• Category Archives Natural NYC
  • Quietude

    Posted on by Brian Dubé

    It’s been raining a lot this spring. Personally, I hate the rain, but it does set a mood and has its merits. And in the big city, one perk is quiet.
    There are places and times where there is little opportunity for quietude or a place to sit. Like a well-located park bench on a sunny day.
    So to see a bench like this, with flower petals undisturbed, is unusual – this is something one can see perhaps in the early morning, off-hours, in remote, out-of-the-way places or in inclement weather, like the rain.

    I am a social person. I love people, and that is one of the great things about living in New York City – eight million people from every corner of the globe. Today I will meet a woman from French Polynesia to do a photo tour – I look forward to meeting her.
    But there are times when I yearn for a moment when I can be alone. When there are no people.
    Days when I’ve had enough and want to take that quiet side street, alley, or obscure path in Central Park – where I can’t see a person or building. Walk by a solitary neon sign in front of an empty restaurant.
    And then there are sunny days when I just want to walk right down Fifth Avenue and rub shoulders with humanity. 🙂

    Posted on by Brian Dubé

  • Small Gestures

    Many cite the popular minimalist refrain less is more. And what better example than the small gesture.
    These colorful origami boats in a puddle in yesterday’s rain were the small gesture of an unknown hand. They garnered quite a bit of attention, as many of us circumnavigated their small ocean and observed them from many vantage points.

    I don’t like a rainy day. Until I have surrendered to the rain. Then I find it quite relaxing. When the mind is in the spirit of surrender and no longer rebels against the elements, you can fully embrace the rainy day. The sunny day is a distant memory, and you can enjoy the impressions that a rainy day brings. Like a child who does not need to go to school on a snowy day, a rainy day gives permission to play and indulge in the small things we often miss or forget. This opportunity can be for a pause for reflection – a welcome moment of respite for the weary New Yorker.

    I photographed in the rain with a friend until we were quite wet – few will make the effort at times like this when the weather is so dreadful. But this is when one can capture some very unique images.

    New York City in the rain becomes transformed with everything cast in a different light. New opportunities abound for photos – a second city is created and with the wetness, and everything familiar becomes new and unfamiliar in some way. But do not be so blinded by the great and spectacular things in New York that you miss the small gesture…


  • Weather Means Whether

    Posted on by Brian Dubé

    What is as refreshing as a spring day? The attitude of a visitor excited by the city. And what surpasses that? The unbridled enthusiasm of youth. So what do you have when you mix the two? Girls resting on the ground, preparing for their next outburst.

    These girls were from Montreal – I asked because it appeared obvious that they were from out of town (or new university students). How can you tell an out-of-towner? New Yorkers, even young ones, don’t usually lie on asphalt. We know the types of things that go on down there and are not going to frolic in the residue. Sitting on the ground under duress is one thing, but lying on the pavement is another.
    But these women know as well as I do that clothes and people can be washed; I am just too rigid to take their lead. Their abandon is refreshing too.

    In my memory, I feel there is a day in the spring where you feel that the tide has finally turned and spring has sprung. It may be a little cool, but there is something about that day that speaks to you and whispers, this is the day. I thought that day had arrived several times this year, my hopes only to be dashed by a subsequently cold day. My heat is blasting as I write this.

    I once had a close friend, since passed away, who grew up on the East Coast and moved to the West Coast. He was an adventurer, extremely well-traveled to all corners of the earth. We were speaking of this very thing and how the weather and seasons here was so much more unpredictable in NYC compared to California. I scoffed at the term “temperate” zone. His comment was, “The East Coast has weather, the West Coast has climate.”

    So whether this year has been more unpredictable or my ruminations are wishful thinking with my memory clouded by impatience for warm weather, I do not know. But I do know that in New York, weather means whether…

    Posted on by Brian Dubé

  • Ray of Light

    I just tore my camera out on this one – it was like a religious experience. A friend who lives in Park Slope says that she has been up and down that stairwell hundreds of times over many years and has never seen anything like it. If you have ever really watched the sun or moon closely, you know how quickly conditions like this change. I think there was a tiny window of opportunity at this stairwell and I was there.

    But the larger point here is that the opportunity to find beauty and joy is ever present. If you have ever spent time around an eternal optimist, then you have witnessed this first hand. Many individuals indulge in the dark side and equate this with being real. They see people who are very positive as fluffy. But I think they do secretly wish they had the ability to live an easier and happier life. There is a great scene in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall where Alvy (played by Woody) runs across a beautiful, happy-looking couple on the street:

    Alvy Singer: Here, you look like a very happy couple, um, are you?
    Female street stranger: Yeah.
    Alvy Singer: Yeah? So, so, how do you account for it?
    Female street stranger: Uh, I’m very shallow and empty and I have no ideas and nothing interesting to say.
    Male street stranger: And I’m exactly the same way.
    Alvy Singer: I see. Wow. That’s very interesting. So you’ve managed to work out something?

