in_my_tree

ARCH 7010 - Roots of Music

2011-12-29T13:10:00.016-05:00

As most probably know, I am currently in graduate school for my masters in architecture. As per usual with long breaks between posts on this blog, another project deadline has gotten in the way. It has passed and I am pretty proud with how the project has turned out. Nothing revolutionary, but it'll be a good staging for the rest of my time here at UVA. This post is a collection of images that I created for my final review, there are a few physical models that I still need to photograph, but I think these show it off pretty well.

The building is designed to serve as an interactive platform for engaging its surrounding context and cultural activities that occur within and around the building itself.

Located in Armstrong Park, just on the edge of the French Quarter, its neighboring street acts as a division between the touristy historic center and the african american cultural hub of the city. The main concept behind this building was to bridge this divide and to engage both the park and city square that my building was situated between. The park and square are visually blocked off by a line of overgrown oak trees and my design provides a welcoming entrance into the park, while reintroducing Congo Square as a urban space.

The building is intended to house the Roots of Music program, which is a highly touted after school marching band program for middle school aged at risk youth. I have also added an additional Jazz Institute that will serve as an archive of music for the Jazz National Park currently within the park.

(I hope to add a bit more to the description soon)

Plans, Sections, and additional Renderings below............

2011-11-19T12:30:00.002-05:00

A lone stoop in the Lower 9th Ward.

Most of the empty lots in the neighborhood still have these stairs to nowhere.

2011-11-03T12:45:00.002-04:00

Mid review for studio is done! Went alright, but now I have a bit more time for photos.

This was taken during a nature walk at the Jean Lafitte Preserve, just a short drive from New Orleans. Hopefully more photos to come from this soon.

2011-10-28T16:33:00.001-04:00

This is the rebuilt section of the levee that failed in the Lower 9th Ward.

2011-10-27T09:19:00.001-04:00

2011-10-24T10:35:00.002-04:00

Night time on the Mississippi River.

After an awesome dinner at a friend of a friends house, we treked out to the river at the mouth of one of the canals. A bit of an eerie experience, we crossed some railroad tracks into an industrial area with barges being slowly pushed up the canal by tugboats beside us. Very peaceful...... and very mosquito-y once we arrive. It was definitely worth the visit.

A bit of backstory for the photo..... until the last 30 years or so, the river was entirely lined by warehouses and docks that were built on large pylons. They are still in the process of tearing these down to give public access to the river. I'm guessing that these pylons in the photo are left overs from what was once here.

2011-10-20T09:38:00.005-04:00

Continuing on yesterdays post of our tour of the Tulane City Center houses, these are some of my favorites from the neighborhood as we were walking around. Characterized like most of New Orleans..... it's run down yet you can definitely feel a sense of community and fight to last.

2011-10-19T10:58:00.003-04:00

For one of the mornings down in New Orleans, we got a tour of the various housing projects that have been built by Tulane since Katrina. The woman leading us around has been the project manager for most and was pretty honest about the issues and successes that have come out of each one. They have a total of 6 so far.

They are all located within a couple of blocks of each other in Mid City. The area seemed a bit dangerous, although those we met on the sidewalk were pretty friendly. We did get a warning from a cop that a man with a shotgun had so far robbed two people that morning in the area. To say the least, we kept a look out.

2011-10-17T13:44:00.003-04:00

I figured I would start off with the photos that I took of the ornate iron work that can be found all throughout the French Quarter. It was pretty impressive to see, and I even bought my own little section of it as a memento from an architectural salvage place.

2011-10-16T16:13:00.002-04:00

This past week I was down in New Orleans on a studio trip for school. We are designing a facility for the after school music program called the Roots of Music. During our stay, we got to see more than we had hoped and of course I took a ton of photos. So look for many more posts to come!

This shot was taken in the neighborhood of Faubourg Delassize when we were hunting down the Second Line parade. I feel that it portrays the grittiness of many parts of the city. Most might think this is from Katrina..... but I think it looked like this long before.

2011-10-01T11:11:00.002-04:00

This is the Westbeth Artists Community in the West Village, while a renovation it happens to be Richard Meier's first significant public work in the city. It was designed in the late 60's and this is the interior courtyard. Its a pretty cool space and worth checking out.

2011-09-28T12:53:00.000-04:00

As promised, image number two from the Noguchi Museum.

