West 24th Street

Photos by Grier Horner - all rights reserved

This photo symbolizes my position in the art world. Outside, looking in. Which I am trying to change. Anyway, those are my sneakers planted on the sidewalk in front of one of the big galleries on West 24th Street Friday.

I got up at 5:15 a.m., which is pretty amazing for someone whose normal wake-up time is 9 or 10. I drove to Wassaic, rode the train to Grand Central, took the S subway to Times Square and the E train from there to Chelsea.

That's pretty mundane. But I'm a novice at subways and riding them is an adventure. Lots of potential photos underground, but I haven't worked up my nerve to point the camera at riders yet.

Back above ground, these women on West 24th look like they're about to be mowed down by a cab or two that have mounted the sidewalk. But they're OK. The cabs were parked.

I scouted out more than a dozen galleries on Friday. And that was just the north side of the street.

It's going to take a lot more trips to Manhattan to cover the Chelsea galleries. Which is fine with me. I love looking at the art and talking with the gallery staffs.

And I'm having a field day shooting in Manhattan.

(Click on the shots to blow them up.)

On the fly

Remember when Janet Jackson had her "wardrobe malfunction" during halftime of the 2004 Super Bowl?

I had something less traumatic but nevertheless troubling happen to the fly of one of my favorite pairs of pants, pictured above. The strip of cloth that hides the zipper started malfunctioning, exposing the zipper.

Even with the zipper up, it's sort of embarrassing going around with it showing. So I fixed them by attaching Velcro with a staple gun.

In case you need to refresh your memory, I've tucked in this picture of Janet exposed. A lot of people contend that Justine Timberlake, who was singing with her, intentionally yanked off the material over that breast as a publicity stunt.

Adding credence to that was the fact that this part of her costume was attached with snaps, making it detachable. MTV, which produced the halftime show, had promised a "shocking surprise."

But back to my wardrobe malfunction. Snaps probably would have been a more tailored solution for my pants.

But I don't think that the staples really show that much. Here's proof. If I hadn't drawn the arrow, would you have noticed?

Overhead

This has been a year of magnificent clouds in the Northeast. Here are a few shots to illustrate my point.

The one at the top was taken last week from the newly opened pedestrian bridge crossing the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie, New York. It was an abandoned railroad bridge before its conversion.

This shot was taken in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, this weekend.

A patch of blue sky, above, looks like a gigantic bird soaring over Pittsfield.

Then there were these clouds adding to the drama of Niagara Falls, which made clouds of its own, as well as rainbows.

To enlarge the photos, click on them. All photos © grier horner