Recent Central Park Landscapes and Park Details

I've really been feeling landscapes lately and on my way to and from work, I cut throught the beautiful Central Park. Autumn is the perfect time of year to shoot landscapes because the quality of light is rich and the change of foliage color makes for beautiful photos. Still been shooting these with my small Nikon Coolpix camera. Maybe I'll take my professional equipment out and REALLy work the landscapes over! Enjoy!

Changing Leaf

Central Park Reservoir

Waterfall

Pine Cones

Reservoir and dramatic sky

Wood Gate Detail

Water refllection: foliage, leaves, water, sky

Path to stone steps

A recent Sunday, Views from Fulton Ferry Park in DUMBO Brooklyn

Just last Sunday I was trolling around DUMBO, Brooklyn at the DUMBO Arts Festival with my (not so) trusty Nikon point-and-shoot camera. these images are from the waterfront in between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. The light was GREAT that day and I took full advantage of taking some landscape shots. Enjoy!

Project buildings

Brooklyn Bridge silhouette

Manhattan Bridge in the distance

Landscape view with brooklyn Bridge in the background

Afternoon Light and Shadow

New York City Hall Press Conference for Michael Sandy

A few images from the press conference for Michael Sandy held in New York City today.

Michael Roebson of People of Color in Crisis, Inc.

Toakes Osubu, Executive Director of Gay Men of African Descent.

Keith Boykin of the National Black Justice Coalition

Councilwoman-Elect Yvette Clarke

International Entertainer Kevin Aviance, recently recovered from his own gay-bashing incident.

Group against the beautiful City Hall building.

Bishop Zachary Jones of Unity Fellowship Church.

Subway Series I 2006

Since I was a kid I've always loved trains, train travel and subway stations. Basically, anything that had to do with trains I loved. Two of my fondest memories of trains are when I was a young child, when (Santa) brought me a Lionel Train Set. I was hooked from then! The second being my fourteen hour train trip from Havana to Santiago de Cuba. I did that trip twice, in 2003 with my best friend Bill and in 2004 with my other good friend GiGi.

Here in New York obviously, I take the train everywhere so it gives me an opportunity to take some snaps of the trains, in the trains and around the trains. In the 1930's, world renowned photographer Walker Evans photographed passengers in the New Yorker Subway using a 35mm camera hidden under his coat. This is the sort of method I use to photograph in the subway, except I don't really hide my camera in my coat, though I never put the camera to my eye. I shoot low, oftentimes from the hip (or my crotch) and at obscure angles.

Can you believe that in 2004 the Mass Transit Authority (MTA) has tried (unsucessfully, I might add) to make taking photographs on the subway, whether on an amateur level or professional level, ILLEGAL??!! So while I risk being hassled for taking photos on the subway (I haven't yet) by the NYPD, I still have to be careful when photographing on the trains. I make a point of carrying my small NIKON Coolpix point-and-shoot, especially for subway photography. It's quiet and small. My only issue with this camera is shutter lag and it's sensitiviy to motion. I have to stand perfectly still for a sharp shot. But I do love the enegry of the photos with slow-shutter, blurred effect. I use this to my advantage.

I see so much and oftentimes, the subleties of subway culture that I have the compelling need to make photos invlolving the subway. Below are some examples of snaps taken thoughout my daily travels. There are others that appear all over this blog, and there will be other photos posted from the growing series in the future. Enjoy!

Subway cruisin'. (Those hips don't lie)

Station detail. Linclon Road Station, Flatbush, Brooklyn.

Train Tracks.

Arriving train

Building detail from the platform.

Prospect Park Station-Q train to Manhattan.

Subway feet

Subway stares into nowhere.

Subway oddity

Subway drama and trauma

Capturing my braided locks on the Utica Avenue Station Platform. Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn

Wet Paint. 96 Street Station. Downtown B and C platform.

Subway acrobat

Train Station Interior. High Street, Brooklyn Heights

Subway group

Subway reader.

A.M. Rush Hour

Lorimer Station, Williamsburgh Brooklyn- L train line

Subway Station Lamp Post

Bill Playing the double flute (also known as his third arm ;-))

Atlantic Avenue

Yours truly striking a pose for a subway portrait. (Photograph by Bill Harmon)

Michael Sandy, Black Gay Bashing Victim Dies

NEW YORK-- A man who was attacked in a suspected hate crime and hit by a car while trying to escape died after his family decided to take him off life support, officials said.

