p s e u d o r e a l

Better Than Real Because It's Not.


Thursday September 26th 2013, 12:00 am
Filed under: General

(Sep 12) The touchstone of the year for me, has turned out to be whether or not I got into the city to photograph the Tribute in Light with the ubercamera. This isn’t the first trip the camera has made for this purpose, but the weather was uncooperative last time. I would have considered this a failure to execute, had I not made it in, or if I’d returned with the same photos as before.

but... but... but it's only 30% fraud!
It is a poor substitute for what was lost. It isn’t really even as tall as the old One World Trade Center was, but it lacks the gravity of the Twins, and pretends to be much taller than the Twins were. Sadly, New York’s new signature building is a poseur.

unappreciated in their time
Reminders of the true giants that stood in the neighborhood.

though it is quite a sight up close
Viza is right, the effect wears off over time. For me it’s the point of doing it, more than seeing it.

moving on
Odds are, I’ll never be walking around in this specific location again.

the symbol of a time of lowered expectations
The symbol of our era of decline. Less than half of what there used to be where you can see it, everything else close to ground.

and the stars
Once we reached for the sun,

coming back down
Now,

all light, but no substance
We just fake it.

To be continued one more time…


Wednesday March 21st 2012, 8:12 pm
Filed under: General

(Sep 11) It is past 9 PM on a Sunday night. I head into the city with the ubercamera for a familiar journey. I really don’t know much about how to use the camera still at this point (and still don’t), but I got some good results. Again, this may be the last time they do The Lights, and the neighbors must absolutely hate the installation. So, although I have to move in a couple of days, I get on the train.

the journey begins
Brooklyn Bridge, 1:15 AM. That brightness in the distance turned out to be The Tribute In Light.

bastards
Not only did the clouds defile the view, so did the contractor working on the bridge.

aimed in the direction of the statue of liberty
Despite these unfortunate circumstances, the ubercamera remained uber.

the lady herself
Oh how far my new camera has come from the others.

but there in the distance
At this point, I still wasn’t quite sure they were even on.

southwest
A look around… Downtown.

northwest
Midtown, Manhattan Bridge, Empire State and Chrysler Buildings. The top of the ESB is in the cloud cover.

for reals
There it is.

obscuration. didn't know it was a real word until i looked it up.
The clouds were unfortunate, to say the least.

imo, more meaningful than the official tributes
Tributes to the dead.

and the area creepily touristy about nine-eleveny
The new station. It is a big yawn, and no longer opens in a convenient spot (for me).

everything is for a reason
I wonder what that’s lit for.

maybe in this same location?
I do some version of this shot every time.

looks like smoke, right?
Phaser attack?

trinity church
This was the only decent shot out of a dozen in this same spot, which I’ve used in the past.

almost there now
One more “it looks like it’s coming from the building” shot.

the source
This one really is coming from the top of the building. This is the parking garage the installation sits atop.

the embarrassing 'freedom tower' is the name no more
The Lights are not actually at the World Trade Center. There, down the block, is the new One World Trade Center.

they're kind of awesome up close
Up close, and personal.

i took about 300 photos
I don’t like this shot so much, but it is the last one I took for the evening, and thus possibly the last one I’ll take of the Tribute In Light.


Thursday October 15th 2009, 3:16 am
Filed under: General

(September 11) For this year’s Tribute In Light, I decided to go to the Brooklyn Bridge. I probably should have gone further north, but Viza met me there and we ended up having one of those only in New York encounters with two girls that borrowed my tripod. Without further comment…


Wednesday September 13th 2006, 5:18 pm
Filed under: General

tribute in light
It was really a lot more impressive standing a few feet away from it than I expected.