I just came across a new body of work from Joel Meyerowitz that will be published by Aperture this fall. Legacy: The Preservation of Wilderness in New York City Parks contains 250 images from New York City’s parks and wild spaces, and from what little I’ve seen, it looks pretty spectacular. The subject of wilderness contained within urban areas is something I have been fascinated by for a long time, and I’m sure I’ll see a lot of familiar places. The book also contains information about the parks such as maps and historical information.

There is no specific release date mentioned, but it would seem to be sometime in the next month or two to accompany the show at the Museum of the City of New York, which opens October 9. The book looks great, but the box set, which includes an additional book and a signed inkjet print, is at the top of my wishlist.

NYPD Operations Order number 14

I’m not sure how I could have missed this, but I just came across an official NYPD document regarding the legality of photography in public areas in the city. It is the clearest and most useful document of its kind that I’ve found and states that, except in specific and rare cases, photography and videotaping are permissible in most public spaces. Additionally, a police officer may never ask you to delete images or destroy film, although they can seize your equipment and obtain a search warrant if they are suspicious about your intentions.

I am printing this one out and putting it right along side my copy of The Photographer’s Right and the NYC MOFTB permit rules in my camera bag. I’ve had good and bad experiences with the NYPD, but have found that a friendly attitude and familiarity with the rules usually help keep problems to a minimum.

(via Brian Ulrich » Critical Terrain » Carlos Miller)

Next Thursday marks the opening of a new gallery in Dumbo, and with it, a show from Corey Arnold. It seems that I have been hearing a lot about Corey’s work lately, and with good reason: it is completely, jaw-droppingly amazing. Be sure to check out his website.

Opening Reception: Thursday, May 14, 6:30-8:30 PM

Caption Gallery
55 Washington Street, Suite 802
Brooklyn, NY
718-504-7991

Piazza, by Beth Dow
from the show Ruins, at Jen Bekman Gallery

Ruins
Photographs by Beth Dow
At Jen Bekman Gallery
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 9, 2009 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m
On View: April 9th – May 16th, 2009

Be there or be ☐.

If you are looking for some good cheer in these sour times, you could do a lot worse than Justin James Reed’s recession print sale. By print sale, I mean that Justin is offering a print-quality downloadable photograph for free, just to spread some warm fuzzies. It’s a great image, too.

In a similar vein comes this post from Rachel Hulin regarding the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog at the Library of Congress. With a little searching, one can find some wonderful high-resolution images freely available for download. I happen to have a huge crush on Carleton Watkins at the moment, and sure enough, with a little bit of digging, I came upon this lovely image, which will soon have a home on my wall.

California Geysers, by Carleton Watkins

As for my part, I am offering the image below as a document of disappearing Brooklyn. These buildings have stood at the far edge of Smith Street for many years and have become so well-known that the surrounding neighborhood is now jokingly called the Notary District. Something tells me that they won’t be around much longer, although the stagnant economy seems to have given them a short reprieve. It seems like building has stopped all over the city; everywhere I look nowadays I see vacant lots where developers have started projects and given up halfway through.

This is a high-quality Tiff file that should make a very nice 8×10 print. If you do end up printing a copy for yourself, please drop a line in the comments and let me know about it.

I would also like to mention that a great friend of the Notary District, Bob Guskind, passed away last week. Bob was the publisher of the Gowanus Lounge, a well-known local blog. Bob worked tirelessly, sometimes writing dozens of posts a day, documenting Brooklyn’s incredible transformation over the last few years. Bob published many of my photographs of the neighborhood on his site over the years, including this one, and he will be missed.

Russo Notary, Brooklyn, 2008

Click to download Russo Notary, Brooklyn, 2008 (4MB Tif)

Édouard Baldus, Le Moine, ca. 1861, currently on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

An August weekend in New York is usually just an excuse to get out of town, but if you are stuck in the city (or are visiting) there are a few photography shows closing soon that you should probably know about.

You have one week left to catch the Bechers at MoMA, two weeks to see the phenomenal “Framing a Century” exhibition at the Met, and only a few weeks for Mapplethorpe’s “Polaroids” at the Whitney, and “When Color Was New” at the Julie Saul Gallery, which includes vintage color photographs from Harry Callahan, William Christenberry, William Eggleston, Mitch Epstein, Walker Evans, Luigi Ghirri, Joel Meyerowitz, Stephen Shore, and Joel Sternfeld (just to name a few).

