An Afternoon in Washington Square Park

Times Square Snowball Fight

How great are these photos!

Brooklyn Bridge Park

I have a feeling that the Brooklyn Bridge Park, which is still under construction, is going to be my favorite park in New York City, someday. Maybe. It will be difficult to dethrone the jewel of Manhattan, Central Park, as my favorite park.

Based on the current project plan, and how much I enjoy what's already available to the public, it could happen, I suppose. At the very least, I think it will probably be on par with Central Park, for me. The section between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges is really quite lovely. I love the way the park is on the water, right by the East River.

It's really quite a nice view from almost any vantage point within the park. I look forward to the day the park is complete.

Hopefully by then, I'll be able to visit whenever I want!

Girl, Uninterrupted

It was a much welcomed clear and cool day when we decided to visit the newly opened Highline Park that day. This, of course, was after two consecutive days of seemingly endless drizzle; the kind of barely visible, light rainfall that isn't heavy enough to keep the natives from venturing out, but not light enough to enjoy any kind of outdoor activity or even walk around uninhibited, without an umbrella.

The streets were still bustling with people during those last two days, but most of them seemed to have only left shelter to take care of some chore that needed attention: perhaps to buy a gallon of milk, maybe a prescription to pick up at Duane Reade, or perhaps, a commitment they simply couldn't get out of.

However, this lovely day had arrived not a moment too soon.

It all started as we exited the Washington Square Hotel just in time to witness the sky opening up in mid-blossom; the clouds were in the midst of dispersing to the east, like pieces of strewn-out marshmallows or white cotton candy, blowing in the wind and perpetually morphing like mysterious shape-shifting spirits as they disappeared into the cobalt blue ether.

Our fears that inclement weather might persist for the duration of our stay were finally allayed.

"Let's go get some breakfast and coffee at Caffe Reggio" I said, yawning and rubbing the sleepy haze from my eyes.

"It's only a block from here" I added, before he could respond--as if to add incentive for him to concur.

"Alright, that works. I definitely need to eat before we do anything."

I looked in his direction and nodded in that primitive, non-verbal language of men, conveying agreement in my facial gesture as we shuffled toward the cafe on the uneven pavement alongside the red-bricked townhomes on MacDougal Street. About thirty feet away to our left, were a diverse group of people in their little corner of Washington Square Park, either playing chess or observing one of the intensely deliberate chess matches taking place at that particular moment.

We crossed the street to have a quick look. On the surface, the scene was relatively subdued, but there was a quiet intensity on men's faces that permeated the air in this section of the southwest corner.

Ah, men playing a gentleman's game of chess. What a nice change of pace from the trash-talking bravado which typically follows every successful move that's played in video games, or even dominos. This is not a scene I would ever see at home. With this in mind, I observed the moment with reverence as we continued walking past the park.

"How refreshing," I thought. The thinking man's game, where fate always favors substance over style.

New York City is full of things, big and small, much of which I rarely get to see back home in su-bore-bia--and this was one of them. Hell, even the uneventfulness of walking past Provincetown Playhouse, then looking to your left for oncoming traffic once you reach 3rd Street is a life-affirming thrill, compared to my daily life in the so-called Sunshine State.

For the record, the term Sunshine State is a marketing slogan of half-truth; and you know what they say about half-truths don't you? Be careful of which half you're getting. The full marketing truth would look something like: The 'Sometimes Sunshine but Mostly Just Hot and Humid 99% of the Time' State. But that wouldn't entice tourists to visit, and it certainly wouldn't fit on a license plate.

In any case, I digress.

Just past 3rd Street, we approached the now very recognizable green exterior of Caffe Reggio across the street to our right, when I began to notice the increasing uniqueness of the cast of characters walking up and down MacDougal Street. This instinctively prompted me to reach for my camera to capture the moment. As I fumbled with the focus and composition of the shot, I haphazardly snapped a few shots to capture the essence of life in little bohemia as it was happening, un-posed and un-rehearsed.

This was one of the few shots that didn't completely suck. Most of them were blurry since I didn't have time to adjust the settings and capture everyone walking. The guy on the bottom right and the guy on the top left were particularly interesting characters.