    At the end of the day, being a cynical, skeptical, overly serious individual can be wearing. There are a lot of whiners in the world, and New York City has plenty of them. Life here is very hard and stressful, and it is a very easy place to get into the trap of being negative and thinking that things would be better somewhere else or with different means or circumstances. Most of us have all the preconditions for happiness here and now. A sense of humor helps. At the risk of being preachy or new-agey, I would suggest looking for that ray of light. Happiness is more a choice than a condition…


  • Hell’s Gate

    If you are driving in New Jersey on the Turnpike through the industrial corridor, passing through towns like Carteret, Rahway, and Elizabeth, you will see (and smell) many oil refineries. To most travelers, these are hideous. But if you are traveling at night, everything about them can become strangely beautiful because it’s so extremely different (I’m reminded of Paul Theroux’s fascination with travel in Northern Ireland because of its extreme nature). You have a really bleak landscape with no sign of humans, networks of lights, tall dark silhouettes of towers, and huge flames shooting into the night sky. It is surreal, like a fairy tale world.

    The subject of today’s photo is certainly more readily likable, but I find it does share some things with the aforementioned landscapes (certainly, elements in this photo are not inherently beautiful, like the smokestacks from Con Edison’s power plant). To really like this vista, one does have to find beauty in the industrial or structural. Like the Eiffel Tower, designed by an engineer, it is loved by some and hated by many.

    The bridge in the foreground is the Triborough, and behind it is the Hell Gate Bridge (formerly the New York Connecting Railroad Bridge), a steel arch railroad bridge spanning Queens and Wards/Randalls Islands. In the foreground, you have the East River looking north (from Manhattan) as it splits around the islands.

    I found the scene beautiful – bridges, the river, golden evening light, clouds, and the moon. It’s about picking your battles and the right vantage point at the right time. For some there is beauty in these vistas; others have abandoned all hope, for they are at Hell’s Gate…


  • Stay Lean Stay Hungry

    These photos were taken in October, when I was actively touring the East Village community gardens. I ran a number of garden postings, so this modest one was left to the archives. The Earth People Garden is one of those places which slips under the radar – it certainly is not in any guides or must-see lists. Yet its charms were such that I thought it merited a posting. It is located on 8th Street between Avenues B and C in the heart of Losaida territory – the community members were primarily Hispanic. We were greeted cordially and invited to enjoy. We were also encouraged to come back for Halloween (which I did not do), when apparently they did a major redecoration for the holiday. I found the place extremely inspiring; their efforts and use of simple toys were a testament to resourcefulness and provided a breath of fresh air in an over-the-top world of excess.

    I feel that whatever creative talents I have are the product of a relatively spartan upbringing. Generally I made my own toys and fun. There was a popular phrase I heard a lot at one time – “Stay lean, stay hungry” – a warning not to get too fat and lazy. This was not to be taken literally (sports and exercise fans sometimes now use it that way); the message was that doing with less will do more to drive an individual. Although I am not an advocate of eschewing all modernity and good tools, there is some merit to the concept of seeing what can be done by leveraging one’s mind and personal skills rather than relying on outside resources. These are the thoughts that ran through my mind as I wandered about the garden, with its quaint displays and proud people…


  • Peregrine Falcons

    On an excursion downtown, I ran across this sign proclaiming the reemergence of the peregrine falcon in NYC. Until the middle of the 20th century, peregrines ranged from Alaska to Georgia. But in the 1950s and ‘60s, the pesticide DDT found its way up the food chain. The birds that peregrines hunted fed on insects contaminated with DDT. Due to biomagnification, DDT accumulated in the peregrines, causing their eggs to become too weak to even support the weight of the mother incubating her eggs. The eggs shattered before fledglings could hatch. By the time DDT was finally banned in 1972, there was not a single peregrine falcon left east of the Mississippi. The reemergence of the peregrine is considered an environmental success story.

    I became interested in birds of prey in NYC several years ago, when, like many other New Yorkers, I learned of the red-tailed hawk Pale Male (and his family), who had nested on a prime building on Fifth Avenue. I made frequent trips to the Boat Basin area of Central Park to spend afternoons, along with many others, watching the antics of the Pale Male. But problems ensued, and the situation became a huge international story for the city. If you missed it, click here for links and a posting with a photo of my own sighting of a red-tailed hawk at my bedroom window, a real lucky photo op which got quite a response from birders and local residents.

