happy 4th of july...

snapshot: after the rain

aug 27, 2012

© anita aguilar

photo op: this is new york...

and when the POTUS and FLOTUS want to enjoy a dinner at one of our town's premier farm-to-table restaurants, we don't roll out the red carpet.

we bring the big trucks:


the big white sanitation trucks. they blocked access to a few avenues surrounding the restaurant.

funny to see and funny to think about (did they clean them?) but they look properly imposing when strolling by...

(don't mess...)

photo op: shabby chic

lafayette street, nyc

© anita aguilar

reflection: the brooklyn bridge

south street seaport: blue smoke

inspiration: (yes yes yes)

prince/mulberry streets, nyc

jan 25, 2012

URB 2011: the race experience

you know that scene from raiders of the lost ark--indy disappears from the ship and free-styles it over to the german submarine, the crew gives a big rally cry when they spot him, and he, soaked and stumbling a bit, does that little salute before running off to kick some more ass?

well, that's sort of what it felt like as i was finishing the last leg of the urbanathlon. i'd run about 3 miles, “stutter-stepped” a muddy tire field, climbed the steps to the promenade of arthur ashe stadium and then navigated a much longer maze of steps through citi field, crawled under a few jeeps, jumped over a couple of taxis, scaled a bus...i was cold and wet from the rain and the puddles, and a little off balance because of the crazy scene happening all around me, but still pushing toward the final obstacle, the impossible one, the rope-climb over the wall. then i heard a cheer from my other team mates (anitaaaa!) and i had just enough of my mind left to look over and wave a little and laugh--but that's it because, well, there was that wall in front of me that i need to get over. (and: no ass-kicking, as i need a boost to get up there). but i did make it over, in one piece and our team finished the urb.

post-race recovery: beer and a sausage biscuit

what a relief.

i'd been nervous the whole week--hands-sweaty, can't-sleep nervous--worried i wouldn't be strong enough on race day to finish, and that the wintry weather would be unbearable.

it was actually almost unbearable to wait in the cold without a coat. but it was also, in a funny way, a situation ripe for bonding with strangers. i didn't know anyone else who was there to start leg 3, and i didn't have friends (like some smarties, with umbrellas) hanging out there with me to make the hour pass more pleasantly, but there was a loony camaraderie as we readied ourselves to hit the course in weather that was at once "fucked up-- and awesome."

i got to start my part of the race--and finally warm-up--just before the cold became too much.

there were the other unexpected pleasures of the race: my quiet, solo jog to the starting point, from the mets-willets point subway station, down the long boardwalk toward the tennis center and around it to the south gate. the leaves had turned, but the row of trees still formed a pretty canopy in the rain. i could see the "new" court 17--a couple of months ago i was there, maxing out my tan, while making photos of one of my favorite subjects: alexandr dolgopolov. i discovered that in the off-season they rip out the seats at that court (not sure why. it seems like a lot of effort).

the unisphere glistened only from the rain drops.

i ran through an empty ashe stadium -- it was almost as empty as the last morning i was there, as francesca schiavone started her 4th round match against anastasia pavlyuchenkova.

i ran down and out again and past the deserted media center around the back toward citi field. i'm not sure if that path stays open (i don't know why it would).

i wish i'd had a camera for the view of queens and the city from the upper decks in citi field. after finally descending the stairs, we jogged right onto the field--to a maria carey tune, if you can believe it. i won't soon forget that.

we stayed off the pristine grass, and took the path from right field to first to home. i'm pretty sure i'll never do that again.

the "blue moon" girls, get their medals...

i had anticipated that it would be fun to run these venues, but didn't imagine how it would feel to experience them that way-- empty, but still alive with my own memories and imagination. the race was worth it just for that.

but it was even more worth it to be there with my friends, the ones who ran it as my teammates, and the hard core ones who took it on themselves, and others who work behind the scenes to put that whole urbanathlon together. i loved being in the VIP tent, with the free beer and the bagels and the biscuits-- but i would have been anywhere my friends were. maybe its a silly thing to infuse a crazy event like that with so much sentiment -- most people run the race with a goal to test their strength and endurance. i thought it would be a good (HARD) test for me in that way, too. but the race turned out to be secondary. the experience of it was supreme.

i think i'm ready for more in 2012.

***
photos from before sun-up and after the snowfall, if you are so inclined.

pretty city: posers

guess whose pose i like best?

23rd/broadway near mad square park

sept 30, 2011

us open 2011: the ladies' game

It is beauty itself

that lives

day by day in them

idly—

This is

the power of their faces

It is summer, it is the solstice

the crowd is

cheering, the crowd is laughing...