A few photos later, we went ahead and walked inside to size the place up. Upon entering, we stopped to look around. To my right was a man with a shaggy, full head of dark hair--each strand seemed to be quite busy, desperately reaching for the sky in every direction as he read his newspaper. Beside him was a middle-aged woman wearing a traditional Muslim hijab working on her laptop.

I smiled, thinking to myself, "Wow, what a scene. This is so New York City." Upon being noticed, we were greeted warmly by several friendly faces; but as welcoming as it was inside, the cool, brisk air outside was too pleasant to pass up.

"You want to sit outside?"

"Absolutely. It's so nice out right now!"

I let the hostess know that we'd be sitting outside for lunch, then took another glance at the cozy bohemian interior to take it all in, before turning and walking outside. We sat in the maroon-colored cushion seats at the mini bistro-style table just stage-right of the front door, then I immediately ordered a double espresso before the waitress went back inside. Once we ordered and the food arrived, it was quite a scene.

If anyone were watching us, it would have been clear that we were both ravenously hungry by way we were eating--and I use the term 'eating' loosely--gorging would probably be more accurate, considering the way we were basically swallowing the food whole after barely chewing.

Yes, I'm a heathen, fine. But still, despite the unfavorable impact to our digestive systems, this 'power lunch' worked to our advantage. Afterall, we did have places to go and things to see. Plus, considering that neither me nor my friend were going to wake up to an alarm clock while on vacation, we had already started our exploration late, around 10:30ish in the morning. Needless to say, we wrapped up lunch fairly quickly since we were needlessly burning daylight hours by sitting there.

Before moving on, however, I decided to take a few more shots from across the street.

For this shot, I noticed a slender, mid-twenty-something fellow with lilly white skin and dark hair hanging around. He was wearing slim-fitted blue jeans with Chuck Taylor All-Star Converse sneakers, and a khaki satchel made of cloth diagonally across his torso, with the bag hanging on the opposite hip.

What stood out most though, was the 1950s style hat that he was wearing along with those Blues Brothers style Ray-Ban type of sunglasses.

Despite being heavily immersed in a conversation on his cell phone, he seemed to want his photo taken, as he walked in circles directly in front of me. I had been standing there there snapping photos before he arrived, so I know he saw me taking photos.

Then I noticed he was standing still, almost deliberately in the first shot I took as well. Looks like I had an 'Attention Whore' on my hands. Not that I mind though. I found his style sort of uniquely charming in a nerdy kind of way. What's interesting to me is that as I posted this, I just noticed for the first time that our waitress was actually in the shot, picking up our plates.

It's easier to see in the full sized photo. I think if you click it, the photo pops up at full size, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, before moving on, here's our little attention whore again, 'coincidentally' lingering in the area I was shooting. Ha!

Our next stop was the Highline Park, a few blocks west.

Now, I usually just 'wing it' when I walk to places in NYC. I feel very comfortable in terms of knowing where I am at all times. But, my friend was a little nervous, and he kept asking me if I was sure I knew where I was going.

"Pfft...dude, this is my shit man."

"Screw Mickey Rourke, son...I'm the friggin pope of Greenwich Village now!"

Funny how that works: half of the time, I don't even know where I am in my own home town, and I've been there nearly all my life. However, in NYC, I'm like a caught fish that's just been released back into the water. In my natural habitat, free and unfettered.

In any case, since this is a blog post and not a book, I feel compelled to shorten what could be a much longer story.

That said, I confidently navigated our path through many interesting scenes and classic New York moments, which included some poor bastard dropping his cell phone into a puddle upon exiting a taxi then freaking out, and a model shoot on some corner deep in the west Village, where the old cobblestone streets are ubiquitous.

Then, in what seemed like a New York minute, we were there. Voila! I had managed to find the southern entrance to the park. I'm not really sure why it's considered a park, per se, but it's a nice enough stretch of benches with nice botanical decor. The views are certainly quite nice in certain spots. Perhaps I'll get into them in detail in another post, or perhaps I'll just let the photos speak for themselves here:

That's New Jersey over the Hudson River in the background...

A couple taking a self-portrait in front of some very colorful garden of flowers...

The first thing I remember seeing after walking up the stairway entrance was that girl sitting on a bench, listening to music, and probably spending some much needed alone-time at the park (the first photo at the top of this post).

I also remember the Asian man with the blue hat in the same photo asking me to take his picture using his camera. I happily obliged.

