As an architectural photographer, architecture and architectural/interior photography has been a great passion of mine. Being raised in upstate NY in the city of Poughkeepsie, NY., I was awed by the bright lights of NYC. As any true New Yorker knows, anything North of Yonkers is upstate. Years later I would go further North and West as I became a student at Syracuse University. Taking just a couple of courses at the famed Newhouse School was enough to get me hooked in photography and making architectural interior photography my specialty. In New York City, I had the opportunity to photograph its many great interiors, exteriors, and architecture!
As a young man I had the luck of having Cousin Joan and her roommate Sari, who lived in a twin building complex well suited for architectural photography, who allowed me to come and visit. Originally known as Kips Bay Plaza [see footnote ***], it was designed by a young architect named Leoh Ming Pei (aka IM Pei!). It was one of the first projects to use a revolutionary cast-in-place concrete application. To be able to photograph the wide expansive and sleek lobby would have been an architectural/interior photographers dream. Unfortunately, at that time I did not have a camera with the proper wide-angle photographic lens!
Fast forward thirty years, I am still dumbstruck by the majesty of a cityscape with the New York City skyline. One of my favorite images was taken 9/11/2002, exactly one year after that tragic day in September. It was a far cry from seeing the Woolworth building in the afternoon of the 9/11 attack camouflaged by smoke. That image taken 9/11/2002 shows the resilience of New York as we see the splendid architecture of iconic Woolworth building against a blue sky.
Recently to commemorate the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and our recovery, I did an architectural photograph of the WTC Building Number One rising more than two thirds completed (as shown). Another architectural photograph taken that day commemorates the rebuilding of the neighborhood and a return to “normalcy”.
On that Sunday afternoon, I happened to see a group of young men enjoying a pick up game of basketball showcasing a park and recreational area recently completed by the city planners and architects.
***This was one of IM Pei’s first residential projects and a major project in his career. In 1993 he returned and a garden was dedicated to him. The Condo is also scheduled to add solar panels on the roof.