2011-09-27T16:53:00.003-04:00

On one of my final free days in the city, I made a trek over to the Noguchi Museum, which I sadly had not been to before. Having heard great things, I made sure this would be checked off my list. Post having my car in the city, the trek was a long one but totally worth it.

This is a photo of a simple wall sculpture casting shadows onto the wall. Simple composition and the lighting for the piece was excellent. A handful of more photos still to come from my visit here.

2011-09-16T09:46:00.002-04:00

It's THAT time again!

A familiar scene (although slightly altered), I have officially returned to the University of Virginia for graduate school. I am finally settled in, working many hours, you know........ studio.

Grad school definitely has a different feel though than my undergrad days here. Much more relaxed and low pressure (maybe I know what I am doing now?).

I will try to be better about posting regularly and I still have some photos untouched from my last days in NYC to get on here.

first roll Diana+

2011-07-08T16:14:00.007-04:00

I finally got to scanning my first roll of film that I shot with my Diana+ camera. All of these shots were taken during a trip out to PA for a pre-Easter celebration with the family. On a free afternoon, Crystal and I took a drive around the country side, eventually stumbling upon some large steel vessels and car parts. I thought it would be a good photo-op.

As it goes with any new camera.... I had issues forgetting to advance the film (thus creating overlapping images) and sometimes forgetting to focus. I am still a fan of the results...

Jersey Shore

2011-07-07T10:41:00.002-04:00

One of the quaint beach houses still hanging around in Avalon, NJ.

High Line

2011-07-07T10:15:00.003-04:00

I took this photo as we wandered the High Line park last week. I like the broken reflection of the warm colored building against the blue windows. The sky following the same color scheme definitely helps as well!

2011-07-05T13:01:00.004-04:00

Here are a few more shots from my trip to MN. I was only out in Boyd (where Crystal's family lives) for an evening, but the sunset was amazing and it seemed to last forever! Above is a photo of the church that her dad is a Pastor.

Below is nearing the end of the sunset, including the silhouette of one of her younger brothers setting up his camera.

2011-07-01T12:03:00.005-04:00

During my trip to Crystal's home, I got to check out the cool things about living in the middle of no where.

Such as the fact that there are more abandoned houses than those still in use, huge expanses of corn or soy bean fields, quaint little 'towns'.

Unfortunately my camera battery jumped from full charge to dead, so all of these photos were taken with my iPhone. All were taken with the Hipstamatic app using the Kaimal Mark II lens with Kodot XGrizzled film. It gives a great look to every shot..... although I feel like it is cheating.

The last image is of the town hall, built in 1880. It's still set up inside, and there is a tasty mulberry tree right behind it.

2011-06-30T09:47:00.002-04:00

I'm back!

After a summer/vacation induced bout of laziness and absenteeism , I am going to try my best to post all of the amazing photos I have been taking in the past month! I have some more Diana shots, Jersey Shore pics, and some photos of the desolate plains of MN (just kidding.... they aren't actually desolate.... just filled with abandoned buildings).

I took the shot above last night as we wandered along the Highline on the way to dinner. It's the new-ish Jean Nouvel condo building along the West Side Highway. I have been wanted to get some good shots of it for a while, so this hopefully is the start.

2011-05-26T15:51:00.010-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I finally picked up one of those Diana toy cameras. I have been playing around with it and finally learned how to properly scan in the film. These make up most of my second roll of film to shoot. I guess it is a summary of my spring time journeys around the city.

2011-05-20T16:05:00.008-04:00

This last weekend, Crystal and I headed down to Chincoteague Island for the wedding of one of my brother's best friends. It was our first time there and the sort of solitary / primitive nature of the place was nice. We took a walk down a narrow mile long sand bridge on Assateague Island in the hunt for the ruins of a fish factory...... but only found a chunk of concrete. The weather was cloudy most of the weekend, but still nice enough to enjoy.

And yes, we did see some ponies.

2011-04-27T14:36:00.002-04:00

Just a taste of Alvar Aalto.

This is the Alvar Aalto Museum, which he designed towards the end of his career. This is just one of the many buildings of his that we visited way back during my semester abroad.

2011-04-26T15:19:00.002-04:00

The weather was perfect on Sunday so I decided to make a trip to the Williamsburg waterfront for the afternoon. At the end of one of the newly opened piers is an 'interesting' installation that I am guessing it supposed to provide shade? To me it looked like the metal mesh was a total after thought, but thought it looked interesting against the sky.