There are so many little things that happen in every moment; and if you're paying attention, these captured moments in time are life, captured in a freeze-frame photograph. This is something that I often remind myself of. A life lived is really only life in this very moment, right now.

What happened yesterday has been written and is now just a collection of memories and unchangeable moments that have gone by. Tomorrow is mystery filled with hopes and dreams that may or may not come to fruition. The only thing we really have is right now.

But like many people, I sometimes get caught up in the daily grind, and certainly miss out on plenty of things that are happening in the moment. Clearly, I'm far from perfect myself; but it's sad that many people never really pay attention to the little things, and all the while life is passing them by. Which is a damn shame; because in many ways, life is often all about the little things.

I think of all the places I've been, the little things jump out at me most when I'm in NYC. And that's because this is the place where my heart is. There are so many friendly people, so many opportunities to interact, and so many things to see and do in NYC that it seems impossible to for me to ever get enough.

But you can find those things anywhere really. My preference just happens to be in the northeast region of America.

I've often heard it said that home is where the heart is. Does your heart feel at home where you live now?

A.D.D. Boy

Where to start. This will be random. You've been warned!

I'm sitting in my living room smoking a stogie, drinking a 2005 Clos Du Bois Cabernet, listening to Ray Lamontagne's Gossip in the Grain. Some quick props to my friend Kelly in Chicago for sending me the cd a while back. It's the perfect music for this moment.

So here's something exciting (for me). I actually sold one of my photographs (the one above) on Imagekind.com! It's the first photo of mine that someone actually spent their hard-earned money on. Whoever this person is, I wish I could personally thank them. I doubt they have any idea how much it made my day--actually, it made my week, to be completely honest. I've been on cloud 9 for days.

Speaking of photography, even though money is tight these days, I managed to snag a Nikon D300 for $600. Granted it was just the body, but hey, it retails at about $2500, so it was a great deal.

The up-side is that it was $600.

The down-side is that it was $600.

I actually had other plans for that money, but I just went for it. If I were more practical and responsible, I wouldn't have spent the money on that. But, I did, and that's that. I went out and spent more money on a battery and memory card too.

My bank account is pissed, let me tell you.

But, I do really love photography, and enjoy the photos I've taken over the years with my 'beginner' Nikon D40x camera. Now I can actually do much more, since this camera is pretty much super bad-ass. My photos going forward will have higher quality resolution, which I'm exited about.

When it comes to my photos, I'm a perfectionist. I immediately see imperfections in image quality and get pretty peeved when a great shot is less than it could have been, so having the D300 is gonna kick major ass.

So yeah, wow this is good wine.

In the spirit of full disclosure, as is my modus operandi, I must admit that I'm a frequent contributor to Clos Du Bois' profit margin these days; I've been buying their wine a lot more often than other brands lately.

Oh. Em. Gee.

Their Briarcrest wine is TO DIE FOR, if you're a Cabernet person.

So yeah, kickass wine notwithstanding, back to what I was going to say. If I can get focused, I'll be working on my updating my resume after this post. Actually, I should be doing that now instead of screwing off doing things that are fun. Guess I'll have to get on that in a minute.

But anyway, I'm in a much better mood than when I started this post. Could be the wine. I know what your thinking, but I'm still on my first glass. Which means I need to get serious and pay more attention. To my wine, I mean. Duh, right?!

Oh yeah...I need to pay attention to that, and my resume (Aw, hell).

Right. Off I go...

That's a Big Bitch!

I don't know where this guy keeps such a ginormous dog living in New York City, but I'd love to witness that place. I mean, I shot this photo in the West Village, and I didn't see very many places in the neighborhood with the kind of space needed for this big fella.

Hopefully, his owner has a lot of money and can afford some huge apartment big enough for the two of them! Otherwise, that is a seriously interesting living situation.

"A dog owns nothing, yet is seldom dissatisfied." -Irish Proverb

In Days of Better Weather

Here's a candid shot of a couple enjoying a nice day on the Great Lawn in Central Park, during days with better weather obviously. The photo was taken with a little point-and-click camera, so it's not the best quality; but each time I see it, I'm reminded of what a great day I had in the park.

The East Village

It's too small to really appreciate some of the details, but here's a photo I took as I was walking around the East Village area (I think it's from that area, but I can't fully remember, as I was pretty loaded at the time).

