and the Sculpture Court, where I took several pictures. I also went up onto the roof to take panoramic photos of New York. After completing the Met, I walked down from 81 St. to 55 St. and met my dad for lunch at Burger Heaven. We ate for a while, and when we finished I walked down to Christie's and browsed through their current showing of rare books; there were many, including some Ray Bradbury novels and Lewis Carroll's "Alice" series. There was a signed copy of "Fahrenheit 451" in very good condition, and the Lewis Carroll lot came with an original letter written and signed by Lewis Carroll. It was very interesting; the most expensive book I saw was a $150,000 one by Edgar Allen Poe. Anyways, I then walked down to ICP, picked up my card, and saw their new exhibit; they had three, but the most interesting one was "The Daguerreotypes of Southworth and Hawes." They were one of the earliest photographers, learning how to use the Daguerreotype almost as soon as it was invented. Their daguerreotypes are simple, clean, and elegant, qualities which I admire more in a photograph rather than the shocking or "dramatic." It was a very good exhibit, much better than Larry Clark's "Tulsa." Then I took the subway down to the World Trade Center, took a few photographs, and headed over to the World Financial Center where I took a few simple, uninteresting practice photographs using the Provia 100 Transparency film (also called color reversal or slide film). I went into the Winter Garden where I saw the models for the proposed Freedom Tower and WTC memorial "Reflecting Absence." The memorial, I like; the building, I'd rather not have it. I liked the Foster & Partners plan much better; although the building could (key word being could) be revised to fit in better with the New York skyline, it is a unique, sensible, practical building, and the grounds are much nicer and much better utilized in their plan in comparison with the Daniel Liebskind plan. After taking a few photographs there, it was time to go home, so I took the PATH to Hoboken and then the NJ Transit back to Summit, taking one final picture at Summit station before heading back home and typing this.
That has been my day.
That has been my day.