Exterior detail of the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City.
After traveling uptown to the general area of Columbia University for a breakfast visit to a bakery that had been recommended to us we wandered across the street to the grounds of this famous and imposing cathedral. We began in the sculpture building next to the church, and this photograph was made from that general area, taking advantage of the soft and diffused light of this overcast day.
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Detail of stonework at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, New York City.
Early in the morning we took the subway north to the area around Columbia University where we had been told to visit a Hungarian bakery. (Worth the visit, by the way…) This “cathedral church,” which I had heard of but not seen in person, is located almost across the street. We started in the nearby sculpture garden which features a large, central sculpture (too much to say about it to try to do it here) which is surrounded by small pieces created by schoolchildren. From here it was a very short walk to the cathedral itself.
The cathedral is a powerful piece of architecture, much larger and more imposing than many of the other famous religious sites that I’ve seen in New York. I first made a series of photographs of the interesting textures and forms of the exterior of the building, including this photograph, taking advantage of the soft light created by the cloudy conditions. Eventually we made our way inside. I took no photographs inside the cathedral, partly because there was a service going on and because I was quite affected by the scale of the interior space… and by the very interesting and unusual music being performed by the organist.
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
An airplane crosses a cloud-filled New York City sky above the Standard Hotel at the High Line Park in Chelsea.
This hotel straddling the High Line Elevated Park in New York City presents a striking appearance, especially when the right clouds are reflected in its glass-window surface. We were in the area on a summer evening when the sky was filled with interesting clouds, and by the time we finished walking to and then along the elevated path of the High Line park we had seen it from quite a few angles.
This was my first visit to New York City in a decade, and I have to say that coming to terms with it as a photographic subject is a tall task for someone trying to take in the whole thing for (not quite) the first time. I do a lot of street and urban photography, but usually in places with which I’m familiar – San Francisco is a short train ride from where I live, so I photograph there a lot. For me, it takes some time to get beyond the overwhelming first impressions and settle down and achieve a level of comfort with the place. There were days in New York when, despite being in the midst of tremendous numbers of photographic opportunities, I found it almost impossible to figure out what to shoot. And there were also certain times when “the light came on” and I made a lot of photographs, including this evening.
The windows of the Standard Hotel reflect clouds and sky above the High Line Park.
We spent a week in New York City in mid-August – our first visit in a decade. I had forgotten a lot about the character of this city, but it all started coming back to me as we drove into Manhattan on a Friday evening and encountered people everywhere, out and about and doing all of the things that one does here. I have many images in my mind from the visit, but one is a sort of combination of massive, tall, and static structures surrounded by the constant motion of vehicles and people.
The next evening we made our way – with the help of our oldest son, who now lives there – down to the High Line Park area, arriving at the beginning of the “golden hour” light on an evening featuring wonderfully textured clouds. The Standard Hotel straddles the High Line – which, for those who may not know, is a narrow elevated park built on the structure of an old elevated railway. Here the cloud-filled sky is reflected in the windows of the hotel.
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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