If you are near Washington D.C., it would be a crime to miss the Richard Misrach show at the National Gallery. It closes on September 1.

Summer goes by so quickly. Soon it will be time for corduroy again and we’ll have a new crop of exhibitions to choose from. I just discovered Abelardo Morell on Aline Smithson’s blog and will definitely be visiting his show at the Bonni Benrubi gallery in September.

Are there any exhibitions, current or in the near future, New York City or elsewhere, that you would recommend or are looking forward to seeing?

I just happened upon the announcement of this upcoming show at Bond Street Gallery in Carroll Gardens:

Photo by Gerald Edwards

Young Curators, New Ideas

Organized by Amani Olu

Curated by Alana Celii & Grant Willing, Michael Bühler-Rose, Jon Feinstein, Laurel Ptak, Amy Stein, and Lumi Tan

Opening Reception: Wednesday, August 13, 2008
RSVP: rsvp@bondstreetgallery.com
Press Review: 4 — 6 pm | Public Reception: 6 — 9 pm
On View: Wednesday, August 13 — Saturday, September 6, 2008

Exhibition Artists:

Charles Benton, Alison Brady, Brian Bess, Victor Boullet, Mikaylah Bowman, Olga Cafiero, Talia Chetrit, Tyler Coburn, Petra Cortright, C. Coy, Gerald Edwards III, Daniel Everett, Thobias Fäldt & Per Englund, Martin Fengel, Jason Fulford, Nicolas Grider, Pierre Hourquet, Konst & Teknik, Eke Kriek, Emily Larned, Bryan Lear, Miranda Lehman, Seth Lower, Matt MacFarland, Katja Mater, Kelci McIntosh, Mark McKnight, Erin Jane Nelson, Ilia Ovechkin, Robert Overweg, Alex Prager, M. River, Noel Rodo-Vankeulen, Asha Schechter, Trevor Shimizu, Alix Smith, Jo-ey Tang, Jesper Ulvelius, Anne De Vries, Hannah Whitaker, Karly Wildenhaus, Ofer Wolberger, Ann Woo and Damon Zucconi

Bond Street Gallery can be found online at http://www.bondstreetgallery.com

I was on Brian Ulrich’s blog the other day and noticed that he will be participating in a group show at Bond Street in October. I’m looking forward to it.

I’ve been reading The Exposure Project blog for quite a while now for their great taste in photography, but I didn’t know much about the group itself until today. They are a photography collective, and they are having an exhibition and releasing a book of new work next month. The opening and release party is at Tillie’s in Forte Green on August 18.

Photo by Fran Osborn-Blaschke

Photo by Anastasia Cazabon

The details:

The Exposure Project
Tillie’s of Brooklyn
248 DeKalb Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11205

August 18- September 20
Opening Reception: Monday, August 18 from 7-9 pm

Includes photographs by Ben Alper, Anastasia Cazabon, Lauren Edwards, Kate Emerson, Adam Marcinek, Fran Osborn-Blaschke, Justin James Reed & Eric Watts

To be honest, I still don’t know anything about these characters, but it sounds good to me. See you there?

I’ve been wanting to take a photograph of this building for quite some time now. A few interesting historical notes about the Litchfield Villa: it was the home of real estate and railroad tycoon Edwin Litchfield, condemned by the city in 1868 (an early case of eminent domain) to make way for Prospect Park. The building now houses the headquarters for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Once upon a time, Litchfield’s property ran all the way down to the Gowanus Canal, and also included the now-landmarked building at the corner of 3rd Avenue and 3rd Street in Gowanus.

Link: The New York Times story about the renovation of the Litchfield Villa in the 1980s. I don’t think the stucco renovation ever happened—at least from my observation, it’s still brick.

Google Map

The Humble Arts Foundation and Ladies Lotto present work by women under 31 at the Gallery at 3rd Ward this Saturday, March 1. The opening is at 7 and requires an RSVP. Unfortunately I can’t make it to the opening, but there will be lots of wonderful photography to see, based on the list of artists involved. The show is open through March 28.

3rd Ward is on Morgan Avenue in East Williamsburgh. Map

As an aside, it seems like there may be just a few more days to catch my photograph as part of group show 21 on the Humble Arts Foundation website. Enjoy!

Link: 31 under 31: young women in art photography