An ENR Best Construction Photo of 2012 and the Search for the "Lord"

Great news--one of my construction portraits was selected by ENR magazine as a best construction photo of 2012!  I'm quite honored to be included, of course, and you should check out the magazine if you have it around or go have a look at the online gallery of all the photographs.  

When I found out that the photo was being considered for the honor, the editors of ENR contacted me to get some background information on the photograph.  Truth be told, I didn't know too much. Construction workers are notoriously shy subjects as most of the folks they see with cameras are there to simply capture progress or, more annoyingly, small safety infractions and the like that can get the worker in trouble with the contractor or the union.  Cameras are seldom benign objects in their minds and so they turn their backs not wanting to be photographed--and most definitely don't want their name attached.  To compound matters, most of the time I shoot on construction sites, I'm flying around trying to capture as much as possible during a limited amount of time (at WTC, I usually have about an hour or two to cover the entire site, high to low, east to west, north to south), so I don't dwell in any one place for too long.  The day I shot this, I spent maybe 2 minutes after I spotted this fellow, the lighting and the scene getting him into place and shooting a few frames with a Hasselblad and a few more with a Polaroid.  Then it was back to business for him and on to the next thing for me.  He was remarkably open about being photographed, and his personality shone through like the sun.  In hindsight, I really should have stayed longer and asked him for his details.  Regret sucks.

ENR told me I needed to find out his name in order for them to run the photo.  How do you find people after you photograph them?  Who was this mystery man?  Luckily, contractors keep decent records, so it was easy for me to find out what subcontractor he was working for and his union local but getting the name was taking a too long.  I contacted the union to see if they could ID him, but I had no idea how long that might take or if I would get the information in time.  I was running short on time and ENR wanted to know if I could come up with the goods, so I took matters into my own hands.  I jumped on social media, in this case Instagram.  I seached images tagged with the union.  I quickly found a few that were from the World Trade Center.  I then posted my photo, and asked the users who had uploaded WTC images with the union tag if they knew this guy.  I got an "Oh Lord!" response almost immediately.  I thought the user meant his response in the sense, "Oh Lord, that guy?  He's a character!", because quite frankly in the minute or two I spent with him, I knew that he had to be. His response was actually the first name of the mystery man!  I got the full name and a few days later the union backed it up.  Meet Lord Monroe.

Lord Monroe

Sullivan NYC Office Wins

One of the projects that I photographed last year, the Joeb Moore-designed Sullivan NYC space, was named an Interior Design best of 2012 merit award winner for best extra small office.  The issue is chock full of great projects and great photography--go check it out.

Ann Hamilton's "the event of a thread" (Part II)

Here's some more photographs from Ann Hamilton's wonderful recent installation "the event of a thread" at the Park Avenue Armory.  I posted photos a few weeks back--go here.

The Swing

The Armory

The Reader

The Writer

The Reader

The Swing/The Speakerbag

The Writer

The Swing

High Line Fall Magazine

Another of my High Line aerial photos has seen print.  This particular one is my favorite shot from this location and it appeared on the cover of the High Line Fall Magazine.

Empire State Building office for NRDC

A few weeks back I had a barnstormer of a day, shooting this fashion-forward company's office in the Empire State Building for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in the morning, then running uptown to shoot the Ann Hamilton show "the event of a thread" in the afternoon/evening.  Good day-tiring day.  Here are a few shots from the morning office shoot.

Architecture & Design versus Consumerism

One of my photos of the Jonathan Kirschenfeld-designed floating pool appears in a new book.  Architecture & Design versus Consumerism: how design activism confronts growth by Ann Thorpe is available here.

Ann Hamilton's "the event of a thread"

Just before the new year, I had the special privilege of spending a few hours with Ann Hamilton's fantastic installation, "the event of a thread", at the Park Avenue Armory.  It just closed this past weekend, and I hope that you got to see it if you were in town.  It was really something special.  Visceral, participatory, multi-dimensional, and moving, installations like the "happiness machine" don't come around too often. Special thank you to the folks at the Armory for the insider's tour and special access to photograph the installation.  More photos from this magical event next week.

