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New York City - Rain and Wet Sidewalks - By Vivienne Gucwa Through eyelashes wet with rain, a thousand thoughts fall to the ground and through the raindrops the city lights blur together as shadows make their way into the night - impermanence registered with every blink. ---
New York City - Night - By Vivienne Gucwa I have been traipsing all over the city for the last few months trying to capture a large majority of New York City’s skyline views. I think everyone has a particular skyline view they immediately think of when they think of the city. And yet, it’s still incredible to me after all this time that I come across different skyline angles that I hadn’t previously come across or had the time to explore before from certain vantage points. New York City has several prominent skyline views that are popular. One is in lower Manhattan and usually includes the skyscrapers of the Financial District along with the one or more of the bridges that serve the lower part of Manhattan. The other series of skyline views can be found from the top of a few popular skyscrapers in midtown Manhattan. Another series of skyline views involves the midtown Manhattan skyline as seen from different vantage points across (or in some cases directly from) the East River. This particular view is taken from one of the latter vantage points. It’s a 30 second long exposure taken on a gorgeously clear and cold night in the beginning of March from Roosevelt Island. Prominent skyscrapers in this view are the Chrysler Building and the United Nations building (all the way to the left). The lights of other famous midtown skyscrapers can also be seen even if those skyscrapers (looking at you Empire State Building) are hidden in this view. The lights directly in front of the skyscrapers that line the East River belong to the FDR Drive, a major traffic route that lines New York City’s east side. --------
New York Night - Queensboro Bridge and the Manhattan Skyline - By Vivienne Gucwa When the night falls hard onto the city's shoulders and the sky drapes a dark blanket over the skyscrapers and buildings, it's hard to contain the effervescent charm that bursts forth after the sun has retreated. --- This is the Queensboro Bridge which is known by a few other names depending on where you are from and how long you have lived in New York City. Despite growing up in Queens, I will always think of this bridge as the 59th Street Bridge because I think I belonged to one of the few families in Queens that for whatever reason associated the bridge more with 59th Street in Manhattan. It's also known as Queens Bridge which is a shortened form of Queensboro Bridge. Its current official name is the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, named after the now deceased former mayor of New York City who held office from the late 70s to the early 80s. He was many things least of all a "character" (as we say). The vantage point is from Roosevelt Island and this is the result of a 30 second exposure taken with the Sony A99. It was taken on a bitterly cold night in the beginning of March while I was having a spirited conversation with one of the Roosevelt Island security guards regarding the abandoned smallpox hospital further down the island. I tend to love to shoot long exposures alone but it was great to have the company (and quirky conversation) that night. It's those type of moments that make me love the city: little bursts of spontaneity and brevity while watching the lights sparkle in the city's eyes. ---
Brooklyn Bridge at Night - New York City - By Vivienne Gucwa If you stop to squint long enough all the dreams whispered on the wind during the day flicker like fire-flies when the evening stretches out across the sky and the rain washes the city's despair away so it can dream itself into another sunrise. ---- This was taken on a gorgeous evening overlooking the New York City skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn. The sky filled with enormous clouds shortly after sunset as the city's lights sprinkled themselves like glitter all over the evening cityscape and it was as if everything else melted away. ----
Under the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge - New York City - By Vivienne Gucwa I had a recurring dream when I was younger that puzzled me for years. It involved boarding a hovering bubble shaped vehicle and ascending over the skyscrapers until I was soaring under the bridges and through the cavern-like spaces of the city. It was euphoric but also terrifying at the same time. When I was older, I finally relayed the dream to someone and they laughed and asked if I had ever taken the Roosevelt Island tram when I was very young. I had no recollection of it. It prompted me to ask my mother if we had ever done such a thing and she said it was possible but she couldn’t remember a specific time that we would have done it (my mother, like me, is absolutely terrified of heights). It’s possible that my family took the tram to Roosevelt Island at