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N Y L ENS E H T H G U O R H T V I V I E N N E G U C W A #LIBERTY #ELLIS #BATTERY #WOOLWORTH #WALL ST #BULL #MEMORIAL #FDR #200 GRENWICH #ZUCCOTTI #WORLD TRADEONE #SPIRE #NYFD #NYC #BROOKLYN #CANAL #EAST #RIVER #URBAN #SOUL #POETRY #LOWER #NYU #SKYLINE #BROWN #BRICK #MEAT #PACKING #CHELSEA #THE EMPIRE STATE #MIDTOWN #SPORTS #PENN #BROADWAY #THE CHRYSLER #GRAND CENTRAL #TIMES SQUARE #FACEBOOK #HELLS KITCHEN #SNOWBALL #CITIBANK #TOP OF THEROCK #INSTAGRAM #CENTRAL PARK #LINCOLN #UPPER #EAST #WEST #SIDE #CAMERA #MUSEUM #POND RLEM#HA #WEST #LOVE #BRONX #QUEENS N Y L ENS E H T H G U O R H T V I V I E N N E G U C W A CINCINNATI, OHIO WWW.PRINTMAG.COM #LIBERTY #ELLIS #BATTERY #WOOLWORTH #WALL ST #BULL #MEMORIAL #FDR #200 GRENWICH #ZUCCOTTI #WORLD TRADEONE #SPIRE #NYFD #NYC #BROOKLYN #CANAL #EAST #RIVER #URBAN #SOUL #POETRY #LOWER #NYU #SKYLINE #BROWN #BRICK #MEAT #PACKING #CHELSEA #THE EMPIRE STATE #MIDTOWN #SPORTS #PENN #BROADWAY #THE CHRYSLER #GRAND CENTRAL #TIMES SQUARE #FACEBOOK #HELLS KITCHEN #SNOWBALL #CITIBANK #TOP OF THEROCK #INSTAGRAM #CENTRAL PARK #LINCOLN #UPPER #EAST #WEST #SIDE #CAMERA #MUSEUM #POND RLEM#HA #WEST #LOVE #BRONX #QUEENS NY THROUGH THE LENS Copyright © 2014 by The Ilex Press Limited. Manufactured in China. All rights reserved. No other part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by PRINT Books, an imprint of F+W, a Content and Ecommerce Company. 10151 Carver Road, Suite 200, Blue Ash, Ohio 45242. (800) 29-0963. First edition. For more excellent books and resources visit www.fwmedia.com. 18 17 16 15 14 5 4 3 2 1 ISBN: 978-1-4403-3958-5 This book was conceived, designed, and produced by The Ilex Press, 210 High Street, Lewes, BN7 2NS, UK For ILEX: Publisher: Alastair Campbell Executive Publisher: Roly Allen Commissioning Editor: Adam Juniper Editorial Director: Nick Jones Senior Project Editor: Natalia Price-Cabrera Senior Specialist Editor: Frank Gallaugher Assistant Editor: Rachel Silverlight Art Director: Julie Weir Design: Made Noise All images © Vivienne Gucwa Color Origination by Ivy Press Reprographics CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 6 CHAPTER #1 STREET NARRATIVES 8 CHAPTER #2 SKYLINES 88 CHAPTER #3 SEASONS 134 CHAPTER #4 HISTORY 164 CONCLUSION 190 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 192 INTRODUCTION Central Park, Manhattan Sony SLT-A55V | ƒ/4 | 1/200 second | ISO 200 There are certain colors that dominate memory. They are ignored. To embrace my new-found sense of wonder, I took the only infused with the hues of dreams and mixed on the palette camera I could afford at the time, a simple point-and-shoot costing of the mind’s eye.But it’s the tones of nostalgia that stand out the less than $100, on my walking adventures. I just wanted to capture most: lingering longing for places and moments we have or have not the moments and experiences that made my heart swell. experienced that creates a void in our beings so deep that its echo In 2010, I finally decided to post the photos I had accumulated is felt in every moment. along the way online. Since I had no formal training in photography I am endlessly haunted by a sense of saudade and sehnsucht or in-depth knowledge of the rules and concepts defining the field, as I explore the world with my camera. Saudade is a word of it didn’t occur to me that I’d have an audience for my work. Having Portuguese origin that refers to an intense desire for something other limited tools enticed me to learn more about light, which in turn has 6 than the present; a dreamy wistfulness for things that are not found set me on a lifelong journey attempting to capture something as in the present environment. Sehnsucht is a word of German origin fleeting and vast as the transient quality of New York City and other that can refer to a nostalgic longing for a faraway place that may or places around the world. may not exist in reality but feels like home. Both of these types of While photography didn’t find me until later in life, my passion longing are so profoundly experienced that ordinary reality usually for writing occurred much earlier. I discovered my love for writing while pales in comparison. taking art history classes many years ago. My love for the subject of Photography is a powerful artistic medium that allows us to art was nearly trumped by my love of writing about art. I would spend tap into these intense feelings of nostalgic longing. All of the sensory countless hours analyzing what it was about a particular work of art influences that we carry with us in our minds which affect how we that resonated in a universal way. It was in those same art history view and relate to our environment are also shared by others to classes that I also developed a love for painters who found ways to varying degrees. And we can use those sensory influences to tap evoke powerful emotions deftly using color and light. Painters like into a universal nostalgic longing that will allow us to distill the essence Edouard Léon Cortès and John Atkinson Grimshaw who could of any place into distinctive visual remnants that universally evoke masterfully portray a range of emotions in cityscapes and landscapes a slew of powerful emotions. with the loosest brushstrokes of paint inspired pages and pages of S N I started taking photos in a rather stream-of-consciousness writing and musing about their artistic brilliance. E L E manner in 2009. Without much in the way of material things or This book is a series of narratives and thoughts about New York H T financial prosperity, walking became my way to deal with stress. City, set to the New York City that exists in my mind. When I have my H G It also became a way for me to experience New York City as I never camera to my eye and I am thinking about the countless stories that U O R had before. I would choose a direction and walk as far as my feet are unfolding in front of me, I am at the core a dream catcher and H Y T would take me; I still do this. As the scenery unfolded before me, moment collector. #N I began noticing lines, forms, and structures that I‘d previously I hope that you enjoy these dreams and moments. STREET NARRATIVES CHAPTER #1 “ S E V TI A R R A N T There are streets that I return to over and E E R T S over again. These streets tug at memories I haven’t made yet while yanking memories I treasure from the deep recesses of my mind. 8 They haunt me in all the best ways. They represent the New York City in my mind. Everyone seems to have a different version of New York City in their mind. It’s the version that they look for when turning S N E L a corner and glancing down a street. E H T H “ G U O R H T Y N # Staple Street, Tribeca, Lower Manhattan Sony SLT-A55V | ƒ/5 | 1/250 second | ISO 400 My own version of New York City was formed early on. It’s alley-like street, it contains one of the most fascinating pedestrian a result of falling in love with a combination of streetscapes bridges I have ever seen in New York City. in classic film noir, futuristic sci-fi city environments in literature When I began taking photos of New York City, the movement and film, and years of traversing New York City on foot. of its inhabitants and its constantly evolving backdrop was a never- This is one of those streets that I could have only dreamed ending source of wonder. Minutes would turn into hours as I waited existed until I turned a corner one day and stopped dead in my for the perfect character to candidly enter the scene I wanted to tracks as I looked down the street towards the skybridge that capture. Stories unfold on the city’s streets just waiting for a press crosses between buildings. It’s Staple Street in Tribeca. A tiny of the shutter button to immortalize them, one frame at a time.