New York Diary – Day One
I am in New York for twelve days to celebrate my seventieth birthday. Each time a milestone birthday comes, you marvel at your longevity and wonder how and when that time went by. Each one seems more consequential than the previous one. Still, this one seemed like one that I needed to mark well with a celebration worth remembering.
I had the good fortune, in the past, to stay at a friend's apartment for a short period in the big city. When I checked with them in early April, the apartment was available for the first two weeks. As I started to make plans, I learned through a YouTube video that there was a workshop over the weekend of the 5th, 6th and 7th with Ralph Gibson and Ted Forbes. I thought, why not?!! Ted has a YouTube channel, The Art of Photography, that I highly recommend, and Ralph Gibson; well, he is undoubtedly one of the members in my pantheon of great photographers.
I find the planning, packing, waiting, waiting, waiting for a trip to start to be, well, stressful. I was sure I had packed everything. I had a list and spent three days staging everything, but this morning, I was sure I had forgotten something, so I opened the bag and started digging. And, of course, what I was looking for was at the bottom of the bag.
I have been shooting primarily in color for the past eight months, but recently, I discovered and dug deep into Japanese photography from the 1960s to the 1970s. There was a group of photographers known for a style that critics dubbed "are, bure, bokeh" style, translated as "grainy/rough, blurry, and out-of-focus," an aesthetic rebuttal to the dominant European-style photojournalism style so dominant at that time. The photography and philosophy of Daido Moriyama, in particular, has caught my attention.
I am experimenting with that aesthetic in my images for now. I record both a JPEG and a raw image, which means I can edit more conventionally later, but the images in this post are my version of "are, bure, bokeh."
My suitcase was larger and heavier than I would have preferred, but the weather forecast for the New York area over the next few days is all over the place. As a result, I did not get images of the Providence Station, my arrival in New York, or the subway ride, but I did experiment with some shots outside the train window on the trip down here.
When I started composing this post, kids were climbing a tree in the park across the street. Some trees here already have leaves, so when one of their friends threw basketballs at them, the balls got stuck in them. The evening is winding down, but parents and children are still in the playground. It is time to wrap this up.
First, thank you to my friend who treated me to a delicious lunch she had prepared (chickpea curry with chicken and a salad) upon my arrival. And to her friend, thank you for your generosity in letting me stay in your home!!!
Finally, thank you, Therese, for being so wonderful about my being here in New York and for the joy you bring to my life!