    I was surprised to find this tiny patch of green (in the photo) at the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge and learn that it was a prime spot for sighting falcons. I also was not aware that this is a Greenstreet property, part of a huge $391 million, ten-year initiative to plant street trees in all possible locations, creating 800 new Greenstreets, and reforesting 2,000 acres of parkland. The initiative is part of PlaNYC, “a blueprint for New York City to attain sustainable growth and improve the quality of life in the face of escalating population projections. The Mayor’s plan—shaped by input from environmental, business, community, and legislative leaders as well as thousands of New Yorkers—details 127 initiatives within five key areas of the city’s environment: land, air, water, energy, and transportation. Components of the plan include increasing access to open space, cleaning up contaminated lands, improving water quality through natural solutions, achieving the cleanest air quality of any big city in America, and reducing global warming emissions by 30%.” It sounds great. Let’s hope it’s not just hot air 🙂


  • Anomalies

    Global Warming Controversy has its own article in Wikipedia, with separate articles on Global Warming, Attribution of recent climate change, Politics of global warming, Climate change denial, Scientific opinion on climate change, Adaptation to global warming, Effects of global warming, Mitigation of global warming, Kyoto Protocol, Economics of global warming, Low-carbon economy, Global climate model, Ocean acidification, Global dimming, and Ozone depletion.
    The current article on the controversy is dozens of pages long and has 216 references. The subject is overwhelming – I did not have time to make a career of the subject or distill even a reasonable overview of global warming. I have gleaned that at this point, although there still may be debate on causes and effects, most scientists do agree that there is a warming, surprisingly of only 1.33 degrees F over the last 100 years (of course, it is known that even a small sustained change will cause problems.)

    I recall winters here in the city with cold snaps in the single digits lasting for days, but my sense that there has been a very substantial increase in temperatures must be due to selective memory. I’m assured that one must account for natural variations with anomalies and aberrations. This first snow on Sunday seemed peculiar – everywhere I went, I saw a slurry of green leaves and snow mixed together on the sidewalks. And I thought that this vista of a tree with bright yellow leaves in December with snow falling was also unusual, but maybe it’s usually this way or just an anomaly…


  • Bird Country

    Regular readers of this site are aware of the spots of country I have featured, particularly the numerous community gardens. I, like many other New Yorkers, look for pieces and reminders of the country for any number of reasons, and evidence of seasonal change is one of them.

    It is easy to go through seasons in the city with little to mark them except temperature and changing light. But to witness the other changes nature has to offer – leaves turning color, migratory birds, etc. – requires more work and looking in special places such as gardens and parks.

    In seeking out the natural in the city, one frequently discovers surprises like grapes growing on vines in the center of the Village, red-tailed hawks eating their prey, butterflies, waterfalls, spectacular sunsets (such as Manhattanhenge), a Time Landscape, a microclimate in the Garden at Saint Lukes, turtles, squirrels, and birds.

    New York City is actually one of the most important bird areas on the East Coast. It lies along the Atlantic Flyway and draws numerous species from places as far away as Patagonia and Greenland each spring and fall, which is why Central Park is a great area for bird watching. This birdhouse was in the LaGuardia Corner Gardens in a tree laden with apples (I have picked many here when it is open). I can see a new city festival – New York Is Bird Country


  • Devil’s Playground

    It’s obvious that I’m not getting out of the city enough or taking enough time off. Hence my obsession with community gardens, parks, and other greenery. In this photo, I show a pleasant scene with people in a gazebo in La Plaza Cultural Garden. As atypical as it may be, I’m sure you can see through the thinly disguised veil to hide my true motivation: another garden shot. Sorry.

    Of course, only a New Yorker would feel a need to justify an “indulgence” in nature at the expense of all the exciting cultural things one should be doing. In the world of film, such indulgences are fodder for award-winners or box office smash hits: men living with bears, trekking after penguins, or living in the wild ala Thoreau. And then there is the busy busy ethic, a defining characteristic of our culture and particularly one of a place like New York, an ethic that basically says any and all busyness is good and is sufficient to justify one’s existence. And relaxing is at least a venial sin. By this definition, a gazebo could be seen as the devil’s playground…


  • Brooding

    It’s easy to ignore what little there is left of the natural world when in NYC. Sometimes. But we still have weather, and like everywhere else, weather sets the mood. Here, we have a storm threatening as seen from Columbus Circle, looking south – it really felt like Batman’s Gotham City. The building with the triangular windows is our friend, the Hearst Tower. The tall, thin tower is Central Park Place, a residential condominium built in 1988 by Davis Brody & Associates. The hulking, shrouded building barely visible in the center is the controversial 2 Columbus Circle by Edward Durell Stone from 1964, sometimes referred to as the Lollipop Building (Ada Louise Huxtable, then architecture critic of The New York Times, said it resembled “a die-cut Venetian palazzo on lollipops”). The building is to be occupied by the Museum of Arts and Design in 2008. Click here for this story.