2011-04-25T14:03:00.006-04:00

I took my hand at event photography this weekend at a party my friends were hosting. Using only my G10 with it's built in flash made the night interesting, but I think I was able to come up with some decent results. I've selected a few of them for this post, but once they all get posted online, I will be sure to link it here.

2011-04-21T15:02:00.001-04:00

Some graffiti that I came across down in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

2011-04-20T18:20:00.001-04:00

I took this photo last fall when I went to the top of 30 Rock. The New Years ball is tucked within the surrounding skyscrapers.

2011-04-18T16:23:00.000-04:00

A nice sunset on the Hudson.

2011-04-15T10:38:00.003-04:00

Crystal and I took a short stroll along the Hudson River yesterday to enjoy the awesome weather. I noticed this awesome warehouse building that had been renovated into office space. I thought with the neighboring building and water towers, it made for a nice NYC composition.

I added a slight sepia tone to it and added a bit of film grain for an extra touch.

2011-04-14T15:57:00.000-04:00

A ceiling in Denmark.

2011-04-12T10:33:00.002-04:00

I am hoping to purchase a toy camera in the coming weeks. Most likely the Diana+. It's pretty cheap and takes those interesting artistic/imperfect shots............ and yes they are all over Urban Outfitters these days (but over priced).

Until then, I can only use photoshop to make it look like I have one. Below is the original.

2011-04-12T10:01:00.002-04:00

This past weekend I made a visit to Cornell to check out their architecture graduate program that I was accepted into for the Fall. It was a great visit, and I made a point to make a visit to the lake. I found this bench and thought it would be quite a nice place to hang out for an afternoon.

2011-04-07T10:30:00.002-04:00

As promised, here is the paired photo to the Cville one that I posted yesterday. I took this a couple of months ago after one of the big snow storms. I liked how the sun was hitting the buildings down in the financial district.... leaving the foreground darker.

2011-04-06T14:45:00.003-04:00

This past weekend I made a visit down to Charlottesville to get out the Architecture Open House. I have been accepted there for graduate school, and right now it looks like it will be my pick.

I took this photo with my Polaroid SX-70 from the deck of my friend's house over in Pantops. I like how this film captures the detail in distant vistas. Tomorrow I am planning to post its partner, which is my view of downtown Manhattan from my desk at work.

(above was slightly altered in photoshop, below was the scanned original)

2011-03-25T10:25:00.001-04:00

Like a good neighbor.......

Took this during one of my trips down to DC.

2011-03-24T13:29:00.004-04:00

A quick photoshop experiment.

Decided to take one of my photos of my SX-70 to create a 'stock image' of it. I often submit photos over at Pxleyes.com for their various contests. This is one of mine from this week.

Below is the original.

2011-03-23T14:59:00.001-04:00

A nice sunny day way way back on my first day in Copenhagen (over 3 years ago now). Thought I would choose something that would contrast with the rainy/snowy day that we are having in the city.

2011-03-22T13:44:00.002-04:00

Kids play area at a community arts center in Denmark. It had a mirrored ceiling with ropes hanging from it and a 'spongy' floor. I can only imagine the kids getting beamed with the balls on their way up.

2011-03-21T11:29:00.001-04:00

Ørestad, Copenhagen, Denmark

2011-03-18T10:55:00.002-04:00

With this photo (from Denmark) I tried playing around a bit more in Photoshop to give it a unique feel and texture. The tones of green in the image are great and I bumped of the intensity a bit for a greater contrast and depth. The original is below so that you can see what I did.

2011-03-17T11:13:00.002-04:00

Browsing through some of my old photos this morning, I decided to choose these two landscape shots from Iceland.

The figure in each provides a sense of the immense scale of the land.

Pretty awesome stuff.

2011-03-16T11:50:00.002-04:00

I took this up on the High Line back in the fall one evening. These chairs are scattered all along the park for people to sit on, and since you can move them it's fun to see where they end up at the end of the day. These chairs are up against a temporary construction wall where a chiming sound installation of the city's bells play.

2011-03-15T17:51:00.003-04:00

This morning I went to the dentist...... exciting stuff, right? haha.

