From Horses to Houses

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black and white photography, carriage house, history of new york city, horses, manhattan, new york city, photography

Once upon a time, Manhattan was powered by horses. They hauled carts loaded with food and fuel, they pulled carriages full of people, and the city was alive with the stables needed to house these hard working animals. About 75 carriage houses still survive in Manhattan, most of them clustered on the Upper East Side.

On East 73rd Street between Third Avenue and Lexington, nine have remained together, and when you stroll down the sidewalk, it’s easy to imagine the clip clopping of hooves on this pretty street. But who did these stables belong to? Why are they here in this spot?

This is another story of how Manhattan’s wealthy shaped the city’s architecture. Back in the 1800s, before apartment houses came into vogue and Fifth Avenue was still lined with single family homes, wealthy families had private horses and carriages. But it wouldn’t do to stink up the living room by keeping the horses next door, so carriage houses were built to accommodate the carriages, horses, groomsmen and stable boys. They had to be far enough away to keep the smells and sounds from disturbing the homeowners, but close enough for quick access. In Manhattan, this meant about three blocks east of Fifth Avenue.

These carriage houses weren’t just slapped together. They’re beautiful buildings, some designed by famous architects of the day, like Richard Morris Hunt, who designed the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They’re architecturally eclectic, with styles ranging from neo-Flemish Renaissance to Queen Anne, Beaux Arts and neo-Georgian. Many lush with  architectural detail, carriage houses are easy to identify by their giant doors and squat profiles.

Carriage houses are usually massive two- to three-story buildings, traditionally 25 feet wide and 100 feet deep, built full to the lot without a garden and with windows only at the front and back. (Townhouses, on the other hand, start at 18 feet wide and usually contain a garden in the rear.) Ceilings are often 13 or 14 feet high. Since they were built to support horses and carriages, most don’t have basements. The carriages were kept on the ground floor next to the horse stalls and tack room while the groomsmen and stable boys slept in the rooms above. The bigger and fancier the carriage house, the wealthier the homeowner.

Some houses feature details that reveal their original use. This horse head appears above an entry door. On the same building, the little horse heads repeat in the stone above the windows. Love that!

The giant carriage house below is now a single family home, renovated a few years ago. The exterior was sheathed in stucco for years, but when the new owners did their homework and discovered that the original brick lay beneath, they stripped the stucco away to reveal this beautiful facade. I live in the neighborhood and walked by this house often as it was being restored. It was thrilling to see the pristine original surface emerge.

Look at the brick detail and those amazing doors!

Most of the homes that first stood on this bock of 73rd Street were built in the 1860s. They were torn down between 1880 and 1900 when these carriage houses came on the scene. Two of the original houses remain. Below is one of them. Unlike the carriage houses, this little brick beauty is set back from the street to allow for a tiny front garden, which contains two big trees.

Over on 75th Street, also between Third Avenue and Lexington, stands a short row of carriage houses on the south side of the street.

Here’s a close up of one of the less ornate buildings. The brickwork is pretty nifty.

The last one is unusual, at 5 stories high.

I don’t know who lives in this house, but something tells me that the gargoyles above the doors aren’t original!

The two gorgeous, ornate buildings below are at 77th Street and Park Avenue. Both are now private residences. Look at those details in the stonework.

Most of the city’s carriage houses were destroyed to make way for apartment buildings and commercial structures. Some large commercial stables were converted to parking garages. At first, some of the carriage houses owned by the wealthy were also adapted to house cars and chauffeurs, but eventually they passed into other hands and now serve as private homes, fancy shops, art galleries and restaurants. These buildings rarely come on the market and are coveted for their scarcity.

It’s always a thrill to wander down a street and suddenly recognize a carriage house. I always wonder about the history of the building and the other stables that might have stood nearby.

Pinhole Portfolio: Structures in Central Park

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black and white photography, central park, new york city, photography, pinhole photography

One of the reasons that Central Park is so beautiful is because no new buildings are permitted within its perimeters. Despite numerous proposals for restaurants and entertainment or sports venues, if they can’t be accommodated within existing structures, they are refused.

Although the original structures were built to house items as diverse as sheep, weaponry and toy boats, with the help of restoration they are still in use today, although their function may have changed.

