Sunday Photo Overload

The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) had their annual photography show at the Park Avenue Armory last weekend. It's the longest running international show of fine art photography.

My friend Spencer called me at around 11am on Sunday morning and asked me if I wanted to head over there and check it out. I was still in bed when he called and had to get up anyway so I'm glad he called. I was sort of sleeping late, but I wasn't sleeping until noon. Actually, I woke up really early (7:35am), but I was still so tired that I went back to bed and was just waking up when he called.

Spencer has an upcoming exhibition of his work in Mexico and wanted to look at some different framing techniques. He's shipping all his work down there (his prints are fairly large) and he wanted to figure out the best way to frame and mount his photos for this exhibition.

If you like photography, it was a really great show with so many photographs crammed into the space. I was surprised by the vast numbers of people there admiring (and buying) the work. Jeremy Irons was there too. I took a rather blurry picture of him. He's wearing glasses and boots and you can see him standing in the background of the group of people (he's the tall one) engaged in an animated conversation presumably about photography. It looked like he just came from riding horses in Central Park. I thought he was so great as Claus von Bulow in "Reversal of Fortune." He's playing the legendary photographer Alfred Stieglitz in an upcoming TV movie about Georgia O'Keeffe. If you look closely at the picture (and if you give him a mustache), he looks just like Stieglitz.

Now Playing

Guest of Cindy Sherman is now playing at Cinema Village in New York City. Highly recommended. This is a MUST SEE. :)

Pink Grapefruit only $1

I haven't taken many pictures that I liked in New York City lately.

I went to Bermuda last weekend for the Bermuda International Film Festival. It was fun. The money in Bermuda is different, but they accept and give change in US dollars. I thought it is notable that their exchange rate is exactly the same as the US dollar, except everything is way more expensive there. It's only two hours from New York City.

I bought a pink grapefruit for $1. That seemed like a bargain.

Post St. Patricks Day Pile Up

I missed the St. Patrick's Day Parade as usual. Here's some of the aftermath on 5th Avenue.

Start to Read

One of these books is not like the others.

Sesame Street Elmo Animal Mix & Match is a super effective way to teach your kids to start reading. They are never too young to learn. Madison Avenue somewhere in the 40s.

The movie opens in 8 days!

Pavement Art

This is another example of the art that I was talking about the other day. It's scattered all over the city, mostly stenciled or affixed to the street. This one is located on the corner of Prince Street and Greene Street. It's not as pretty as this one, but this is what I was talking about. It's slightly different in form, but you can see how he's developing as a street artist.

This is quickly becoming my favorite blog. It gets right to the point.

Wristwatches on Canal Street

A shiny array of counterfeit watches on Canal Street. They have all the fake stuff there. A lot of it is now hidden away, especially the Louis Vuitton handbags. As long as you don't look like a cop, there are dozens (if not hundreds) of criminals from various foreign countries that will sell you anything you think you might need at a huge discount. Whatever you buy won't be real, but your friends back home will never know the difference.

I find the perfume they have for sale there especially intriguing because it looks totally real, but it's way cheaper and must be completely fake as well. It's just scented water anyway. I don't wear a lot of cologne, but I have some nice stuff from Italy that you won't find on Canal Street. I suppose if you are buying Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker or Opium from a shady looking dude in a stall on an exceptionally busy street in downtown Manhattan, you deserve what you pay for.

On a completely unrelated side note, I think something is wrong with my head. I've been getting dizzy lately and mixing things up and being a little irritable (maybe for good reason?) I should have it checked out. Maybe it's staring at all these shiny watches though. That guy was super pissed that I took a picture of his wares. Where's the NYPD when you need them?

Late Night Men at Work

Steam blasts out of the street as a couple of Con Ed workmen try to figure out what's wrong.

I kinda think that I haven't had such great posts lately since it seems every time I see a good picture my camera is out of batteries or I've forgotten it at home. I guess I haven't really felt like myself the past few weeks. Tired. Working too much. I had a cold. Etc. Hopefully some better pictures this week. It's Sunday night.

Art on the Street

These little figures seem to pop up all over the city.

