Memory Lane

Recently I did a deep dive into my digital archive, going all the way back to 2007, a rough thing for any artist to do. I was just an aspiring young photographer at the time with an amazingly high amount of confidence especially in comparison to the work. That very first project I was hired for, a Chinese Food Restaurant for Asian Market News with owners that only spoke Mandarin whereas I didn’t, sure brought back some nostalgia. Fun times.

Anyway, jumping forward about 7 years I got a call from a new architect client about a possible project for one of his clients, the owner of 205 West 39th Street. And by that, I mean he owned the entire building … that he inherited from his grandfather … mortgage free. It was the first time an entire floor had been empty in a couple of decades so he wanted a pano of both the floor and the view from the terrace. Not really sure why, he said, since Calvin Klein was starting their fit out next week for a 10 year lease, but just in case he needed it in the future.

So, Ryan, I believe that was his name, flew in from Bermuda on his private jet to let me in. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, I think sandals too, even though it was March in New York City. He shook my hand, took me inside, told me “here you go” and that his plane was still on the tarmac so he could not stay any longer. Now, some may think flying international to only let a photographer in your building before returning back the same day would make him crazy. No, he’s eccentric … he’s rich.

So I was up there in the Spring of 2014 for a few hours just doing panos of the view, which you can see above, and a 360 pano of the floor, see below. I even shot these with my old P45+, which I have not owned for over 5 years. It is lower in resolution than my current setup, but I always felt the color was better, more natural.

I also managed to capture a nice view of the New York Times building with dusk sunlight glow around the structure.

I was told I could stay a long as I wanted to and started breaking down about 40 minutes after sunset.

I have a few more nice views from memory lane, including one looking over Times Square just after Christmas with the count down clock already going towards 2014, that I will be adding later.