Below is The Arsenal, which predates the construction of the Park. It was built as a munitions supply depot in 1851 and now houses the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation. If you go inside, don’t miss the 1930s WPA murals in the lobby. You can even see  the drawing of the original Park Plan on the third floor if you make an appointment.

This is The Dairy, which didn’t house cows, but was a source of fresh milk and snacks for children in the 19th century. It lived a brief, depressing life as a maintenance shed before restoration in the 1980s transformed it into the Park’s first visitors center.

This is the beautiful Kerbs Boathouse at the Conservatory Water, just off of Fifth Avenue at 74th Street. The original wooden boathouse, which fell apart in the 1950s, was replaced with this pretty little brick structure. It houses toy sailboats, which navigate the adjacent pond. This is where E.B. White’s mouse, Stuart Little, sailed his boat.

Although Cleopatra’s Needle isn’t a building, I’ve included it because it’s striking and unusual. Its base is held up by metal crabs, holding their arms and claws aloft. It was received as a gift from Egypt in 1881. Its sides are covered in hieroglyphics, which are sadly deteriorating from acid rain.

Throughout the Park you’ll find a handful of places to shelter from the rain, known as Rustic Shelters. They’re built to appear as if they’ve been assembled from branches and are totally charming. This one is perched on a rock outcropping just east of Fifth Avenue at 68th Street.

One of my favorite places in Central Park is the Bandshell, just south of Bethesda Terrace at 72nd Street in the middle of the park. It’s used for many events, from live opera on warm summer nights to a stage for impromptu performances. Martin Luther King gave a speech here once, and both Irving Berlin and Duke Ellington have graced its stage. You never know what’s happening at the Bandshell!

Here’s a winter shot from the other side.

I’ll finish with a shot of The Carousel, which is one of the largest carousels in the US and receives about 250,000 visitors every year. Who doesn’t love a carousel that you can ride for $3.00? This beauty is the fourth to grace the Park since 1871, two of which burned down. This 1908 treasure was found abandoned on Coney Island and transplanted here. In the picture below it’s all closed up for the day.

When it’s open, the music lures you in, along with the 57 gorgeous hand carved horses, which are considered to be outstanding examples of American folk art. One day I’ll write a post about carousel horses because they’re so beautiful!

Pinhole Portfolio: Capturing the Castle

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belvedere castle, black and white photography, central park, landscape, new york city, photography, pinhole, pinhole photography

Belvedere Castle is a charming little Gothic-style building in Central Park, perched on a rocky outcropping above Turtle Pond. It was built in 1869 as a landmark, without any real function. It eventually became a weather station, and now it’s a nature observatory.

I’ve always loved the Castle. What’s not to love about a castle? When I first started shooting pinhole photos, I shot it often, struggling with its squat profile, which didn’t lend itself to any foreboding or impressive castle pictures. Here’s a photo of the north side from across the pond. Because it’s built from the same Manhattan schist as it sits on, it seems to grow right out of the rock.

The castle is on the left; to the right is an open terrace and a large shelter, where I was once trapped by an unexpected thunder storm during a lackluster first date.

But I digress. Here’s a pinhole of the same view.

My first attempt was facing east from across the terrace, which made for a tough shot, with the open sky overexposing the edges of the building.

Next attempt was from the shelter. More trouble with over exposure, and do you see how stocky the castle looks? So un-castlelike.

Another shot from this side. You can see Turtle Pond to the left. But I’ve lost the tower. It looks like a lump.

Would a long shot from the terrace work? Boring, but the stones on the terrace sure look pretty. Still having problems with the bright sky.

Moving closer and further over helped a bit. Still too bright.

I’m not sure why we’re on such an angle here, but the exposure is improving.

Enough of this side, let’s try the tower side. Finally, the tower looks impressive, but the composition’s not that interesting and the mood is weak. Where’s the drama? Where’s the spooky fairy tale feel of a castle that I’m trying to capture? I know it’s in there.

I circled the castle for about a year, trying it from all sides and in all seasons. Eventually, as I began to understand the cameras and the light, I was able to figure out how to shoot more successfully. Getting closer and using the angles of the surrounding architecture made the photos more dramatic. Shooting on days with heavy cloud cover helped reduce the sky’s brightness.