On my way back to work I ended up taking the E train at the 53rd st/5th Ave station, which is actually tubed shaped and has a great white banded ceiling. I decided to pull out my camera and take a few shots while I waited for the subway to arrive.

2011-03-10T16:11:00.002-05:00

Skylight designed by Alvar Aalto.

This one plays a trick on my mind.

2011-03-09T15:14:00.002-05:00

Once again digging through the archives........... this was one of my favorite captures from Peru. As we were traveling towards Machu Picchu on the train, I was lucky enough to take a photo of this woman waiting for the local train as we zoomed past.

2011-03-04T09:58:00.002-05:00

Lately I have been digging through all of my old photos. This one comes during my flight from Lima to Cusco, Peru back in my last semester of school. These mountain being a part of the Andes..... it was my first time flying over snow covered mountains.

2011-03-03T09:44:00.002-05:00

So this photo is a blast from the past..... back when I was just starting out with my G7. I took this end of summer '07 in Iceland while I was making my way over to Copenhagen for the semester. Gullfoss is a massive waterfall and definitely one of the biggest tourist attractions in the city. My favorite part was that they allowed you to stand right at the waters edge.

2011-03-02T09:24:00.002-05:00

Back to the Hamptons trip.......

This was taken at the abandoned military base and is of the entombed bunker from WWII.

2011-03-01T11:05:00.000-05:00

Saint Patrick's Cathedral

2011-02-28T14:27:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I ended up walking through a stretch of Midtown, and ended up snapping a few photos. These two are of the same building that sits on the northern edge of Bryant Park. To get the bottom one I had to tweak the perspective in photoshop to get the elevation effect.

2011-02-25T11:29:00.002-05:00

If you were wondering why I haven't posted a photo of the actual beach, well.......... this is why. Check it off my list of things to see (waves crashing onto snow) but other than that it was extremely windy and cold. It is beautiful though.

Also, here is our band photo of the weekend:

2011-02-24T13:31:00.002-05:00

Another from this weekend. Again it's from a top the radar tower looking down to the rest of the group who refused to make the trek up. The red coat goes well with a panel of the radar that is now on the ground.

2011-02-23T15:33:00.003-05:00

This past weekend I went out to the Hamptons with a bunch of friends to enjoy the three day weekend. Naturally, the first photo I am really wanting to share is of the abandoned military station that we explored out on Montauk Point. Known as Camp Hero, it has quite a 'history', including time travel. Anyways, this top shot is inside of the 7 story radar tower, with the two below of the tower in a distance, and then the amazing view from the top.

Many more photos from the weekend to come.

2011-02-08T09:50:00.002-05:00

This weekend I had some friends visiting so we went around the city checking out the sites. Amazingly enough, half of the stuff I had never been to myself! While I have been to St Patrick's Cathedral many times before, I really like how this photo came out.

2011-02-03T15:46:00.002-05:00

Found this while randomly digging through the archives. It's from back in the summer when Crystal and I went to Governors Island...... This was taken in the black powder storage room.

2011-01-31T10:44:00.001-05:00

Another shot from the snow storm last week. I like the gradient to the sky as the backdrop.

SNOW!!!!

2011-01-27T11:35:00.007-05:00

This winter has been an active one with a fresh foot + of snow from yesterday's storm. I took the opportunity to walk around the neighborhood to check out the scenery before I headed over to work. The trees had an unbelievable amount of snow on its branches, which made for the perfect winter wonderland. The park also has a solid 20 inches on the ground....... I think I smell some awesome sledding in the near future.

2011-01-13T11:29:00.001-05:00

For New Years we went down to DC to hang out with the Frarority. Since Crystal hasn't been to many of the sites before, we made sure to check a few new ones off her list. This is of course a photo of the Vietnam War Memorial, with our reflections through the text.

2011-01-10T16:12:00.002-05:00

I'm back!!

During my long hiatus from posting I was busy applying to graduate school. Hopefully I have some better luck this go around!

My holiday break was pretty excellent, with a lot a traveling and snow. Crystal and I even did a 8pm to 6am drive back up to NYC in order to beat the blizzard, and we made it! But as shown above...... well...... is the result. A pretty sweat snow drift, and my car has never looked faster!

Granted, you can't begin to see the other side.

