Torii Gate at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden

Outdoor photographers are confronted with the greatest challenges in winter. The difficult shooting conditions aside, there is so little color to capture, both on the streets and in nature. It’s always tempting to throw in the towel and put winter photos in black and white–an urge that’s sometimes spot-on.  But vibrant color is that much more striking in the dead of winter.  In this photo series, I experiment with no color, highlighted single colors and the closet things to color explosions I’ve been able to find this season.

Many of these photos were first published on my Instagram account: raysnyc

Eastern Parkway

A little snow is no excuse to stop recycling

The Lake in Prospect Park

A dog-walking fashion statement

The First Snow! – Eastern Parkway

Dusk in Prospect Park

Brooklyn’s majestic Grand Army Plaza in a blizzard

Gotta get the kids home!

Get your drones on! – Williamsburg, Brooklyn

The Cloisters – a slice of Europe in Upper Manhattan

The nature of the Hudson River as seen by the eponymous explorer Henry Hudson himself in 1609

Located in the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Inwood, the Cloisters houses the vast medieval art collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  On display are extravagant tapestries, priceless stained glass windows and intricate stone carvings–flourishes that once adorned the walls of monks, knights and nobles.  The building itself is made up of stones from five different European abbeys which were partially disassembled in the 1930s.  Piece-by-piece, the structures were shipped to New York to be rebuilt and combined into a single building.

Arches incorporated form the French abbey Saint Michel de Cuxa

The Unicorn Defends Itself: In classic fashion, the humans in this tapestry find a unicorn and decide they need to kill it and take it home

Old sentinels in a new home

Fort Tryon Park, which surrounds the museum, stands on land donated by John D. Rockefeller Jr. The park was beautifully landscaped by the the sons of Central Park architect Fredrick Law Olmsted and offers magnificent views of the Hudson River, the George Washington Bridge, and the New Jersey Palisades, also purchased and preserved by Rockefeller.

Walking around the grounds you’ll be charmed by rolling hills, vibrant flowers and New York City wildlife.  The Heather and Alpine Gardens offer two different walking paths for gorgeous year-round view.

The Heather Garden is part of the original Olmsted Brothers design for the park.

Excellent opportunities for nature photography…

With luck, you might see a rare sight, a real New York groundhog!

Whether you’re a New York native or a visitor don’t miss this chance to go back in time…take the A train up to Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters!

We never decide to hop on the ferry and have a picnic by her pedestal or bring a date up to her crown.  Maybe we head out once every 10 years if friends are in town, but even this pilgrimage tends to be approached as a necessary evil of introducing visitors to New York.  Perhaps this is because we New Yorkers (like people everywhere) often pride ourselves on avoiding the parts of our city that are overrun by tourists.  Or perhaps we’re satisfied with our first and only visit to the Statue, the one we took when we were 10 years old.

With curiosity about this pervasive attitude in mind, I decided to go myself to see if the trip deserves a higher place on New Yorkers’ respectable afternoon excursion list.  Even though I’ve worked in tourism for years, I amazingly had not been to the Statue since I was a child.  So here’s a no-frills evaluation of the Statue of Liberty experience, from a local perspective.

I waited about half an hour including passing through security before boarding the ferry at Battery Park.

A ticket online costs $18 with pedestal access, $3 more for the crown.  This includes admission to Ellis Island as well.  I showed up, gradually progressed through the line and then grabbed a spot on the top deck next to the ferry’s guard rail.  The boat ride offered breath-taking views of Lower Manhattan and the Statue that I almost would have paid $18 for alone.  However, you can get almost the exact same ride for free on the Staten Island Ferry so I needed more to be really impressed.

What a great view of Lower Manhattan!

Warning: Make sure you reserve tickets on the official website for an exact arrival time on a specific day.  DO NOT under any circumstances arrive without a ticket and buy one from a third party vendor on the streets next to Battery Park.  They will sell you marked-up “flex” tickets that you will almost definitely have to wait in a multi-hour line to use.

As we approached Liberty Island, the air hummed with excitement.  Even though I see the Statue from afar every day, I have to admit that I felt like I was really seeing it for the first time.

Once on the island, I took a free ranger tour…which was fascinating. Even though we all take the Statue for granted, it took a series of minor and major miracles and over 20 years of work to transition her from an idea to a reality.

I think one of my most striking realizations was that the Statue is first and foremost a work of art. It’s a sculpture after all and a masterpiece at that.  I have to say that I never grew tired of looking at her from different angles as I struggled to comprehend her gargantuan scale.  Most New Yorkers only see her from afar or in photos, neither of which compares to seeing her up-close and personal.

Perhaps the biggest drawback was the 45 minute wait on the island for a ferry to pick us up. The wind whipped all around and many of us were underdressed…these are the 21st century huddled masses.

In the end I had a great day.  The enthusiasm and thrill of the tourists rubbed off on me and made me feel like I was on vacation myself.  Perhaps for the first time, I really looked at the details of the statue–the stoic expression on Lady Liberty’s face, the tablet in her hand and the lift of her back foot, revealing that she is actually walking forward–progressing.   My verdict is that the Statue is not overrated.  The fact that people from all over the world come to see her is a clue that New Yorkers should too.  So if you love her, pay her a visit!