If you've lived here long enough and keep your eyes peeled you'll see them around. I've noticed them mostly either painted on the street in crosswalks or affixed with some odd tape/paint sort of stuff directly to the pavement. This is the first one I've seen at eye level. It is glued to one of those strange electrical boxes that are on a lot of street corners. It's made out of some paper/plastic like material and is glued down really, really good.

This is quickly becoming my favorite blog. It's great and totally gets right to the point.

Angry Corner

There were a lot of angry people waiting on this corner. I think they misread the sign.

A Trip to The Dentist

Everyone loves a trip to the dentist. No cavities. Big smile.

Sarah Morris on West 40th Street

Sarah Morris makes excellent paintings with household gloss paint. She is definitely one of my favorite artists. She usually works in bright colors and makes huge interlocking shapes. She's also a pretty decent filmmaker. I saw her lecture at the Guggenheim a few years back and she was extremely good-natured and outgoing.

Here's a huge Sarah Morris panel display that I stumbled upon in the lobby of 104 West 40th Street in Midtown near Bryant Park. You can find all sorts of cool stuff like this in New York if you keep your eyes open. I saw this on Saturday night after the first night of The Coffee C'Art on my way to a late night in the editing room doing the sound mix on the movie. Blah, blah, blah.

Here is more information about this building than you would ever want to know.

Art Cart

Here's a picture of the Kenny Scharf art cart that transported people around outside The 2009 Armory Show at Pier 92 and Pier 94 in Manhattan.

The Coffee C'Art

Here is artist Mame McCutchin's rendering of The Coffee C'Art as it might appear on the southeast corner of 54th Street and 12th Avenue - across the street from Pier 94 where the Armory Show is shacked up.

Come on down for a cup of nickel coffee, get an awesome GUEST of CINDY SHERMAN coffee cup, and support the arts!

Movies at the Movies

Last night on 12th Street at 11PM. A movie being filmed on the street outside of Cinema Village.

Cinema Village is the theater for the March 27th opening of Guest of Cindy Sherman!

Party All The Time

The scene entering the Valentino party on Thursday night at 7PM on Madison Avenue. I hope my hair looked ok; I think I need a haircut. Maybe tomorrow. I had an OK time, but this will be a way better event.

Hoisting in Soho

Despite the terrible recession, there are plenty of new buildings going up all over the city. Here's a modern window being hoisted and popped into place on West Broadway in the Soho section of the city on Thursday morning.

I always try to avoid walking near these things. You never know when something might fall and crash on your head. I walk on top of the sidewalk grates though. It seems like those scary things might fall in at any moment. They are especially bad for women in high heels. I think that after living in the city for awhile all the women figure out how to get around them so they don't lose their heels.

Flooding Fifty Seven

You never know when a subway station is all of a sudden and completely out of nowhere going to get flooded. This was Sunday afternoon at the N/R 57th Street stop which I seem to use a lot. The best thing about this stop is that the trains come very regularly and there are usually no long waits for trains even if the station floods from time to time.

The transit system in Manhattan is totally unpredictable, but I imagine it runs pretty well compared to other cities. I prefer the bus for the ride and the weird people who you see on the bus, but the subway is way faster and much cheaper than taxi cabs which are totally outrageous. I was running late the other day and a cab from 57th Street to the World Trade Center was $19. Serves me right for being late I suppose.

More New Buildings

Progress continues on the World Trade Center. I don't think they should rebuild it. It should just be redeveloped as a downtown park. There are already enough tall buildings in the city already.

Attention! You May Be Recorded.

Don't do anything illegal.

At least you have a huge warning sign. I wonder why they felt the need to post such an enormous sign in this station. It is the City Hall N/R station, one of the closest subway stops to the former site of the World Trade Center so maybe this will scare all the terrorists and erstwhile Mayor Bloomberg protestors away.

I wish they would use these cameras to apprehend the scofflaws who gunk up the subway platforms with chewing gum.

I just noticed that I have been nominated for a 2009 Cool Photoblog Award. Someone submitted me yesterday and the comments are good too! There are tons of very popular sites that gets lots of traffic, but it's nice to be nominated. You have to register to vote, but if you are inclined to click the link above please do so, no one is stopping you.

Saturday Night Legwear

Every Saturday night a huge number of people gravitate into the city to visit one of the many nightclubs scattered throughout the city. Here's what a couple of New Jersey clubbers were wearing on their way out to frolic the night away.