some ramblings

A White Christmas After All

Hey, it snowed great buckets last night!

I went out into it to take some pictures after yummy venison dinner at Chateau Plotcaird, and got many dazzling shots on the way home.

New York in winter, oh yeah!

The last few times I've had my camera out for a photo safari on the Upper West, I've had the nagging feeling that I'm just not shooting enough. "Capture this world," I think. "Take it with you."

I don't know why. This is probably the most photographed city in North America. But there's so much to look at, maybe the record can't be detailed enough.

I'm a sucker for snowfall. I love the way that a blizzard transforms the world, highlighting structure and erasing surface. And the light! I'm afraid my wee little digital camera can't do the pink sky justice.

But a white Christmas, that's really something. The streets are a riot of white snow and colored lights, little glittering pinpoints of color, half buried in a blanket of fluff. Alas, it came to late for photography at twilight. The pictures on this page were taken around midnight, and already the holiday sheen was wearing off.

I tackled the 125th Street IRT station last night, for the first time. I've been itching to get up there and shoot around a bit. Not only for the views (it's on a bridge about five stories up in the middle of a sudden valley on Broadway) but because it resembles a classic steam-era railway station on the inside, which seems impossible given its thoroughly urban exterior.

If I were to document one location in all of New York City, it would have to be Manhattan Valley. It's an incredible landscape, but pretty far off the radar of anyone who doesn't actually live in it or walk through it.

Special thanks to Cary Plotkin for being the man-with-the-plan, and also the cab fare that allowed me to fetch my camera. Please don't be mad at me for posting next year's Christmas card here on my website, it's just so pretty!

By Psydeshow on December 26, 2002 at 2:51pm

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