some point and the experience embedded itself deep into my imagination where it mixed with other flights of fancy (pun intended) of flying through a Gotham-like city like Batman. So, when I found myself photographing the underbelly of the 59th Street Bridge (also known as the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge or just the Queensboro Bridge) late last week, it was hard not to recall those earlier dreams and feelings they invoked while I stood there waiting for the long exposure to capture 30 seconds of what had haunted me for years. The bridge is one of my favorite ones in the city. Its architecture is distinctive when viewed from the side but I absolutely love how slick and dripping-with-sci-fi-overtones it appears when viewed from below. The bridge travels from darkness into the light of a gleaming New York City as the water below it only stirs with the occasional disruption of a boat. You can also make out the cables that the Roosevelt Island tram travels on to the right of the bridge. ---
Chrysler Building and New York Skyline - Roosevelt Island View - By Vivienne Gucwa This is the result of a 30 second exposure taken late last week from Roosevelt Island. Roosevelt Island is a tiny island that sits in the East River overlooking the Upper East Side and midtown Manhattan. The Chrysler Building is a beacon of white, sparkling lights in a sea of skyscrapers lit by the yellow glow of the lights on the FDR Drive. It's a rather calm place to visit at this time of year since it's not quite warm enough for people to take full advantage of the promenade that runs parallel to this amazing view. The night tends to fall quietly over the lights of Manhattan when viewing the skyline from this vantage point. The only sounds that are prominent are the sound of waves lapping up against the sides of the promenade as the rare boat speeds by. I find it endlessly fascinating how a long exposure can calm even those sounds down visually - smoothing out the water's surface until the lights seem to melt into the water like liquid stars in a watery universe. ---
Times Square - New York City- By Vivienne Gucwa Times Square is its own universe. It's New York City filtered through cinematic dreams and commercially-tinged aspirations wrapped up in flashing lights and colorful billboards. There is a familiarity to it that is tinged with a wild-eyed estranged quality that makes it all the more alluring. And when a yellow New York City taxi cab drives by at the speed of light under all the flashing lights, it's hard not to smile. ---
In-Between Moments - Soho - New York City - By Vivienne Gucwa There is a certain serenity that can found when wandering New York City streets at night. These moments pause the forward motion and flow of city life. Street lights flicker against wet cobblestone and glass windows stare back languidly. Remnants of previous signs of life sit on curbs while bicycles lean against stoops resting briefly in the calm embrace of the night. —- Someone suggested a few months ago that a common theme to my photography was loneliness. I recounted to him how in the earlier days of posting my photography online, people would message me asking if I deliberately removed people from my shots. They couldn’t believe that in a city as densely populated as New York City, moments like the ones I am fond of capturing exist in reality. I can definitely say that I have never removed anyone from my shots. The truth is that even in a city of a little over 8 million people, the city often pauses and takes a breath. The in-between moments where life empties from the streets, when the city becomes a private sanctuary are captivating. These moments are fleeting and short-lived but they breathe life into the same streets that boast activity in the moments that tend to define them. ---
Nocturne - Night - New York City - By Vivienne Gucwa Over glistening cobblestones in the haze of summer heat, the twinkling lights of oncoming cars cast their glow like fireflies in a dense urban forest. As somnambulists glide over uneven paths, the wind plays a nocturne. This is when the city dreams. ---

New York City - Rain and Wet Sidewalks

- By Vivienne Gucwa

Through eyelashes wet with rain,

a thousand thoughts fall

to the ground

and through the raindrops

the city lights blur together

as shadows make their way

into the night -

impermanence

registered with

every blink.

---
New York City - Rain and Wet Sidewalks - By Vivienne Gucwa Through eyelashes wet with rain, a thousand thoughts fall to the ground and through the raindrops the city lights blur together as shadows make their way into the night - impermanence registered with every blink. ---

New York City - Rain and Wet Sidewalks

- By Vivienne Gucwa

Through eyelashes wet with rain,

a thousand thoughts fall

to the ground

and through the raindrops

the city lights blur together

as shadows make their way

into the night -

impermanence

registered with

every blink.

---
See photo in original gallery.
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