    New York is a city of stark contrasts, and the relatively unpredictable nature of the climate in the Northeast (as opposed to the Southwest, e.g.) just adds one more variable to the mix. There’s nothing like a brooding NYC day to remind us that in spite of our abilities to create technologies and shape the world, we are still fundamentally powerless in the hands of Mother Nature…


  • Shangri-La

    Isn’t this amazing? This is the most remarkable garden space I have ever seen in NYC. One image does not do it justice, so here are six more photos. All the community gardens I have been to (I have featured most of them here on this site) are wonderful spaces – true oases from the urban world. But nothing beats the 9th Street Community Garden on Avenue C for transporting one to another place (or perhaps I should say places, with its varied environments).

    I recently visited with a friend. Upon entering, we took a pathway through a tunnel of shrubbery which felt like an English country garden. Then we passed through a small cabana (in the photo), which felt like a tiny country cottage. From there and out into the open, much of the garden has a tropical feel, with dense foliage and plantings. I used to travel to the West Indies, and this space truly made me feel like I was there again. There was barbecuing and picnicking going on in a tented area. Nearby, there was a large cabana with a porch, chairs, benches, tables, a kitchen with appliances, and housekeeping accouterments. I spoke with the women relaxing and expressed my awe. They confirmed my feelings that this garden was the best in NYC 🙂


  • Risk Not Living

    The danger at these falls is not what you think I mean. Let me explain. I have not been particularly inclined to do nature photography. Perhaps seeing so much mediocre, ordinary, and cliched work (and not wanting to contribute more) or seeing extraordinary work (and not being able to create at that level) has left me on the sidelines.

    Of course, these feelings easily apply to other genres of photography as well, so it all comes down to what type of subjects and work inspires you – where your passion lies. Add to the mix living in a dense urban environment and getting away infrequently. So when I do get to a natural environment, I prefer just experiencing it, not through a camera. For me, this has been the danger of photography: seeing everything as one would through a lens and as a potential photograph. When habituated to this practice, one risks not living…

    Photo note: This photo was taken at Binnen Falls in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, near the Lullwater and Audubon Center. I have seen numerous photographs of waterfalls and streams using a long exposure, which creates a very interesting effect with the moving water. Seeing these falls inspired me to give it a try.


  • La Plaza Cultural Garden

    I have become enamored of community gardens since the start of this website. I was always somewhat aware of them, but like many, I just had a passing interest. Years of living in the city combined with getting away too infrequently can make one yearn for some green space and really appreciate the parks and community gardens that NYC has to offer. And for those of lesser means, these can be the only nature they may have to enjoy. I have featured a number of gardens previously: Albert’s Garden, LaGuardia, FishBridge, and the West Side Community Garden. The East Village/Lower East Side has over 70 of these community gardens – here’s a map.

    La Plaza Cultural Garden is located at 9th Street and Avenue C. I have read that the flowers along the fence, created from tin cans, detergent bottles, beer caps, and other junk, were done by a local resident known as the “Flower Man.” It also appears that some or the creations are birdhouses (click here for closeup photo). This garden, established in 1976, has a very complex and extremely fascinating history. Read more here and see their website here. There are many events held here, and the garden functions as a performance space and cultural center.

    La Plaza is a registered Backyard Wildlife Habitat, with huge willow trees which provide shade and shelter to humans and wildlife. La Plaza has been home to artists, including Tito Puente, Gordon Matta Clark, Keith Haring, Robert Wise, and Buckminster Fuller (at one time, there was a geodesic dome built with help). A short film entitled Rock Soup profiled the Garden in its infancy with a dirty, haunting look at the homeless in La Plaza Cultural in the late 80’s. Click here to view it


  • Grapes

    I enjoy finding those bucolic settings, atypical of the big city. Spots of country in New York City. They do exist – places such as the Garden at St. Lukes, the bend in Commerce Street (where the Cherry Lane Theater and 39 & 41 Commerce are), that amazing house at 121 Charles Street, Time Landscape, the many community gardens in the city, the beaches or waterways, and, of course, the more well-known: Central Park, Prospect Park, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where one can find many spots where there is virtually no sense being in the city, such as the Ramble in Central Park.

    Last night, while walking with a friend, we were surprised to find these grapes growing in the LaGuardia Corner Gardens, a community garden established over 25 years ago at the corner of LaGuardia Place and Bleecker Street (open at various times to the public). According to the garden caretakers, this is the first season for grapes there. They were not sure of the variety, but I did sample some, and they were very good. I once had a conversation with a friend who commented on similar meanderings of mine and responded, “You need to get a country house.” A valid point, but one doesn’t always want to deal with travel, traffic, costs, etc. for respite. The process can be more stressful than it’s worth, especially for a short break. So for now, when I want to get away for just a little while, I find those spots of country, and when I emerge, all the city’s amenities, conveniences, and culture are right there…



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