5Pointz, the seemingly doomed graffiti art mecca

Bordering a Long Island Railroad rail yard and partially shadowed by the elevated subway tracks is 5Pointz, a collection of warehouses that would seem nondescript, were the facades not covered entirely in spectacular murals.  This breathtaking display is the result of an ongoing collaboration with over 100 artists who come from far and wide to leave their mark on New York’s most famous graffiti destination.

Tourists too, flock to 5Pointz. On my bike tours, I have watched the delight of countless visitors as they unexpectedly find themselves in the middle of a colossal outdoor art gallery.

Part of the appeal of the site is its visibility–riders on the 7 train get an excellent bird’s-eye view of the complex. Mets fans on their way to Citi Field know to look out for 5Pointz soon after exiting the tunnel from Manhattan.

5Points is located directly across the street from PS1, the contemporary art and outdoor concert venue of the Museum of Modern Art. The presence of both have contributed to Long Island City’s rapidly rising trendiness and real estate values.

Artists contact the curator, MeresOne, well in advance before painting at 5Pointz. A friend of mine is a muralist in Ecuador and she planned an entire trip to New York around an invitation to paint here.

Each time I go with a bike group, the art at the ground-level has changed

This obscure piece resembles the work of Banksy, the world’s most famous street artist…is it his?

For over a decade the art community and the owners of the property have peacefully coexisted, the result of an agreement allowing free and legal painting to take place on the facade.  However, with the Long Island City real estate market booming, the owners have decided it is high-time to demolish the site in favor of luxury condos.  The City Council quickly gave the projects two thumbs up, eager to bring in construction jobs, a public park and 210 affordable units.

To their credit, the developers have offered up 10,000 square feet of surfaces for artists to graffiti on the new construction.  But this is miniscule compared to the space they use right now.  And whether the community and its curator even want to be part of the new project is a different question.  As of right now, the defenders of 5Pointz are on their last stand.  If their final round of litigation fails, the historic warehouses will see the wrecking ball in a matter of weeks.  Joni Mitchell might be the first to say: “I told you so.”

Citi Tower, Queens’ tallest building watches over the painted warehouses

Knowing that its days might be numbered, I took my family to 5Pointz recently. “Let’s take a photo,” my Dad said. “It’s now or never”

I created my original Brooklyn Heights/DUMBO Walking Tour, now my most popular tour, and listed myself on Brooklyn’s TripAdvisor site.  Soon I plan to roll out a number of new Brooklyn tours focusing on neighborhoods like Fort Greene and Williamsburg.  Someday I hope even give a tour of the neighborhood that is nearest and dearest to me: my home, Flatbush/Ditmas Park.

As I explore, I take photos with my cell phone, point-and-shoot or digital SLR camera, depending on what I felt like lugging around on any given day.  Here are 10 of my favorite “Forgotten Brooklyn” photos of back alleys, hidden vistas and urban curiosities.  Click to enlarge…and enjoy!

Greenpoint Graffiti

Dog walkers on hidden College Place – Brooklyn Heights

This must be the Joad’s old truck! – Vinegar Hill

Thrift Store – Ditmas Park

That’s my train! – Ditmas Park     

Quarters A: the one-time home of the Commandant of the navy – Vinegar Hill

Just a couple days of rain in the fall will bring these guys out – Ditmas Park

The last trolley I know of in Brooklyn – Red Hook

The commanding Prison Ship Martyr’s Monument, from below! – Fort Greene

Mikey and the street art of DUMBO

]]> http://raystours.nyc/rays-brooklyn-forgotten-no-more/feed/ 3 http://raystours.nyc/tourwithray/ http://raystours.nyc/tourwithray/#comments Wed, 26 Jun 2013 02:39:36 +0000 http://www.raystours.nyc/?p=3021 Continue reading →]]> Last month, my friend and fellow Carleton-grad Teddy Wolff joined a tour of mine with the intent of documenting the experience photographically.  Teddy works as a professional photographer and he recently published the resulting photo series–Lower East Side Tour with Ray–on his website.  You can view the full suite of photos as well as a number of other excellent albums on Teddy’s Website.  Below are my favorites, with my captions added.

The tour begins

The breathtaking Eldridge Street Synagogue, the subject of an earlier blog post of mine

Preparing to enter the sanctuary

Passionate words being delivered in front of the walnut ark

Describing the 21st century addition to the synagogue–the new stained glass window

The synagogue interior has been masterfully restored

The illuminated rose window

Hey!

Looking up for a hidden sign of immigrants past

Ginger Ale! Note one of NYC’s rare L-shaped buildings

Hot bialys, straight from the oven!

These guys RUN the pickle shop…you can’t sneak anything by them!

Willy Wonka-style candy shop, anyone?

What a great tour! Thank you Teddy Wolff for the photos.