Sticker graffiti, E. 20s, May 2006

When you think of graffiti, you probably think of spray paint - at least I do. But I've also seen graffiti on stickers, often FedEx or postal labels that someone "tags" and then slaps on a wall.

A sticker-graffiti artist in my neighborhood has taken things a step further by leaving us with drawings. The one above is on a boarded-up doorway on Third Avenue. Below, a mailbox near Park Avenue and the wall of a construction site near Fifth Avenue.

Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, June 2006

I'm usually not a big fan of flower photos. They're just too easy. There's no challenge in taking a photo of a beautiful object; you're just transferring its beauty to pixels. You may as well be taking pictures of your valuables for insurance purposes.

I think this is what Georgia O'Keeffe was getting at when she famously said, "I hate flowers - I paint them because they're cheaper than models and they don't move." Of course, she made extremely unconventional flower paintings, and made people see flowers in an entirely new way.

In this case, the flowers are just one element. I liked the lines of the fence, the shadows on the steps and the purple color of the blossoms. I was trying to capture the shady summer feel of this Brooklyn neighborhood, where so much was in bloom all around.

Times Square, June 2006

This is a sort of "reverse shadow," a reflection from the windows in the Reuters Building on an advertisement across the street.

I work in Times Square, and walking the one block past the Reuters Building, from the subway to 43rd Street, is easily the most personally challenging part of my daily grind. Just so many damn PEOPLE! And everyone's moving so SLOWLY! So many TOURISTS and BABY STROLLERS and people with cameras looking UP!

I tend to walk fast. I never really have a reason. It's not like I'm late.

So whenever I get behind a crowd ogling the neon lights in Times Square and blocking my way, I try to remind myself to take a deep breath and remember that I'm in no rush.

Besides, as you can see, occasionally it's ME that's looking up.

Third Street, East Village, June 2006

I read somewhere that ginkgo trees are prehistoric, one of the oldest surviving plants on the planet. So it's easy to see why they're also one of the most popular street trees in New York. They're tough.

In the fall, the fan-shaped leaves on their long, fingery branches turn brilliant yellow.

Rain, rain, go away!

Lower East Side, June 2006

A great paint job on Suffolk Street.

Pride Parade

I was supposed to go to today’s Pride Parade with a friend from Long Island. We were going to meet at 1 p.m. in Madison Square Park, near my apartment.

But about noon he called to say he and his partner had decided not to come, because of the weather. (And I don't blame him. It wasn't the greatest day.) So I did some stuff around the house and didn’t get out there myself until 1:30 or so, by which time things were already well underway.

I watched at the corner of 29th Street and Fifth Avenue. These upper reaches of the parade route are neither as crowded nor as enthusiastic as those in Greenwich Village, where on good years the sidewalks are packed five or six people thick, and walking far is out of the question. Here, it seemed to be a mix of gay guys, curious straight couples (conspicuously holding hands) and foreign tourists.

I arrived just as Sen. Chuck Schumer passed by, followed by squadrons of elaborately dressed drag queens from ethnic and immigrant gay organizations:


I stayed about half an hour, long enough to see a lively gay gospel group, a gay men’s flag corps (you just know they were living their high school fantasies), the “black and brown lesbians against racism” (or BABAR), and every PFLAG chapter in the tri-state area. Oh, and Mark Green, who’s running for...something.

I got my requisite free condom and lube from the Asian and Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS. A pair of Japanese tourists standing next to me kept taking pictures of the package, featuring four Asian men and the words “Choose Safer Sex.” I’m not sure why they were so fascinated.

And of course, there was the Starbucks float:


(Forgive me for being a corporate stooge, but as you all know, I loves me some Starbucks.)

All in all, I had a good time, and I saw just enough to bring to mind the point of the parade: That there’s room for all of us in this huge sprawl of a city, that we’re all more alike than we are different, and that each of us should celebrate our identity daily, whether gay or straight, marcher or spectator.

Columbus Circle, June 2006

This is the kind of weekend we're having - clouds and rain. It's hard for me to take photos in the rain, because I usually respond to sunlight and shadows. But I also feel like I need to post a rain photo on a rainy day, for the sake of journalistic accuracy! Yesterday I rose to the challenge, went out and took some rain shots.

The photo shows the Trump International Hotel and Tower reflected in the newly installed benches on Columbus Circle. The Trump building was originally built in 1969 as the headquarters for Charles Bluhdorn's Gulf & Western Corp. But apparently it had an architectural flaw: It swayed pretty severely. (All skyscrapers sway a little, but this one got a reputation.) When Trump retrofitted it to become an apartment hotel, he reclad it and stiffened it up a bit.