2010-11-23T12:19:00.002-05:00

The other weekend a group of friends and I participated in the Lost Horizon Night Market. It's a 'secret' bi-annual event where friends group up, rent a commercial box truck (14 trucks in all), create a service / event, and all convene on a desolate industrial street in Brooklyn for one night. The location is unknown until the day of, and invites go out to friends last minute. The shot above is from the beginning of the night, and by the end the street was filled with trucks and hundreds of people.

We decided to create a college radio station WTRK Truck Radio, where participants could DJ for 10 mins using music off their iPods, interview, or whatever..... the mic was yours.

To give you an idea.... some other trucks were a noodle truck, silent disco, karaoke, steal a ring pop, a hot tub!. jazz club, black light painting room, Christmas movie, 'supermodel' photo booth, War & Treats, and a few more.

If you happen to ever get an invite... it's totally worth doing. They are also beginning to do them in other cities as well.

and in case if you were wondering...... it isn't very legal, which explains the hush-hush nature of it.

Below are a couple of shots of our interior.

2010-11-16T10:33:00.004-05:00

Last night Crystal and I went to a Sufjan Stevens concert at the Beacon Theater. As you can see from above, it is a beautifully ornate building that was renovated a couple of years ago. According to Sufjan, it was pretty dank before.

The show was awesome, we got a lot of stories about the new album, and it turned into a dance party with giant balloons at the end! All in all..... awesome time.

2010-11-10T11:41:00.002-05:00

This past weekend I headed up to Boston and Providence to check out some grad schools. This is a shot of downtown Providence from near the RISD Architecture building.

I love the quality of the photo because of its illustrated quality. Could be fun to play with down the road as I go through these color packs of film.

2010-11-01T12:06:00.002-04:00

This weekend I made a stop by the Impossible Project space and picked up some 'colored' film for my SX-70. To say the least....... they have some serious work to do to confidently call it colored. However..... they apparently are coming out with an updated and vastly improved version of the film in the coming weeks.

I decided to go ahead and purchase a couple of packs to play with something new. As the girl at the store described.... .it certainly has a dreamy effect with a strong tone of blue. It works best in strong light and picks up reds the best, which you can begin to see with the parasol on the far left in the back. I really like the quality of the shot and should produce some nice shots in the coming days........ let's hope.

2010-10-29T15:23:00.001-04:00

The clock atop the main kiosk in Grand Central Terminal.

2010-10-28T17:34:00.002-04:00

An interesting aerial view of St. Patrick's from the Top of the Rock. It looked like a little model from up there.

2010-10-27T23:21:00.000-04:00

Another space.... this time modern.... within the NYC Public Library.

2010-10-27T22:03:00.002-04:00

Again from my explorations on Saturday....... This is of course the main Public Library reading hall. It was actually my first visit, and I took the opportunity to pick up my library card!

A DSLR with a wide angle lens could easily pick this up, but I had to stitch together a panorama and distort it in Photoshop to achieve the effect.

2010-10-26T15:31:00.001-04:00

View from on Top of the Rock on a nice sunny fall day.

Too bad the leaves hadn't changed a whole lot in the park yet.

2010-10-25T10:55:00.002-04:00

This weekend, my friend Andrew came up to visit and so on Saturday we did marathon of sorts, checking out a bunch of places throughout the city. I'll be working backwards........ starting in the evening and working back. This is a shot of the Standard from the Highline...... two staples that everyone should check out while in the city.

2010-10-20T18:14:00.001-04:00

I've always wanted to get a good shot of my street on a sunny day. The shade cascading across the buildings really makes it beautiful.

2010-10-19T18:54:00.003-04:00

To say the least....... temperature effects the exposure of a Polaroid. A lot.

I just took this on a crisp morning hoping for a nice shot and got this nearly white overblown shot. However..... I like it.

The creamy color sets off its white border quite well. The building form still is recognizable, even with some faint details, but is still on the verge of disappearing / being unrecognizable. Almost everyone guesses its the Flat Iron, but it's not. It's a new condo tower near my apartment that is supposed to look like it...... although in real life, no one would make the comparison.

It's kind of funny that it takes a totally blown out Polaroid for someone to truly see the design intent of a building.

2010-10-18T17:17:00.002-04:00

This one comes from a few weekends ago. I've taken some new stuff but haven't had time to upload / scan them yet.

Right now the Brooklyn Bridge is being fixed up, which has caused a temporary construction barrier on the western half of the pedestrian walk. It's interesting to experience such a different view frame of the famous landmark. As you walk across, the bridge itself is hidden besides the distant tower, causing the people around you become much more apparent.