---william carlos williams, via the poetry foundation

roberta vinci (ita)

flavia pennetta (ita)

sara errani (ita)

gisela dulko (arg)

***

all photos from sept 5, 2011

© anita aguilar

b roll: attack of the hot tomato....

aaron sanchez @ union square greenmarket

aug 22, 2011

zipping through the park this morning, i spied aaron sanchez (with crew and all, hard not to notice) and snapped this photo for my friend z, who at some point in time, had a little thing for him. i didn't know if he was shooting a commercial, or a food network veggie segment, or a heat seeker's segment. no time to stick around--i just wanted the photo for her.

she's apparently no longer keen. but i sent word about the sighting through my little social media network and i soon found out that a colleague of mine from years ago, rafael, who runs the amazing showdown pictures, just finished wrapping the show that they were in the park shooting this b-roll for. "aaron loves new york" will debut on the spanish language channel utilisima this fall.

yay for showdown!

and: if the show gets picked up for season 2, i think i get to visit the set...

so let's look out for it, si?

summer streets 2011: best for last

i've had a lucky month for freelance work, but i was particularly grateful that my job yesterday took me outside for "summer streets," otherwise i might have missed it this year entirely. (where has the month gone?) mother nature definitely saved the best for last: it was warm, with none of the despairing humidity that marked most of this ny summer. for me, it was a tonic for what had been a grinding week.

i loved the chance to see the different sunshine and the different energy between nolita in the early morning and park avenue in the early afternoon. and i loved the view from the metlife/helmsley underpass -- at the time i was there, i caught the last of the daylight streaming in on the uptown side, making for a really romantic view. i was surprised at how good it made me feel to see new yorkers taking over the streets to enjoy a simple thing: summer sun.

the only thing missing? a bike for me to ride.

pretty city: love, this afternoon

madison square park, 6:44pm

© anita aguilar

random: hot wheels

only in nolita...

lafayette/spring street, nyc.

april 23, 2011.

read a good poem: the antilamentation

"regret nothing."

***

nyc, jan 2010.

photo © anita aguilar

***

Regret nothing. Not the cruel novels you read
to the end just to find out who killed the cook, not
the insipid movies that made you cry in the dark,
in spite of your intelligence, your sophistication, not
the lover you left quivering in a hotel parking lot,
the one you beat to the punch line, the door or the one
who left you in your red dress and shoes, the ones
that crimped your toes, don't regret those.
Not the nights you called god names and cursed
your mother, sunk like a dog in the living room couch,
chewing your nails and crushed by loneliness.
You were meant to inhale those smoky nights
over a bottle of flat beer, to sweep stuck onion rings
across the dirty restaurant floor, to wear the frayed
coat with its loose buttons, its pockets full of struck matches.
You've walked those streets a thousand times and still
you end up here. Regret none of it, not one
of the wasted days you wanted to know nothing,
when the lights from the carnival rides
were the only stars you believed in, loving them
for their uselessness, not wanting to be saved.
You've traveled this far on the back of every mistake,
ridden in dark-eyed and morose but calm as a house
after the TV set has been pitched out the window.
Harmless as a broken ax. Emptied of expectation.
Relax. Don't bother remembering any of it. Let's stop here,
under the lit sign on the corner, and watch all the people walk by.

--dorianne laux via the writer's almanac, march 7, 2011

tartan day parade 2011

i rented a canon 24-70mm lens for the weekend, and planned to take out on the town tonight. but this afternoon, i happened upon a parade.

plaid makes good practice.

all photos © anita aguilar

rainy days and mondays

blooming affairs

925 broadway

march 21, 2011

nyc: the only geometry i'll ever understand

“This is the purpose of New York’s geometry...that each individual should be poetically the owner of the capital of the world.”... Roland Barthes

***

is there any city in the world that is easier to traverse than new york? i have been partly around the world, and still haven't found a place with such a logical way about it. maybe cities like buenos aires and paris, where one neighborhood or district slips into the next are more sexy, romantic, or more mysterious. but new york, she is smart.

today is the 200th anniversary of the grid--certainly worth commemorating, so cheers to the nytimes for the quick history lesson and the interactive map .

i like to (try to) imagine what it was like to be the person whose job it was to survey this town. it took john j randall three years of walking up- and downtown, to determine the grid (a seven mile hike a day isn't too bad--it's about the distance i run from home, through the long loop in central park, and back) but having to ax your way through the trees and shrubbery along the way? that is wild.

***

if you're interested in expanding your sense of the city, i'm going to suggest "mapping new york" (on my wish list). more than street plans, it offers clues to its social and cultural developments, dating back to the 16th century, and some fun artistic renderings.

the guardian published 15 maps from the book: have a look.

I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite aerial views of ny, circa 1961, courtesy of daniel l. fapp, the director of photography for west side story. the nyc views start at the 5:42 mark.

supermoon, take 2 (the big white ball)

i love my camera (a canon rebel xsi) and my lenses (a sigma 50mm 1.4 and a tamron zoom), but i was pretty sure neither lens, nor my little g10, would be able to offer a proper "picture" of the supermoon, as big and bright and clear as it was to my eye last night. but i went for it anyway.

BROOKLYN

by way of fifth ave, near 25th street, nyc

(click the image, to really see her hat)

march 19, 2011

© anita aguilar