My favorite part of the Castle, besides the parapets and the little flag that flutters from the turret, is the cast iron dragon over the entry door. You can’t see it here, so I’ll include a shot at the end.

And finally, my favorite castle shot, taken from the south. Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair! That’s what I was looking for!

And to finish, the little dragon over the front door. Because every castle needs a dragon.

Meeting Amelia at the Catskill Animal Sanctuary

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animal photography, animal rescue, black and white photography, Catskill Animal Sanctuary, farm animals, food, horses, photography, vegan, vegetarian

For our fourth anniversary, Tom and I drove up to Saugerties, NY, about two hours north of NYC, to visit the Catskill Animal Sanctuary. The sanctuary, a beautiful farm of over 100 acres nestled into a valley, recently converted its old farm house into a comfy Bed and Breakfast, a perfect place to stay.

All of the animals at the sanctuary are rescued farm animals, plus horses as well. They come from abusive owners who starved and neglected them, some escaped from slaughter facilities, others are given up by people who can no longer care for them, some were seized by animal protection officers. The animals on the farm include horses, cows, sheep, pigs, goats, pot-bellied pigs, rabbits, ducks, turkeys, geese and chickens. Over 2,000 have been rescued since 2001, when the sanctuary opened.

This is Noelle with her son Christopher. Noelle is on the right.

Noelle was found on Christmas Eve in 2006, emaciated, running loose on a street in the Bronx, being chased by dogs. She was rescued and brought to the farm. The very next day, she gave birth to a tiny lamb. Not surprisingly, both sheep are terrified of people.

These beautiful little dairy calves, Calvin, Bernard, Emerson and Russell, were so friendly and sweet. They pressed toward us for head rubs and back scratches, one taking my hand in his mouth and licking my fingers.

They played like puppies, scampering around in their pen, head-butting one another. They looked as if they had been drawn by Walt Disney, with enormous wet eyes and soft, caramel-colored coats.

The four calves were rescued together at five days old, right before they were about to be sold to a veal producer. Dairy cows give milk because they’re pregnant, but when they give birth, the babies are taken away immediately so they won’t drink their mother’s milk, which is intended for sale, and mother and baby never see one another again. These babies were four months old when we met them, just at the age at which they would have been slaughtered for veal. Cows can live 20 to 25 years; these rare four will live out their lives in peace.

The sanctuary houses about 30 horses. These lovelies are part of a group of 14 horses who were rescued in the nick of time from an animal hoarder who had let them starve. With some horses hundreds of pounds underweight, they were carefully nursed back to health.

Part of the rehabilitation of these rescued animals is physical: treating malnutrition, infections, parasites, broken bones, overgrown hooves and wounds, providing the best food possible, giving them a soft, warm bed, and a safe place to stretch their legs when they’ve regained their strength.

But perhaps even worse than the physical damage is the psychological damage. It’s astounding that so many of the animals, even those who suffered horrific abuse and cruelty at the hands of humans, are able to trust people again. To accomplish this, the staff and volunteers at the sanctuary work from a central idea: the farm is a place of overwhelming love and kindness. The animals are able to heal in a manner and at a pace that suit themselves. They’re closely watched to determine what they need to be truly happy, and are showered with kisses, pats, hugs, praise and encouragement all along the way. For some, this recovery process can take a matter of weeks or months; for others, years. A few, like Noelle the sheep, recover physically but never psychologically, despite the loving care.

Once the animals are healthy, relaxed, socialized and trust people again, they’re ready to be placed in loving, responsible homes. The sanctuary has placed hundreds of animals with new caretakers. Most animals must be adopted in pairs, so they will have a friend to be with; farm animals are usually part of a herd or flock and don’t like to be alone. For people who don’t have the means to adopt, sponsorship is an option, where you choose an animal, then help cover the cost of his food and care.

This is Amos, a Texas Longhorn, with his best pal, Jesse, a grownup dairy calf.

Jesse has the same gorgeous eyes as his little cousins, the calves we met earlier.

Amos and Jesse were saved as calves as part of a dramatic rescue from the former Catskill Game Farm. A whole group of animal advocates came together to save 207 animals that were being auctioned off when the Game Farm, which also included a petting zoo, closed in 2006.  Unfortunately many of the animals were exotic species and were purchased by “canned hunt” operators, who invite so-called hunters to shoot animals who are enclosed by fences.