Overview

The News

The Reader

The Words

The Writer 

The Writer

Far End Seats

Endsong

Favorite Shot of 2012

The end of 2012 was crazy busy for me.  I picked up a few new clients along with some new commissions and I discovered a new personal project about which I am very excited.  2013 is full of promise!  Looking back of last year's photos, I have to say that this one is my favorite.  I call it "Retouching Notes".  It was shot from the bell tower of the 5th Avenue Presbyterian Church while on assignment with Vertical Access.

Triennale di Milano: The Architecture of the World - Infrastructure, Mobility, New Landscapes

Four of my High Line photographs (including the one shown on the website) are currently on view in an exhibition at the Triennale di Milano in Milan Italy.  The architectural and photography exhibition focusing on urban architecture and mobility, part of the much larger design triennial, runs through February 10, 2013.  In English, the statement on the website reads (roughly translated by google translate):

The architecture of the World
Infrastructure, mobility, new landscapes

The show's title refers explicitly to those works that, like roads, railways, airports, contributes most to shape the world and allow it to function, and their relationship with functions and routines that change and an increasingly endangered.

The exhibition consists of four sections of which, the historical one, will be an element of continuity of the path and the other three, in turn, will exhibit works and projects related to what is produced outside of our country, in what was implemented or is in the course of work in Italy and, finally, what begins to appear as a geographical global scale at which the new major infrastructure relate.

The historical section, which will cover the twentieth century, will present works known as the designs of Le Corbusier for Algiers or Chandigarh, those of Saarinen for the station of Helsinki or Poelzig Klingerberg for the dam, but also cases that, even today, can be an example for the ability to create public space and environmental value, such as the Moscow metro, the arrangement of the river in Ljubljana Plecnik or the architectural design of Rino Tami for the environmental integration of the motorway to the south. A special section will, then, the great Italian engineering as it has become known in Italy and abroad, in the 50s and 70s.

The section devoted to recent works produced outside of our country's objective is to present an updated catalog of works, divided into themes, some of which may serve as a model for those who like Italy must recover a delay in in recent years.

The section on the national scene will give an account of how, even with discontinuities and contradictions, it is work in progress or has just been made, highlighting, in particular, some situations in which the relationship between infrastructure, architecture, art, landscape, city, took on a special role in developing interesting and unusual results as evidenced by the cases of Reggio Emilia, Naples, Perugia, Venice and the works undertaken by the Group Italian State Railways.

Drastically changes the scale of the scenario in the last section of the exhibition in which the object of attention are colossal works in defense of sand or wind energy for water supply or to a movement "global." Operations already well under way in Africa, China or South America, Bering or Panama and that their earlier in the twentieth century, in historical operations such as those foreshadowed by 'Atlantropa Herman Sorgel, which involved the lowering of the Mediterranean for agriculture and energy, or operations undertaken in Stalin's Russia or in America the New Deal.

Within the path will also be possible to meet specific insights as the video presentation of 45 reports about different cities of the world, by young architects and researchers who live and work or have lived and studied outside of our country while being Italian training and tell, from their point of view, the main operations in progress. in infrastructure in major cities of the world. Or as the space dedicated to the permeability of the infrastructure or the new map showing their spread to a global scale.

Finally, if the general theme addressed in this exhibition is infrastructure, the real question that you want to bring to the attention of the visitors as careful planning, based on architectural quality, the multi-functionality, environmental compatibility, can be attributed these increasingly important players in the global scenario, an added value that no longer has only to do with the features that led to its origin, but with improved aesthetic, environmental, social territories or cities with which they come in contact.

So, if you're in Milan, go check it out...and if you do, send me some installation photos!

HLW Office

I recently shot a well-known (but wishing to remain anonymous) company's New York City HQ for good friends, international architects/designers/engineers HLW.  Here are a few photos from the shoot.