2010-10-14T15:42:00.005-04:00

This past weekend my best friend Kevin got married down in VA. I just so happened to be the best man and of course I also managed to find some time to snap some photos! Typically (well almost never) do I take photos of people, but it was a lot of fun playing around. I think I got a number of good ones...... including a below of the cutest kid I've seen in a while (below). Here is a link to the Facebook gallery of the rest in case you want to see all of them.

2010-10-05T09:59:00.002-04:00

It's always a cool experience to walk under the Brooklyn Bridge or one of the many others in the city. Only until you are on foot do you truly feel how big these structures are.

2010-10-04T14:41:00.002-04:00

My first pack of 8 B&W with my new SX-70...........

2010-10-04T11:04:00.004-04:00

I always find myself taking photos of the details instead of the thing itself.

Here are a few of the Brooklyn Bridge suspension cables....

2010-10-04T10:26:00.003-04:00

After 2 weeks of no posts......... I figured I should try to be on the ball for this one. Last week, I went up to Rhode Island to surprise my cousin at her engagement party. Along the way, the car we were in decided to start spewing transmission fluid everywhere. Fortunately we made it to a rest stop along I-95 and I got to spend an afternoon under a tree, 30 ft from the interstate, reading a book. The view was nice....... and the traffic just reminding me of NYC.

In other news, I purchased a new toy! I've been looking for an SX-70 Polaroid camera for a while and I finally came upon one at the Flea market this weekend!! A couple of shots of the camera below (such a beautiful camera)..... and I hope to post my first pack of shots in the next day or two.

Aural Garden = ✓ Complete!

2010-09-20T13:52:00.015-04:00

Saturday night was the Last Supper Festival and I figured I would begin the week with the finished Aural Garden project! Amazingly the storm that produced 2 tornadoes in the area Thursday night only inflicted minor damage to our work, and didn't cause much of a set back.

From those that I talked to during the event and from the number of cameras and phones pointing upward, it seemed that the project was a hit! The black light effect provided a nice ephemeral quality to the completed space, and the string caused an evolving perception of the surface as you moved around the space.

2010-09-16T14:02:00.002-04:00

Last night was another late one installing the 'Aural Garden'. We made some good progress.... installing the spandex shapes, completed a whole bay and half of another.

At the end of the night, we did a more extensive light test on the one completed bay (photo above). While it's not perfect..... its still looking pretty good.

Below are some other shots of the fabric shapes playing off of the forms of the string.....

2010-09-15T12:31:00.003-04:00

I'm currently working on an installation for the Last Supper Festival this coming Saturday night. We started construction last night and these two photos are just a taste of what's to come. A bit more info on the project and a concept rendering can be found HERE.

If you happen to be in the city this weekend....... make sure to come to this event!! There will be a ton of really great art from emerging artists and all proceeds go to the NYC Food Bank.

2010-09-14T14:51:00.002-04:00

Fun little lunch spot on Governor's Island looking out towards Manhattan.

And yes..... they couldn't resist and called it "The Beach".

2010-09-13T11:24:00.002-04:00

Last weekend, Crystal and I checked out the MoMA and came upon this public performance piece. Unfortunately I couldn't find any info online to tell you what it is, but put simply enough....... you are invited to scream into this microphone.

The result is that your shriek fills the multi-story space and everyone turns to look. You are definitely put on center stage and it was pretty interesting seeing the different reactions and comfort levels of each participant.

As for me, I wanted to save my vocal chords on this trip....... maybe next time.

2010-09-09T14:36:00.002-04:00

This weekend we also ventured down to the World Trade Center site to see the on-going construction. I'll probably end up posting a few photos of 1 World Trade soon but I wanted to get this one out first.

I have always been a fan of the bottom levels of the new 7 World Trade. It has this double layered grill facade that alternates between flat and angled. Not only does it create beautiful reflections like this, but it also creates a pretty trippy experience as you walk along beside it.

2010-09-07T14:11:00.003-04:00

This weekend was of course a three-day weekend and my brother and his gf came up to visit. We checked out the city and most importantly went to the US Open. By freak chance we happened to get really awesome seats, but before that, we were last row in Arthur Ashe, which is where I snapped these two photos. The second is a basic HDR, which allowed me to show the city while keeping the sunset.