Now it’s on to my favorites, the pigs. We were so impressed by the pigs. They have personality in spades. I’d never met one before and I had heard a lot about how smart they are, so I was eager to spend time with them.

Meet Nadine and Peggy Sue, taking a snooze in their snug little barn. Talk about mellow! A small group of us came into their stalls to scratch their bellies, and what bellies they were! They sighed happily, shimmied a little to get our hands to the right spots, and snoozed on.

Nadine and Peggy Sue were rescued from a supposed sanctuary in Vermont that was actually run by an animal hoarder who was starving and shooting some animals while sending others to slaughter. The hoarder’s whole goat herd came to the farm as well.

Here’s Nadine napping away. Since the only pig I’d ever encountered was Wilbur in “Charlotte’s Web,” I thought all pigs were small, pink and hairless. Wrong! They have thick, bristly coats, come in all sorts of colors and patterns, and are clean, curious and opinionated.

Pigs are highly social and extremely intelligent. They are among the quickest animals to learn, at times surpassing chimpanzees. They can figure out how to open and close gates and cages, can herd sheep and can learn how to play video games with joysticks. They’re also easily bored. No, I’m not making this up!

This is Roscoe. He had a bit of a drooling issue going on that day. What a big boy.

Look at the size of this girl!

Pigs who are bred for factory farms are gigantic. They’re genetically manipulated to grow as big as possible as quickly as possible, but since they’re slaughtered as adolescents at six months, they don’t usually live to adulthood. Rescued pigs can live over ten years, weigh over a thousand pounds and have all kinds of joint problems because their bodies aren’t meant to carry this unnatural weight.

Amelia was the smallest, and my favorite pig. Here she is in the foreground, rooting in her field with a friend. She’s clearly clever, her enthusiasm infectious, and if pigs can smile, she’s a smiler. When we first met her in her barn, she came straight over to say hello, quietly grunting, and I scratched her head and back. The next day as we walked past her field, she and her friend saw us and both trotted over oink-oink-oinking their hellos, enjoyed a head scratch, then headed back into the field.

Pigs who live in factory farms are never allowed outside. They live their lives squished into cages on bare concrete or metal slat floors in huge warehouses, so they can’t root or perform any natural functions. A rooting pig is a happy pig.

I don’t know the name of Amelia’s friend, but she sure is one big mama.

Here’s a link to a sweet little video of Amelia greeting one of her caretakers at the sanctuary. Amelia was rescued from an animal hoarder who was breeding pit bulls. It was thought that she was intended as bait in the training of the dogs.

It was a wonderful visit, a thrill to connect with all of these beautiful creatures. At the same time, it was so disturbing. I’ve been vegan for only one year, vegetarian for two years before that. I used to eat these animals, these engaging, expressive animals? It’s a shock to discover their individuality and personality, although I don’t know why. If the dogs and cats I know each have a distinct personality, why wouldn’t all animals? And if I wouldn’t eat a dog or a cat, why would I eat these beauties? As we made our way around the farm, I became more and more appalled that I’d never thought to ask myself these basic questions for most of my life.

Here’s Amelia’s friend again, checking us out.

After our visit, I thought that if we could all meet a pig like Amelia who went out of her way to say hello, or a rooster like Jailbird who nestled happily into my arms, or a goat like Arthur who leaned up against my leg because he’d like a little more attention, please, or a dairy calf like Russell who gently licked my fingers, most of us would change the way we view these animals and we’d change the way we eat. And maybe we’d think twice about drinking their milk if we all knew what happens to those little baby calves who never have a chance to know their own mothers.

We don’t need to eat animal products to thrive. If we can lead happy and healthy lives while sparing farm animals from lives full of pain and suffering, well… why wouldn’t we?

This is Alex, a staff member and our guide. Jesse likes to lick his head.

Here’s a link to the Catskill Animal Sanctuary. The owner and founder, Kathy Stevens, has written two books about the animals she has rescued, “Where The Blind Horse Sings” and “Animal Camp,” both full of incredible stories of rescued animals who were deeply damaged yet, with much love and patience, were able to flourish again. I recommend reading them with a big box of tissues at your side.

