Random Excellence: David A. Goldfarb

In response to the previous post, David Goldfarb sent this picture. It shows Grant's Tomb and the Riverside Church in Manhattan, looking south along the Hudson River. David took the picture from the window of his apartment on the 20th floor of a 21-story highrise building at 125th and Riverside Drive. He says he's photographed the same scene "hundreds of times." The snow-covered lawn is where The White Stripes were playing in the image posted in the Featured Comment to this TOP post back in October.

It's often a source of wonder to me that color photography so infrequently uses color to any advantage—many viewers seem to prefer color simply for its verisimilitude—it shows what was, just because it was—without any thought to whether it the colors in a picture have any aesthetic affect or impact. Color can ruin pictures for me, as often as not. I like the subtlety and harmoniousness of the color in this. It helps that I love winter scenes, and that I much prefer landscapes that don't exclude the presence of humanity. This one even has some echoes to a painting I've written about before, one that I have emotional associations to from my youth—Pieter Brueghel the Elder's "The Return of the Hunters." It's also got a strong sense of a particular place, which is important in my view.   

Taken on Polaroid Type 809 film, in the winter of 2005. Click on the image to see a larger version.

___________________

Mike (Thanks to David)

Comments

[Ken Tanaka]

That's a really beautiful image, David. That bluish twilighty cast looks like Polaroid, eh? I'd love to see more of your images from this vantage.

Your image immediately grabbed me because I, too, am a mug for winter scenes with color and particularly for aerial scenes like this. I also shoot a lot of images from my high-rise home's windows and have been building a contiguous body of them for nearly two years. In fact I just put one up as the banner image of my gallery page.

[Barbu]

Funny thing: a picture that looks so much like the 1800's...
The film served it well, it's a perfect example. One thing, thou: I find it mildly funny that one uses good ol' Polaroid, and good old-habit to have a camera loaded with slide film; it's somewhat fit also for the picture in the other post, for Lomo/Holga launch. The funny bit: the launch picture was taken with a Canon camera, using the top-brass 600mm lens. HypoCritter... :)

[Robin P]

The nicest "Random Excellence" image on TOP yet!
Thanks Mike, great photo David.

Cheers, Robin

[John MacKechnie]

I'm obliged to agree with Mike on this one. Although I generally prefer Black and White, this is a beautiful image with subtle coloration that is very painterly. I suppose that I'd like a copy of each hanging on my wall. The photograph stands in contrast to the CLANGING COLOR that I often seen in contemporary digital photography. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
Yes.....and again yes.

[Andy]

"Excellence" fits, I think. Very interesting in many ways.

As a side note, this one really benefits from the larger view. I kept reopening the larger version several times to look again; wonderful detail.

[Sam Murphy]

Beatiful picture. What is Grant's Tomb? Is it a war memorial or something like that?

[Flaneur]

Great shot, makes you want to be there, or like being there, something some people say makes a great photo.

[Mike Johnston]

"What is Grant's Tomb?"

Ulysses S. Grant (that is, U.S. Grant) was the hard-drinking, tough-as-nails Union general in the Civil War who took the heavily fortified Confederate city of Vicksburg, giving control of the Mississippi to the Union, and was later put in charge of the Army of the Potomac by Lincoln, following a long succession of egotistical but generally ineffective generals. Grant, who typically dressed sloppily and chewed on old cigars, waged a modern war of attrition and eventually compelled the surrender of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

Grant was then elected President a few years after the war. He spent most of his administration drunk as a skunk and was distinguished chiefly by having the most corrupt cabinet in U.S. history until Ronald Reagan's (although neither compares to the disgraceful orgy of corruption in Bush and Cheney's Washington, which, if it only added physical intimidation by gangs of thugs, would rival the levels of corruption of third-world banana-republic dictatorships). Grant died of cancer, and during his final illness, in great pain, he ground out his "Memoirs" so that his family would be taken care of after his death. Grant's "Memoirs" became one of the best sellers of the 19th century in America.

There was a traditional wise-acre joke meant to poke fun at people who can't see the obvious that asked, "Who's buried in Grant's tomb?" But the obvious answer isn't quite right, because the real answer is "Grant and his wife." The tomb is the round edifice with the conical top to the right of the larger church in David's picture.

Mike J.

[Ben Listwon]

Your comment on the use of color is pretty spot on for me. Too often I hear people using wishy-washy language to answer the "why in color?" question. Here, the image is really quite subtle and striking as a result.

On the complete other end of the spectrum, right before I visited TOP today, I was perusing Pete Carr's photoblog:

http://www.vanilladays.com/

Pete has some really nice B&W work, and although I knew he flips back and forth every so often, he knocked my socks off with a burst of color. I was clicking back, back, back to go through the past week or so and BAM!

http://www.vanilladays.com/gallery/2008/02/rainbow_superlambananas/

Now, I can't say for sure that that shot wouldn't have worked in B&W, but if he had not shot this in color, it would have been a gross injustice to the scene.

[michael]

"There was a traditional wise-acre joke meant to poke fun at people who can't see the obvious that asked, "Who's buried in Grant's tomb?" But the obvious answer isn't quite right, because the real answer is 'Grant and his wife.'"

I know. Groucho Marx always asked this on "You Bet Your Life," and everyone blurted out "Ulysses Grant," and Marx would sing "Wrong." No one ever thought to look up the correct answer before appearing on the show. I was the only one to get it right when playing Trivia.

BTW, technically no one is "buried" there. They are actually entombed, above ground. An excellent photograph, IMHO.

[Pat Janisch]

This picture reminds me of the Jack Finney novel Time and Again. If I stare at it long enough to not see the cars and some of the background buildings, I might be able to transport myself back in time...

Mike- I'll second your assessment of the current administration. Go Obama.

[Bob Dales]

What a beautiful timeless image. I love doing minimally colored images; not quite color, not quite black and white. Hard to find but fog and snow help.

[Charles Betz]

Truly a great capture, though I'd prefer seeing it on a big print!

[Bronek]

Funny thing, my first assocition for this picture was "Brueghel"