There are more to come from the US Open in the coming days.

2010-09-02T12:18:00.001-04:00

The Netherlands Carillon in Arlington.

2010-09-01T09:11:00.003-04:00

This weekend Crystal and I headed down to Washington DC / Stafford for a friends wedding reception. Besides having a blast at the party and getting to hang out with the Frarority, we did a few touristy things, including the Arlington Cemetery. We ended up walking more through the northern section, which is definitely less traveled by tourists, and thus pretty serene.

2010-08-27T11:15:00.001-04:00

Fort Jay, on Governors Island

2010-08-26T13:05:00.002-04:00

Last week Crystal and I spent the evening out celebrating our '1-month'...... that is, since the first time we ever met!

Anyways, after dinner at a little Italian place we headed over to the Hudson River Park, which has been one of my favorite spots for a while and has become one for her as well. We were treated to a nice sunset and some good people watching, while we waited for the Target light show to start at the Standard Hotel. It was a great evening, I'd say.

2010-08-23T17:55:00.003-04:00

This weekend Crystal and I spent Saturday afternoon at Governor's Island. This was my first time to travel around it on foot and I have to say that I'm a fan. There's nothing wrong with biking it, but I guess you catch a few more random bits by walking. This is a shot of former officer housing, which was built in the mid-19th century. The yellow color and white trimming works nicely in this photo..... but I'm also a fan of b&W..... so I posted both.

2010-08-19T11:03:00.002-04:00

Last night Target took over the Standard Hotel and put on an awesome light show to advertise their new fall line. I underestimated what the show would be like and was subsequently blown away by it.

Every room had been rented out on the southern side and there were 1 to 2 dancers in every room. While it only lasted for 17 minutes, they managed to pull off a bunch of tricks...... including a dancing figure on one half of the facade. Youtube "Target Standard Hotel" to check out some of the videos that people posted.

2010-08-18T14:01:00.002-04:00

I took this over a year ago while I was hanging out on a friends rooftop in the West Village. I just like the complexity of all of the little structures on top of the buildings.

2010-08-13T16:55:00.002-04:00

This is a shot that I took over at the Brooklyn Heights Promenade back in the spring. The walkway is cantilevered over a highway.

2010-08-12T13:36:00.002-04:00

I haven't taken any new photos this week, so I decided to dig deep into my stash. I took this photo over two years ago back in Charlottesville. I was wandering around the Lawn and it's gardens during the spring time..... so naturally I was attracted to the dead leaves on the ground.

2010-08-11T10:31:00.001-04:00

Another facade shot...... The building's curved facade created a nice stepping of the reflection.

2010-08-10T10:23:00.000-04:00

Just another skyscraper in midtown...

2010-08-09T10:57:00.002-04:00

This past Thursday night we had dinner next to the High Line. A popular spot for tourists to go to these days, this family decided to line up and peer down at us for a bit. After debating whether or not to look like a dork....... I went ahead and pulled out my camera at the dinner table to take this.... thinking it was too good to pass up.

2010-08-02T12:40:00.002-04:00

This photo comes from a couple of months ago when I visited DC for the weekend. I posted another shot of the same building...... but I've always liked this one because the purple iridescence of the windows came out pretty well.

2010-07-28T11:05:00.007-04:00

Last night a friend and I made masks for the Lambastic Tropical Sensory Masquerade party happening this Friday night. Its a fundraiser for the Last Supper Festival, which is in Sept. If you are in NYC and reading this....... you should come! I can give you all the details.

Anyways, we decided to make plaster molds of our faces using the same stuff used for medical casts. It was a bit messy, but they turned out pretty well and was a lot of fun to play around with. Not sure where I was going with mine...... and I still don't...... but it turned out a tad demonic. I'll have to throw in some tropical spirit somewhere!

Here are a few more shots from the night:

2010-07-27T11:51:00.001-04:00

Quickly took this photo on my way to work today. The clouds were nice and wispy, which provided a nice background for this building.

Living Pavilion

2010-07-26T14:40:00.003-04:00

This is a photo of the Living Pavilion (link) designed by my co-worker Berang Behin and Ann Ha. The structure is the result of the City of Dreams Pavilion design competition and it's on display through the summer at Governor's Island. I made a trip out there a couple of weeks ago and made sure that I paid a visit. It turned out really well and everyone seems to be a fan of it.