A couple of closing thoughts:

“May our daily choices be a reflection of our deepest values, and may we use our voices to speak for those who need us most, those who have no voice, those who have no choice. It’s up to each one of us to create the world we want to live in; if not you, who? If not now, when?” Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, author, speaker and educator

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead, anthropologist

Once Upon a Time in the Deep, Dark Forest…

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black and white photography, diana camera, fairy tales, landscape photography, photography, plastic camera, toy camera

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who loved to read. Her parents, devoted readers themselves, were pleased to provide her with untold numbers of books filled with fairy tales, and she read them until she had memorized every one.

But these weren’t Disney stories with pastel-colored rabbits, these were tales from the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. Fairy tales that ended with good vindicated and evil dancing to its death in red-hot iron shoes, with good marrying the handsome prince and evil’s eyes plucked out by righteous doves.

In all of these tales, deep dark forests abounded. They surrounded castles and sheltered mysteries, they protected with thorns and sprung up to the whisper of a magic spell. They hid monstrous creatures and led wanderers astray, echoed with mysterious cries and were filled by the light of a rising moon.

When that little girl grew up, she picked up her camera… and went back into the forest.

All images shot with Diana cameras. Photos 1 and 2, Scotland; photo 3, Central Park, NYC; photo 4, Virginia; photo 5, Australia; photos 6, 7, 8, Central Park, NYC.

July’s Portrait: Father and Son

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black and white photography, father and son, manly beach, ocean, photography, portrait

This is one of my favorite portraits of my nephew Lukas with his father, my brother-in-law Mike, taken on Manly Beach in Sydney, Australia.

Of course every Australian needs to know how to swim, and the sooner, the better. Here’s Lukas, still in diapers, marching toward the water for a game of Chase the Waves.

This is one of those lucky shots, with both of them in mid-stride. Unfortunately I tend to forget all about the horizon line when shooting near water, so it’s on a bit of a tilt. Whoops!

Silver gelatin print, warm tone paper.

Art and Perseverance

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american museum of natural history, architecture, black and white photography, cityscape, natural history museum, new york city, photography, pinhole, pinhole camera, pinhole photography

Recently, a fellow blogger introduced me to podcasts by Brooks Jensen of LensWork Daily, a photography website. My favorite podcast was about perseverance. It made me think about the number of shots it takes to get a good pinhole photo and the number of times I revisit a particular location until the stars align and a decent negative emerges. Of course people see only the final shot, not the trial and error leading up to it. Here’s what happened when I shot the American Museum of Natural History on Central Park West. Photo above: two of my battle-scarred pinhole cameras.

First try: February 3, 8:00 a.m., 60 second exposure. Way too far away.

Second try: February 3, 8:05 a.m., 35 second exposure. Whoops! Too close and too low.

Third try: February 3, 8:10 a.m., 10 second exposure. Can’t really see what’s going on here. Try the south side of the museum next time.

February 10, 1:30 p.m., 35 seconds. South side now. Getting better, but still  too far away. Like the branches coming into the photo, though.

Fifth try: February 10, 1:35 p.m., 10 second exposure. Nice! But the rest of the museum has disappeared in the distance.

Sixth try: February 10, 1:45 p.m., 60 second exposure. Hallelujah! A little dark on the right, but I like the mysterious mood.

Here’s the final image for display, which is finished with 4-5 coats of tinted varnish and sanded back, then trimmed out and floated in a window in an 8-ply mat. The edges of the photo curl up a bit, like a tintype. This pinhole is 4 x 5 inches.

The podcast is no longer on iTunes for some reason, so I can’t pass on the link, but this part of it hit home: “You never know how to do it right until you’ve done it the second time, and so almost anything you do you’re going to have to do at least twice in order to get a learning curve under your belt. One of the things that frustrates some of the people who are not successful in the arts, who give up being artists, painters, photographers, poets, whatever: they think they should be able to create something out of genius. Genius is not the most important criteria to be a successful artist. Perseverance is way more important than genius for the simple reason that you will have to do it over and over and over and over again in order to get it done right. That’s just the nature of the beast and the minute we try to bypass that, we invariably allow ourselves to accept less than our best work.”

Here’s the link to the LensWork Daily podcasts, where you’ll find a series of short podcasts about Structure and the Creative Life. Although the ideas are expressed in terms of photography, they apply to any art making.