Drone Zone
As the semester was winding down in May, Stacey Baker called while I was preparing for my last class of the year. The assignment for The New York Times Magazine was to photograph drones or “unmanned aerial vehicles” (UAV’s) in New Mexico at Holloman Air Base on the edge of the White Sands Missile … Continue reading
Enter The Dragon
I don’t really follow any form of astrology except at cocktail parties. On this end, the year of the rabbit was appropriately fruitful. Wishing you all a fortuitous end to the Mayan calendar, which is foretold to be a reset, and not a hard stop.
Loving the Standard/High Line
The Standard Hotel squats muscularly above and over the High Line, a former abandoned stretch of elevated train tracks cutting vertically through Chelsea. With the development of this much anticipated New York City Park came many prestigious commissions on neighboring properties. Ennead created an instant landmark in the meatpacking district, a destination to see and … Continue reading
Greenpoint Wastewater Treatment Plant
The largest wastewater treatment facility in New York City is also one of the City’s most striking properties. Massive digester eggs sparkle in the industrial landscape of northern Brooklyn. On assignment for TIME, we got the better part of a day to wander about the grounds with Jim Pynn, the plant superintendent. Jim showed us … Continue reading
Hassan II Mosque, Casablanca
Completed in 1993, the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca was designed by French Architect Michel Pinseau. It is the fifth largest mosque in the world and sports the tallest minaret. The intricate details etched into the mosque’s columns and arches invite visitors to stroll the grounds to get a closer look. I had three days … Continue reading
1111, Herzog and de Meuron
Swiss architectural demigods Herzog and de Meuron completed 1111 last year. The parking garage sits at the end of Lincoln Road, the walking mall designed by the legendary Miami architect Morris Lapidus, who was criticized in his day for introducing too many curvy flourishes. Now it’s Herzog & de Meuron’s turn to go up against … Continue reading
Oscar Niemeyer’s Forgotten Masterpiece
In 1963 Oscar Niemeyer was awarded the commission for the Tripoli Fairgrounds in Lebanon. Work on the 10,000 hectacre site was halted in 1975 when the civil war erupted. Today the grounds are quasi public, with a solitary guard manning a low metal gate. Typical of much of Niemeyer’s work, the outlying reinforced concrete structures … Continue reading
B018: Bernard Khoury
Beirut’s most legendary club is literally underground, on the site of the Karantina massacre. Bernard Khoury, a native of Beirut, knows his city’s history well, having lived through the civil war that raged from 1975-1990. His first built project was an immediate success, it’s subterranean metaphor not lost on the throngs of Beirutis flocking to … Continue reading
Le Gray Hotel, Beirut
Beirut has been in the process of rebuilding for twenty years. Once known as the “Paris of the Middle East,” the city’s center was gutted by fifteen years of civil war that dragged on until 1990. From the ashes of downtown was born Solideire, a mixed-use development of tony addresses fathered by Rafiq Hariri. Had … Continue reading
Time-Life
My first meeting with an editor at Time was in September 2001. The photo editor was Mary Anne Golon. We met in her twenty-fourth floor office, every wall filled with images from famous photographers, all signed and dedicated to Mary Anne. She took about an hour to talk to me about the box of contact … Continue reading
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