Michael Sandy, 28, died Friday. He had been in critical condition at Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center after running into traffic on the Belt Parkway on Sunday evening. Three young men have been charged with hate crimes in the assault and robbery of Sandy, a gay man investigators believed was lured to a Brooklyn street corner with the online promise of a sexual encounter. Gary Timmins, 16, John Fox, 19, and Ilya Shurov, 20, were all being held without bail after being arraigned earlier this week. According to a police commander who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday, one of four men questioned by police had met the victim and convinced him to drive to an isolated parking lot near Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn where a group was waiting. The confrontation eventually spilled onto the busy parkway, where the victim was hit by a vehicle. The men questioned said they were heterosexual and indicated they had in the past used the Internet to lure and attack gay men, the official said. Police were also searching for the vehicle that hit Sandy. The driver did not stop at the scene.

The crime has outraged many, including Christine Quinn, the city's first openly gay council member and speaker.
"I join all New Yorkers in condemning this hateful and horrific crime," Quinn said in a statement. "Michael Sandy's death is a tragic reminder that we must continue to work hard to make intolerance and discrimination unacceptable in our City."
It's not clear if Brooklyn prosecutors will file murder charges against the three young men. A message left with the district attorney's office was not immediately returned. Quinn said she expects "the district attorney's office to act aggressively and expeditiously to prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the New York State Hate Crimes and other relevant laws."

Black LGBT organizers and activists vowed to hold a rally on Monday to demand an end to hate violence in the city and to hold city leaders accountable. The rally is scheduled to take place at 5 p.m. on Monday at New York City Hall. The rally is being sponsored by People of Color In Crisis, the New York State Black Gay Network, Gay Men of African Descent, the New York City Anti-Violence Project and the National Black Justice Coalition.

Personally, I am outraged by this incident that seems to be happening much too often with too little noise from the BLACK community. I maintain that if the victim were not gay, there would be riots, fires, and marches all throughout New York City. But because he's gay, it's just another day for most folk. Even more haneous, the thought by some straight black folk thinking that "this gay man got what he deserved".

I hope to be able to make the rally at City Hall on Monday, if i can get out of work early enough.

When will these senseless hate crimes against LGBTQ members of the community end?

God rest Michael Sandy's soul.
--Ocean

Random select photos taken over the last few months

Central Park Oct.2006. Since Central Park is in my backyard (from my day job), I've taken it upon myself to document the change of seasons beginning with these photos. These two photos are of one of my favorite ponds in the park ( around 101st. & Central Park West). This is what I see on my way home.

Prospect Park Boathouse. Brooklyn, NY. August 2006.

Franklin Avenue Shuttle Train Station corridor

09-11-01. Five years later

New entrance to the New Jersey Path Train at Ground Zero, NYC.

9/11 Memorial

A family misses their Andrea. Ground Zero frames the background of this portrait.

Members of the PAC Theater group striking up a pose at the end of the number. Dillon's, NYC. Sept. 2006

PAC Theater Group performer.

Pier Friends. October. After I took this shot, I turned my digital cameras LCD screen on to show what I had captured. The beauty in the striped shirt gently put a hand on her stubbled face and exclaimed: "Oh my God, I DO look like a girl!"

I just love the juxtaposition between the motion of the train and the stillness of the brotha watching it speed into the station. Simple things bring me joy. :-)

International Club Diva Kevin Aviance performs for a crowd at Pride in the City beach party. It was great to see Kevin back at work after recovering from his injuries, as a result of a gay-bashing incident.

I love this photo I call " The Bacardi Dance". :-) 2006 Pride in the City--on the dancefloor.

I try to capture as many black male sgl couples as I can. Images of brothas in relationships are rarely seen. The beach party at Pride in the City afforded me the opportunity to photograph black sgl and lesbian couples' tenderness and love.

Obviously in Love. :-)

Hot body contestant. A bold outfit, but I was proud of him for wearing what made him feel "real" and "sexy". To thine own self be true!

Love...Just Love.

Love, Pride and Tenderness.