Botanical Bridge

After eating and having a few drinks at The Boathouse Restaurant in Central Park, I went for a walk, towards a nearby fountain I like to sit by whenever I'm there. On the way to the fountain, I noticed a desolate little spot under a bridge nearby with lots of trees, plants, and general shrubbery all around it.

I'm not sure why I liked it enough to take a picture, but then again, I'm constantly taking pictures of all kinds of random things for no reason.

It's kinda what I do.

Being random, that is...

Montone Sunset

Sunset on hills
Originally uploaded by R.o.b.e.r.t.o.

Thought I'd share this dreamy shot from Montone, Italy. It can be seen in a bigger size here.

Doldrums at Bay

I don't know how many of you listen to music via Pandora.com or via the Pandora iPhone application, but I think it's the best thing since [insert really awesome thing here].

There are lots of random and strange things about me that you may notice as I contribute more entries, but one of those of things is that I will probably mention something being "the best thing since..." on more than one occasion. This will no doubt happen until something else is also "the best thing since..." whatever it was that was formerly known as "the best thing since..."

Confused yet?

Yeah, me too.

These things happen.

Best to get used to it sooner rather than later, I tend to think.

In any case, the only reason I mention Pandora is because I'm listening to it as I type this.

Music makes me happy. It helps me tune out distractions, helps to alleviate the doldrums that appear at various random moments during the day, and it generally helps me manage through the typical, garden variety boredom issues; at the very least, music helps keep boredom to a tolerable level.

If you work a 9 to 5 office job, or some similar day shift job, perhaps you know what I mean.

Not that I'm complaining, because I'm quite aware that I really don't have it so bad; at least not relative to many other people these days.

But back to awesome things, yes?

Here's something else I think is awesome:



I took this photo close to the fountain in front of The Plaza Hotel in NYC. There's something that I love about capturing all these colorful flowers among the tall buildings in the center of Manhattan's concrete jungle.

In my mind, they balance the boldness and enormity of the city with little glimpses of softness and beauty. I think the trees and flowers add as much life to the city as anything else does.

I hope you like the photo too.

Butterfly World

I took these photos sometime in 2007 at Butterfly World in Florida. Having never gone before, I didn't know what to expect, other than seeing a bunch of different flutterbys, obviously. As it turned out, there were much more than butterflies there. I really enjoyed the place.

There were many different types of exotic birds, as well as other types of interesting looking insects. Great place for kids who like birds and butterflies.

Both the butterflies and birds have their own little sanctuaries where they fly around free and unfettered. There are lots of flowers and trees, not to mention the pleasant, soothing sound that comes from water flowing out of the fountains and mini-currents from little ponds in the sanctuaries.

For someone who likes to take pictures, this place was perfect. There's so much to beauty there to capture.

The photo of the two birds is one my favorites from my visit. Not for the pic itself, per se -- but for me, it was one of those rare perfect-timing shots. I really love how the moment of affection between these two little birds was captured.

On the Water

This looks so relaxing. I think this is in Thailand. Fantastic shot!

Photo by grantthai at flickr.com

111 Huntington Avenue

What a beautiful shot from Boston. I remember being in the Prudential Tower and seeing this very same sight. Although, I must admit, it somehow looks even better in this picture than I remember. My kudos to the talented photographer that took this.

Photo by Amar Raavi at flickr.com.

Brooklyn Bridge Waterfalls

I just love this picture. It makes me miss my beloved NYC all that much more...

Photo by pbredow on flickr.com.

The original can be seen here.

Home Is Where the Heart Is

New York City is my favorite place in the world.

I'm obsessed with the place.

I haven't been to enough places outside the U.S. to say it will always be my favorite; but I can't imagine any place on earth being quite like NYC, no matter how wonderful a place it may be.

When I say New York City, I mean Manhattan, of course. Not that I dislike the other boroughs, but Manhattan is like the beautiful woman in a room of plain Janes. You would 'do' the others, but she's the one you really want to focus your attention on.

For me, NYC is like your favorite toy that captured all of your attention on Christmas morning when you were a kid. Except I never get tired of her.

I get as excited to see her as I've ever gotten to see anyone.

But alas, I don't live there unfortunately. I know my way around the place as if I did though. She just makes sense to me.

Maybe someday I'll have the balls to just pick up go...

(Picture taken by me, Sept. 2008.)